Elfyn Evans recovered to take fourth place at Rally Sardegna after losing time on Saturday morning with damage from a deep watersplash.
Dolgellau’s Evans and co-driver Scott Martin made up ground and set the fourth-best time in the Power Stage, claiming additional points for the manufacturers’ championship which Toyota Gazoo Racing continues to lead by 23 points.
The 34-year-old said after the end of rally on Sunday: “Today it was just a case of getting the car through the first three stages and trying to look after the tyres we had ready for the Power Stage.
“The conditions really changed quite a lot for the Power Stage, it was raining very heavily so it was pretty slippery but thankfully we managed to get through it OK.
“We would have liked to take some more points from there but a couple is still better than nothing.
“After everything that happened this weekend I think we have to be grateful to take fourth overall and some decent points even if we’re not really happy with how everything went.”
After suffering a puncture on Friday which dropped them back, Evans said they were lucky to be able to nurse the car back to service after damaging the cooling in the water on Saturday.
At the end of the day he explained: “It’s been another tough day out there and the water splashes have caused us some problems.
“But we’ve managed to keep it going despite the extreme conditions. We’ve dropped time on both loops but still in fourth and will keep pushing for points tomorrow.”
The rally was won by Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville who vaulted from fifth to second in the FIA World Rally Championship standings on Sunday afternoon.
Belgian star Neuville headed i20 N partner Esapekka Lappi by 33.0sec in a dream 1-2 finish for Hyundai at round six of 13, scoring his 18th career success alongside co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe.
The result served as a maiden 2023 triumph for both Neuville and his team, helping the Korean marque to move within 23 points of championship-leading manufacturer Toyota Gazoo Racing.
The lead changed hands a whopping nine times during the fast and furious Mediterranean island fixture until Neuville seized the initiative when GR Yaris rival Sébastien Ogier went off the road in Saturday’s rain-hit penultimate test.
He surpassed Lappi, who celebrated his third-consecutive top-three finish, in the same stage and managed a comfortable advantage through Sunday’s four-stage finale.
“Obviously it was a challenging weekend,” said Neuville, who now trails series leader Kalle Rovanperä by 25 points.
“We came here with the belief that we could fight for victory but the first day was challenging and we lost a bit of time.
“Yesterday we found ourselves in the lead and we had to manage it until the end.
“It’s the first victory for the team this year, it’s a 1-2, and the first win for our team principal [Cyril Abiteboul] as well. Craig Breen is in our memories also - we wanted the win in Croatia for him, but we got it now.”
Rovanperä completed the podium in third overall, his best result out of five Rally Italia Sardegna attempts.
World Rally Championship standings, top 10:
1 K Rovanpera, 118
2 T Neuville, 93
3 O Tanak, 85
4 E Evans, 83
5 S Ogier, 70
6 E Lappi, 67
7 D Sordo, 36
8 T Katsuta, 23
9 C Breen, 19
10 G. Greensmith, 16