Evans Powers To Victory In Swedish Rally

Elfyn Evans kept up his perfect start to the World Rally Championship season by powering to victory in Rally Sweden.

The Dolgellau-born ace followed up his impressive victory in Monte Carlo last month with another commanding performance in WRC2.

Evans, 27, and new co-driver Craig Parry dominated the three-day event from the start seeing off rivals with far more experience of the unique local conditions.

And the Ford Fiesta R5 driver said: “Coming to Sweden, we knew that we had a chance of victory.

“But we also knew that it would be a big challenge – which it was! To have done what we came here to do is fantastic and we’re all really pleased with the result.

“We had a big battle with Fredrik Åhlin and Pontus Tidemand on the first day but we managed to get the measure of them and then controlled the rally from there.

“We pushed hard when we needed to and took care with some issues once we had established a good lead on Saturday.

“This has been a great event for us and it was good to see that we were able to control the pace and come out on top.”

Evans has stepped down to the principal support series this season after two years in the WRC proper but is showing his true potential.

The victory by almost 15 seconds from Skoda-powered rival Tidemand gives him a seven point lead in the standings heading to the next round in Mexico.

M-Sport World Rally Team Principal Malcolm Wilson was full of praise for the Welshman’s performance.

He said: “We came here to win.

“We knew it would be difficult given the high level of competition, but the combination of Elfyn and the new-evolution Fiesta R5 has provided us with a fantastic victory this weekend.

“I had said that Monte-Carlo was his best ever drive, but I think he might have surpassed that here.

“He controlled the event from start to finish and out-performed a number of crews who are specialists on these unique stages.”