M-Sport World Rally Team’s Elfyn Evans salvaged sixth place from the weekend’s Wales Rally GB as the team’s home event dished out its fair share of misfortune.

As torrential rain and gale-force winds battered the stages, Evans and co-driver Daniel Barritt got the Welsh fixture off to a solid start. 

Best of the rest behind the leading pack, the pairing were making ground despite their limited experience.

Unfortunately, a puncture put paid to a push for the top positions, the Ford Fiesta RS WRC crew losing almost a minute-and-a-half through the second pass of Hafren (SS4) which dropped them to an undeserving ninth place.

Regrouping, the Welshman displayed an improvement in pace and stormed up the standings to finish in sixth.

In the sister M-Sport Fiesta RS WRC, Ott Tänak and co-driver Raigo Mõlder set the fastest time through a fan-packed Chirk Castle (SS13) and climbed into fourth position going into the final speed tests.

However, Tänak became another victim of the conditions. Running slightly wide through the first pass of Brenig (SS16), he hit a stray rock and broke a bracket on the wishbone of his Fiesta, bringing his season to an untimely end and robbing him of a solid result on the team’s home soil.

Evans, who finished seventh overall in the drivers' championship said: “Overall I think we have performed quite strongly this weekend. Without the puncture it would have been a really comfortable fourth place but we all know that rallying is a game of ifs and buts."

Tänak, who was 10th in the overall standings, said: “There are still many positives that I will take away from this season. Since Sardinia we have always had the pace to fight for the podium on gravel. Things haven’t always gone to plan, but for our first year in a manufacturer team we wanted to prove that we had the speed to challenge at the top."

The Wales results means that M-Sport finished fourth in the manufacturers' standings.

Malcolm Wilson, team principal, added: “I’ve made no decision on who will be driving for us next season. I can say that I will be taking my time to analyse all of the performances – those of Elfyn, Ott and a few others – so that we can be in the strongest possible position going into 2016.”

Volkswagen's Sébastien Ogier won the Wales Rally and stormed to victory in the drivers' standings.