Elfyn Evans reclaimed the World Rally Championship lead with a runner-up finish behind Sébastien Ogier at Rally Islas Canarias. The Toyota driver collected maximum Sunday bonus points alongside 17 for second place, moving two points ahead of teammate Takamoto Katsuta after five rounds.
Welshman Evans, 37, finished 19.9 seconds behind eight-time world champion Ogier. Sami Pajari was third, with Katsuta and Irish co-driver Aaron Johnston completing a Toyota Gazoo Racing sweep of the top four.
"It has been a solid weekend," said Evans. "We had a poor start that put us out of the fight for the win. I have mixed feelings. Congrats to Seb—he drove an exceptional weekend."
Josh McErlean placed eighth, while M-Sport Ford teammate Jon Armstrong finished 11th. Armstrong faced his toughest rally yet in WRC1, losing over two minutes on Saturday when spectators helped push his car back onto the road.
"It's been quite challenging," said the 31-year-old from Fermanagh. "We're making progress but need to understand how to improve. Not a great rally, but sometimes you have worse ones."
Oliver Solberg crashed out on the penultimate stage while running second, denying Toyota a top-five lockout. The Swede, who won six stages, retired his damaged Yaris with no points.
Ogier's victory was his first of the season after skipping Rally Sweden and Croatia. The series now heads to Portugal for round six, May 7-10.
Rally Islas Canarias Top 10
- Sébastien Ogier (Toyota) – 2h 43m 18.9s
- Elfyn Evans (Toyota) +19.9s
- Sami Pajari (Toyota) +1m 40.8s
- Takamoto Katsuta (Toyota) +1m 51.2s
- Adrien Fourmaux (Hyundai) +3m 29.5s
- Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) +3m 41.0s
- Dani Sordo (Hyundai) +3m 57.7s
- Josh McErlean (Ford) +5m 45.4s
- (M-Šport Ford) +6m 12.0s
- (Hyundai) +6m 58.1s
Drivers' Standings (provisional)
- Elfyn Evans (Toyota) – 101 pts
- Takamoto Katsuta (Toyota) – 99
- Sami Pajari (Toyota) – 72
- Oliver Solberg (Toyota) – 68
- Adrien Fourmaux (Hyundai) – 59
- Sébastien Ogier (Toyota) – 58
- Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) – 35 …