Wales’ Elfyn Evans will be looking to build on a positive result in Portugal when he takes on the 2018 Rally Italia Sardegna this week, starting today (June 7).

The Dolgellau driver got his season back on track with a second place finish in the Vodafone Rally de Portugal two weeks ago, as the M-Sport Ford World Rally Team secured a double podium at the end of a challenging event.

After the tricky Portuguese gravel encounter, Sardinia promises to provide an even greater challenge with sandy stages becoming rough and rutted for later runners.

Evans currently lies in 7th place in the WC drivers standings, some 75 points behind runaway leader Thierry Neuville as the championship approaches it’s halfway point, but he says the podium finish in Portugal has taken the pressure off,

“To come away with second place in Portugal was good. it wasn’t perfect, and there are some areas where we can still improve.

“It’s certainly alleviated the pressure and we can go to Sardinia in a positive frame of mind,” he said.

Earlier this month, Evans described the new route of the Wales Rally GB as a “missed opportunity”, and criticised the lack of time the rally will spend in Mid-Wales.

With the course taking in closed public roads for first year ever, the rally will only spend one day in Mid-Wales on a Super Saturday taking in four stages on October 6, with a revised schedule seeing the event head up to North Wales on Friday and Sunday, leaving last year’s winner Evans with the feeling that organisers have missed the mark.

“We all know the rally has to be based in the north for the hotels and service park infrastructure, but the stages for the rally are really in mid-Wales,” he told Motorsport Week magazine.

“It’s not a bad route at all, but there are a lot of road closures in there and maybe that’s to the detriment of the route. Don’t get me wrong, I can see the benefits of the road closure in places like Penmachno, but they shouldn’t do it just for the sake of joining roads.”

Fellow British driver Kris Meeke said he was looking forward to a “proper Saturday” on the forest stages in the Hafren Forest when the rally returns on October 4.

“Saturday’s a proper, proper day with Sweet Lamb, Hafren, Myherin, Dyfi and all those classic stages in one - that’s really good. There are plenty of options for the spectators as well, hopefully we’ll see plenty of people out there.”