ELFYN Evans produced a stunning performance on round five of the World Rally Championship in Argentina, only to be denied the overall victory as Belgium’s Thierry Neuville won by just 0.7 seconds.

The 28 year-old had led by 55.7 secs after two days, but suffered a puncture and brake issues as Neuville closed the gap.

The Hyundai i20 Coupe driver trailed Evans by 11.5 secs heading into the last leg of the four-day dirt road encounter.

Brake problems for Evans, from Dolgellau, and a fierce Neuville attack sent the pair into the final 16.32km test at the famous El Condor separated by just 0.6secs.

The Belgian edged the victory in a pulsating final test, as Evans clipped a bridge, ending his dreams of a maiden victory.

Only two rounds have been decided by a smaller margin in 45 years of the WRC.

It was still a career-best finish for Evans, who made his return to the top class in January 2017 after a 12-month absence.

“I’m gutted to lose by such a fine margin, after so many issues,” said Evans.

“I hit a bridge and that was probably the difference. It’s difficult to take now after holding such a big lead, but part of it is my own doing and I now just need to come back stronger to win in the future.”

Rock-strewn roads took a heavy toll and merely surviving Friday’s opening leg became the aim of many.

Ott Tänak’s patient strategy paid off as he steered clear of trouble and thrived on the smoother weekend roads to finish in third position in another Fiesta, a further 29.2sec back.

Reigning champion Sébastien Ogier made it three M-Sport World Rally Team cars in the top four, and the Frenchman increased his World Rally Championship lead to 16 points after five of 13 rounds. He was almost a minute adrift of Tänak.

After Kris Meeke crashed out of second place, Jari-Matti Latvala was Evans’ closest challenger early on, but the Finn slipped back to finish fifth in his Toyota Yaris. Broken power steering completed a torrid weekend for Hayden Paddon, who claimed his maiden win in Argentina 12 months ago. He finished in sixth position.

“We have got mixed emotions at the end of this one,” added the Welsh rally star.

“It’s obviously disappointing to have missed out on victory by such a fine margin, it was definitely a rally of two halves.

“Thierry had his own problems on Friday, whilst we had a really good day and established a reasonable lead. But it was role reversal over the next two days.

“Thierry drove really well and no one can take that away from him, but we had a fair amount of problems – some self-inflicted and some not. To be honest, we didn’t have a clean run since the opening stage on Saturday morning so it was a big push to keep the battle so close.

“It’s a long story and I could probably write a list as long as my arm for why we didn’t manage to make it stick this weekend – but all credit to Thierry. He’s driven really well and from our side there are still a lot of positives that we can take away.

“When everything was working well, our speed was really strong. We just need to make sure that we learn from this weekend and come back stronger.”

OVERALL

CLASSIFICATION

1. Thierry Neuville / Nicolas Gilsoul (Hyundai 120 Coupe WRC) 3:38:10.6

2. Elfyn Evans / Daniel Barritt (Ford Fiesta WRC) +0.7

3. Ott Tänak / Martin Järveoja (Ford Fiesta WRC) +29.9

4. Sébastien Ogier / Julien Ingrassia (Ford Fiesta WRC) +1:24.7

5. Jari-Matti Latvala / Miikka Anttila (Toyota Yaris WRC) +1:48.1

6. Hayden Paddon / John Kennard (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) +7:42.7

7. Juho Hänninen / Kaj Lindström (Toyota Yaris WRC) +11:16.9

8. Dani Sordo / Marc Marti (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) +14:44.1

9. Mads Østberg / Ola Fløene (Ford Fiesta WRC) +15:11.3

10. Pontus Tidemand / Jonas Andersson (Skoda Fabia R5) +17:32.1