On the one hand, he finished 1m17.1s behind a driver in the same car as him.
But on the other, although Kalle Rovanperä reduced the deficit, he actually managed to extend his championship lead given Thierry Neuville only picked up seven points.
Rally Islas Canarias was a conflicting weekend for championship leader Elfyn Evans.
Third place maintained his 100% podium record in 2025, but of course he’d have hoped to be closer to the runaway Rovanperä.
“Yeah, definitely hoped,” Evans told DirtFish. “But obviously we tried to change some stuff at the start of the weekend – it didn’t really help us.
“It probably cost us a little bit, to be honest, to try and search a way to be faster. And then I lost out, obviously, to the fight with Séb [Ogier] on the rally, and obviously on Super Sunday it was much closer but, yeah, I was unable to just find that last second.
Evans couldn't match team-mates Ogier and Rovanperä, but did extend his series lead
“So that was a bit frustrating. And of course, the overall weekend is a little bit disappointing from that side with the strength of the car we had, but you know, here we are.
“But obviously there’s still decent points, so it’s not all bad.”
There was more negative than positive in the tone from Evans, but he’s aware extending his championship lead from 36 to 43 points is a good thing.
“Yeah, no, exactly,” he agreed. “It’s been a good weekend from that side.
“Of course, it’s going to get more difficult from here on in now heading to a string of these gravel rallies, but [we’ll] continue to do the best and see what’s possible.”
The potential worry for Evans going forward is not just Rovanperä who, although conscious Canarias is a specific rally, rediscovered his very best form after an indifferent start to 2025.
It’s the fact he didn’t appear to have the same confidence with the GR Yaris Rally1 that he did at previous events.
Evans found improvements over the weekend but reckoned driving style cost him vs Rovanperä
Asked if it was fair to say his feeling with the car wasn’t quite as strong as at other rounds this year, Evans agreed and said he suspected that would be the case heading into the rally.
“Yeah, I sort of knew coming in,” he explained. “In fairness, the guys had improved a lot during the testing, you know, from where I left it from the national rally [Rally Sierra Morena] in Spain. So, yeah, definitely, definitely better.
“There was progress made, but… clearly, you know, I think the others were struggling as well. So I think ultimately it came down to driving style why Kalle was able to be so much faster.”
Toyota has already been testing ahead of Rally Portugal this week, with Rovanperä driving on Tuesday and Evans taking the wheel on Wednesday.
