Evans wins Rally Japan to finish second in WRC

Elfyn Evans and co-driver Scott Martin won four of the 22 stages at the 2023 Rally Japan

Elfyn Evans has won Rally Japan to secure runners-up spot in the World Rally Championship (WRC).

It was a third rally victory of the year for the Welsh driver, who was the championship runner-up in 2020 and 2021 but finished fourth in 2022.

"It feels nice after last year, it was a big disappointment," said Evans after the last of 2023's 13 rallies.

"It was not easy with the conditions we had this week, even though we had a massive gap already after Friday night.

"Massive well done to the team, car's been great and 1-2-3 for Toyota on home soil is great, so really proud."

Evans took the lead on the second stage of Rally Japan and quickly established a comfortable advantage during treacherous wet conditions on Friday.

His main rival for second spot in the final championship standings, Thierry Neuville, crashed on stage six putting the Belgian out of contention.

And eight-time world champion Ogier was handed a one minute penalty after leaving service late having had to undergo chassis repairs on his GR Yaris Rally1 car.

Evans final advantage over Ogier was one minute and 17.7 seconds, with 23-year-old Rovanperra a further 28.8secs back.

The Welshman and English co-driver Scott Martin also won April's Croatia Rally and Rally Finland in August.

Final FIA World Rally Championship standings (provisional, after Rally Japan)

1. Kalle Rovanpera (Finland) Toyota, 250 points

2. Elfyn Evans (Great Britain) Toyota, 216 points

3. Thierry Neuville (Belgium) Hyundai, 189 points

4. Ott Tanak (Estonia) Hyundai, 174 points

5. Sebastien Ogier (France) Toyota, 133 points