Second-placed finish for M-Sport's Teemu Suninen and Jarmo Lehtinen at Rally Italia Sardegna

It was the perfect debut for the new partnership, with 25-year-old Suninen’s youth, speed and ambition paired brilliantly with 50-year-old Lehtinen’s knowledge, experience and continued desire to succeed.

The result also marked Suninen’s second FIA World Rally Championship podium, and Lehtinen’s 70th.

Showcasing their pace with three fastest times on Friday, the pair also demonstrated consistency and set the second or third fastest time on all of Saturday’s stages.

Instructed to bring the car safely home, the young Finn resisted the urge to push for second through Sunday’s closing stages, but still managed to reduce the gap from 17 to 13.7 seconds.

Then, third place became a career-best second when rally leader Ott Tänak fell to fifth through the final kilometres.

Ensuring both Fiestas finished in the top four, Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin collected another strong haul of points to consolidate their fourth place in the championship.

The British pair had been part of a Fiesta one-two through the early stages, but fell adrift of the podium when the second pass of Castelsardo (SS7) was cancelled for the cars behind, giving their rivals the benefit of fresher tyres and a better road position the following day.

Locked in an intense battle for fourth place, which became a battle for third given the late drama, the Welshman missed out by less than a second. But despite forgoing a double podium for the Fiesta, he strengthens his championship position going into the summer break.

M-Sport team principal Richard Millener said: "It’s been a really good weekend for us with both cars challenging for the top results.

"We’ve now led a rally on snow, asphalt and gravel, and secured some really strong points in the process. We’ve closed the gap on Citroen and our two drivers are up to fourth and fifth after ‘the big three’, which is really impressive."

"The partnership with Jarmo was working really well," added Suninen.