Lindström praises Evans' mid-season speed

Vodafone Rally de Portugal crash aside, Evans has shown strong form for much of the year. Starting from a podium in Mexico, Evans has won in Croatia and Finland and finished in the top four on seven of the nine rallies run so far.

He sits 25 points adrift of team-mate and series leader Kalle Rovanperä ahead of next month’s EKO Acropolis Rally Greece (7 - 10 September).

Lindström said: “Elfyn’s driving was just brilliant – especially on the second morning in Finland. When we talked about Rally Finland before the event, his name was left out a little bit – people forgot that he was already a winner in Finland.

“He’s so good on the fast rallies, we’ve seen that before. He’s going very well right now and to come and fight with Kalle, Ott [Tänak] and those boys and win in Finland is very good for him. I competed in Finland a lot of times and I know how big it is – the win there gives good confidence.

“But Elfyn’s driving really well now, he’s very strong this season.”

Evans will be looking for better fortune in Lamia this time around. His Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 was ruled out with final morning turbo failure 12 months ago - something he cannot afford a repeat of as he hunts down Rovanperä with four rounds remaining.