Elfyn Evans says his fifth-place finish on Rally Portugal was a stronger result than he thought was possible after his problems on the opening day of the event.
Evans had been running higher up the overall standings before an intermittent electrical problem meant he dropped over four minutes in lost time on stage five before a fightback throughout the rest of the rally saw him take fifth overall.
Talking after the event, Evans commented: “We made a pretty good start to the weekend. It wasn’t perfect, but the pace was there. Obviously, it was a shame to lose as much time as we did with the issue on Friday, but these things happen.”
“There wasn’t much more we could do after that, and in all fairness fifth place is a lot more than we could have hoped for on Friday evening.”
His result on the championships return to Europe was also improved due to several of his rivals, including Toyota’s Jari-Matti Latvala and Kris Meeke hitting problems ahead of him.
The next round of the 2019 FIA World Rally Championship is Rally Italia Sardegna, which takes place between June 13-16.
