By Paul Evans

Elfyn Evans’ hopes of winning Rally Mexico have suffered a major setback, after he rolled his works M-Sport Ford Fiesta RS WRC on stage four.

The 29-year old Dolgellau ace had started round three of the FIA World Rally Championship well – and had just set the second fastest time on SS3 (the El Chocolate stage which, at 19.5 miles, is the longest of the rally). That put Evans up to third place overall, a mere 15.2 seconds behind rally leader, Spaniard Dani Sordo (Hyundai).

Sadly, Evans lost over two minutes on the following stage, after a high-speed accident.

“In sixth gear we hit a big bump and it just flew the car in the air,” explained Evans. “The rear end came round, I couldn’t pull it straight and we hit a bank and went over few times. We’re okay.”

The time lost has dropped Evans and co-driver Daniel Barritt down to 12th, 2mins 54.8secs behind Sordo, with six stages of leg one remaining.