Cockermouth’s M-Sport Ford World Rally Team were back in action last weekend as they tackled the mixed-surface terrain of RallyRACC Catalunya - Rally de España.

Contested over gravel and asphalt, the event incorporates the biggest service of the year and drivers Elfyn Evans and Teemu Suninen continued to show the team’s potential on all surfaces.

Starting on gravel, Evans and Carlisle co-driver Scott Martin were quick out of the box.

Never more than 10-15 seconds adrift of the lead, the British pairing proved that they had the speed to challenge for the top results before a misfire cost them 30 seconds to the leading pack.

Suninen was also showing good speed through the loose-surface stages, but tyre management would prove his undoing – the young Finn losing time by pushing too hard and taking too much out of his tyres on the first pass, and then being too cautious over the second.

As the two Ford Fiesta WRCs came into service on Friday evening, the team quickly set about the biggest service of the year – meticulously changing each car from its gravel to asphalt specification.

“This is definitely the biggest service of the year,” said head technician Garry Barker. “All of the preparation had been done in the workshop the week before, but there’s still a fair bit of pressure when you have to do it live and against the clock.

“We had 75 minutes to change the full suspension, brakes, gearbox, rear differential, steering rack and cross members. It’s a pretty big job which requires a lot of team work, but everything went to plan and we got the cars ready for Elfyn and Teemu to push for some strong times on asphalt.”

And the technicians did a good job as Evans got off to another strong start – setting a strong time on asphalt and reining his rival to within just a couple of seconds.

But as the event wore on, the Welshman struggled to find the same rhythm and had to settle for a sixth place finish – that was until the Power Stage when he regained his speed with an impressive second fastest time.

“We were able to show the speed we are capable of at times, but we weren’t able to do that all the time and I was struggling with the general feeling,” admitted the Welshman.

“Then we made a small change for the Power Stage and I was able to really push. We secured a good result there, and moved up again in the championship which is a positive.”

Guided by experienced co-driver Jarmo Lehtinen, Suninen improved his Tarmac pace throughout the weekend and regularly had the better of his more experienced rivals.

“I was really pleased with my pace and consistency on Tarmac,” he said, “and now we can focus on the next step which is to be even faster with that same consistency.”

Team principal Richard Millener was pleased to see some strong times, but admitted that it wasn’t the result they came for an that there remains some work to do if they are to challenge for victory on the final round in Australia.

“We came here wanting to challenge for the top results and although we’ve been there or thereabouts, with some great times, we’ve not ended up where we wanted to be.

“We saw some strong speed from Elfyn, especially in the Power Stage, and Teemu was pretty impressive too. But we need to work on maintaining our level throughout the entire weekend.

“Now there’s one rally left, and one more chance to take a victory this season – so we will continue to put all our efforts into preparing for the final in Australia.”

Elsewhere on the racetrack, Frank Bird’s hopes of ending his season in style were dashed when he failed to finish in the points on the final round of the Formula Renault Eurocup Championship at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi.

The 20-year-old Cumbrian was in a confident mood and posted the 12th fastest time in the opening test before upping his pace to start the opening race in ninth.

But bad luck intervened and the Penrith lad suffered a gearbox problem on the grid which meant he had to start from the pit land and crossed the line in 17th.

Then in the second race, it looked as through the youngster would finish his season in the points before another competitor collided with him and he secured 15th place at the chequered flag.