M-Sport World Rally Team’s Elfyn Evans and Ott Tänak experienced all the highs and lows of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) at the Rallye Deutschland. 

The Ford Fiesta RS WRC drivers displayed some pace-setting speed, but it went unrewarded at the first pure asphalt event of the year.

Evans, who finished sixth, had the potential to challenge for the top positons at the weekend, but he was unable to sustain his impressive pace over the course of the whole rally.

In the sister Fiesta RS WRC, Tänak was enjoying his first taste of a world rally car on Tarmac since this time three years ago. There was a lot to learn and the Estonian, who finished eighth, was swiftly reminded of how much respect these challenging stages demand.

Evans said: “I can’t say I’m satisfied with the rally as a whole, but there were a lot of positives and I was certainly satisfied with our performance on a couple of individual stages."

Tänak said: "“I knew before the start that this would be a tricky event for us as we haven’t driven a world rally car on pure Tarmac for quite a long time. Also this was the first event with the new car on this surface so there was always going to be a lot to learn and a lot to discover throughout the weekend.

“I didn’t feel as confident or as natural with the driving as I have more recently on gravel so I had to push myself and we made a couple of small mistakes because of that.

Malcolm Wilson, team principal, added: "I think it’s fair to say that we expected a little bit more from this weekend, but we didn’t get everything 100 percent perfect and that’s something we need to work on ahead of Corsica."

Runaway championship leader Sébastien Ogier, of Volkswagen, won the rally.

M-Sport are fourth in the manufacturers' standings on 138 points, 10 behind Citroen in third.