ELFYN Evans endured a frustrating weekend after being forced to retire from the Rally Italia Sardegna on Friday.

Evans initially drew first blood with the fastest time on SS2, but a compression on the following test resulted in radiator damage and he was forced to retire his Toyota GR Yaris shortly after the stage.

It marked the Machynlleth star’s third retirement of the year and his championship hopes are now further in doubt.

Ott Tänak ended his long search for another FIA World Rally Championship victory with a convincing win on Sunday afternoon with Evan using the remainder of the rally to work the machine and test its capabilities.

The Hyundai Motorsport driver was on dominant form on the Mediterranean island’s punishing rock-strewn roads and brought his hybrid-powered i20 N Rally1 car home 1min 3.2sec clear of M-Sport Ford driver Craig Breen.

Evans said: “I was disappointed to retire so early after an unexpected impact in a compression, especially as we had a good start and an early lead.

There wasn’t a lot we could do today in terms of competition so we used the time to try a few things and learn more about the GR Yaris.

“The conditions weren’t ideal and it was frustrating to end the day early but we still keep trying.

“The feeling in the car was positive and when we were going, things felt good and we knew the pace was there.

“But coming away with a handful of points is not great and we obviously wanted more.”

Evans now heads to Kenya for the sixth round which takes place from June 23-26 with the aim of reviving his campaign.