DOLGELLAU driver Elfyn Evans secured a second successive podium finish and third in the Power Stage at the Central European Rally.

His Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team further closed the gap in the FIA World Rally Championship with a strong final day performance even as it missed out on overall victory to Hyundai’s Ott Tanak.

Takamoto Katsuta was the star of the final day as he completed an excellent return to action, claiming the maximum 12 points on offer by topping both the Super Sunday classification and the rally-ending Power Stage.

Following a short break in his season as he sat out the previous round in Chile, Katsuta showed good confidence and pace from the start of the all-asphalt CER.

Pushing harder on Sunday, he was quickest on the first pass through the Passauer Land test and again when he returned for the Power Stage.

Finishing fourth overall, Katsuta and co-driver Aaron Johnston were quickest across Sunday by 3.8 seconds ahead of team-mates Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin, who scored a second successive podium in second place and were third in the Power Stage.

Together, the efforts of Evans and Katsuta meant TGR-WRT scored two points more than its main rival Hyundai this weekend, closing the gap to 15 points ahead of next month’s final round at Rally Japan – where a maximum score across the event would be enough to claim another title.

Evans had been part of a close battle for the victory which was led by TGR’s Sébastien Ogier coming into the final day.

While a wide moment meant he conceded the lead to Ott Tänak (Hyundai) in the first stage of the day, Ogier responded to reduce the gap to 1.5s with two stages to go.

Continuing to push hard, he then slid wide on a muddy corner in SS17 and hit a tree, forcing him and navigator Vincent Landais out on the spot.

Sami Pajari and co-driver Enni Mälkönen suffered a similar fate in the first stage of the morning, bringing a slightly early end to another impressive outing in a GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID – his first on asphalt and third in total.

Pajari was on for another top-six finish overall as he continued his learning process at the highest level, gaining more valuable experience.

Evans said: “It’s not been a bad weekend for us.

“Together with Scott we come away as the crew that scored the most points and we have to be somewhat satisfied about that and it’s good for the team.

“Maybe we were not always setting the stage times alight, but we had some strong moments and it was quite a consistent weekend.

“We were missing a little bit here and there but we’re here at the end in second place and we can be reasonably happy with that.

“In terms of manufacturers’ points we took a little hit today unfortunately but it wasn’t bad on that side so at least we’re still in the game and it’s all open for Rally Japan.”

Team principal Jari-Matti Latvala said: “I’m happy with the really strong results of Elfyn and Takamoto on this rally and especially today, they have really helped the team to keep the championship alive.

“Seb was naturally very disappointed after his accident which was very unfortunate because he was again very fast here.

“After that, it was looking like we might lose some points, but in the end thanks to Taka and Elfyn we gained two on our competition, so we are still in the game for Rally Japan: it’s in our hands if we aim for a one-two overall and full points on Sunday.”