ELFYN Evans finished a very creditable sixth position as Jari-Matti Latvala won the second round of the World Rally Championship in Sweden last weekend.

Alongside co-driver Daniel Barritt, Evans, of Dolgellau, equalled their result from the opening round in Monte Carlo.

The 28 year-old experienced a puncture on day two, but he completed the 18 stages in the DMACK M-Sport Ford Fiesta.

Toyota’s Latvala had a 29 second advantage over M-Sport’s Ott Tanak, who finished the rally in second place overall.

Reigning champion Sebastian Ogier completed the podium in third, while Evans was the best-placed British driver.

Rally Sweden again saw action cross into Norway, and finished in Torsby, Sweden after 17 competitive stages and 300km of action on the ice-packed roads.

“Overall it’s been an encouraging weekend, after having limited testing before the rally,” commented Welsh ace Evans.

“Our pace was strong on the first day but unfortunately the mistake dropped us time and also meant we were disadvantaged by running at the front of the field. However, it’s another good haul of points, we are sixth in the Championship and I’m therefore confident as we head to the more traditional gravel events.”

After setting three fastest stage times on the season-opening Rallye Monte Carlo last month, DMACK crew Evans and Barritt were in confident mood, and immediately settled into a strong pace on Friday’s full day of opening action around Torsby.

Evans, however, ran slightly wide on a medium-speed, right corner on stage four and his Ford Fiesta WRC ploughed into a snow bank - smashing a chunk out of the rear wheel in the process. He was forced to limp to the end of the stage and he had dropped back to 12th position overall.

Despite being slowed by running near the front of the field for two days, and losing more time when the engine dropped down on power for an entire stage, the pair mastered the ultra-fast, frozen forest roads, climbing their way back to sixth.

Evans therefore holds sixth in the overall World Rally Championship standings as the action moves to the high-altitude, gravel stages of Rally Mexico in March.

The Welshman drove for M-Sport in the top class for two seasons in 2014 and 2015, but was demoted to WRC2 class in 2016.

He made his return to the top class in January 2017 after a 12-month absence.