Elfyn Evans has acknowledged that a lack of consistency handed second place to Ott Tänak at Rally Guanajuato México, forcing him to settle for the final podium place instead.

The M-Sport Ford World Rally Team driver was one of the few to navigate a safe passage across Mexico’s tough gravel stages and moved his Fiesta WRC into second place on Friday afternoon.



However, he dropped valuable time to the hard-charging Tänak during the second pass of the Otates test (SS14) on Saturday afternoon and that opened the door for the Estonian to close the gap and eventually move ahead into the runners-up spot on Sunday morning.



“Giving 16 seconds away in one stage is a killer in his game, in such a competitive environment,” Evans said as he reflected on his time loss in Otates.

“That definitely changed things and changed his [Tänak’s] mentality as it gave him a whiff of that second place. If I had come back to service Saturday night with 20 secs it would have made life a lot easier.”



Evans was generally happy with his performance at the third round and pleased to claim his first podium of the season. But he knows where he needs to improve going forward.



“It wasn’t the complete performance, there were a few bits where we let the second place slip. But overall, it’s positive looking forward,” he said.



“I was one of very few drivers not to hit something or pick up a puncture. From that perspective, I’m happy with my driving style and the speed that’s available. Again, I just need to bring a little bit more consistency to the times and the good results will come.”

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