ELFYN Evans and co-driver Craig Parry had to settle for third place in the WRC2 category of the Neste Rally Finland after their M-Sport World Rally Team Ford Fiesta R5 Evo was struck by power failure.

After a solid opening over the first nine stages, Evans and Parry were running in a strong second place before suffering a fault that affected the power steering on SS10.

The pair had the better of the majority of the field and were hopeful of taking the fight to local hero Esapekka Lappi.

But a 16th place finish on SS10 dropped the Welshman to sixth overall.

Speaking at the end of the day, Evans said: “We came here with the intention of challenging for the win so this afternoon was obviously really disappointing.

“I think that we showed some good speed today, but these things happen.

“It’s disappointing for everyone as we were on course to challenge for another really strong result.”

Starting Saturday with a point to prove, Evans wasted no time – posting a time 5.6 seconds faster than anyone else on the opening stage.

A series of top times followed to propel him into a solid fourth place ahead of the final day’s closing 33.96km.

Evans posted a number of solid times as he hunted down the Finnish pair of Lappi and Teemu Suninen.

But Evans had to settle for third after finishing 1:20.1 behind second-placed Suninen.

Speaking after the rally, Evans said: “It’s been a challenging weekend. Some problems on Friday put us on the back foot and dropped us down to sixth.

“Third place was probably the best we could have hoped for after that.

“We’ve had a clean rally with no mistakes and the speed has been really good in places too. It’s a shame as the result could have been a lot more.”

Team principal Malcolm Wilson said: “Elfyn has driven extremely well this weekend.

“It’s incredibly difficult to beat the Finns in Finland and Lappi knows this place like the back of his hand.

“It was a shame to suffer some problems as Elfyn had the better of the rest of the field. Nevertheless, he comes away with a podium and secured some stage victories that prove the performance of the Fiesta R5 Evo.”

After eight rounds of the WRC2 championship, Evans leads the standings from Suninen and Nicolas Fuchs.