World Rally Championship: Elfyn Evans loses further ground to leader Ogier in Greece

Elfyn Evans lost further ground to World Rally Championship leader Sebastien Ogier, finishing sixth in the Acropolis Rally Greece.

Ogier now leads his Toyota team-mate by 44 points after finishing third in a race won by another Yaris driver, Finland's Kalle Rovanpera.

Evans finished second on the final stage, gaining four bonus points at the end of a race hit by mechanical issues.

"There's a lot of ifs and buts in rallying," said the Welsh driver.

"The feeling in the car was generally quite good but you can never predict these things and you can never say what if.

"Not our weekend this time, but there we go."

Evans, 32, and co-driver Scott Martin lost almost five minutes on Friday's stages when gearbox trouble meant he was only able to shift up gears, but not down.

Belgian Thierry Neuville, who started the weekend tied on 124 points with Evans, also had problems during the race, hampered temporarily by power steering issues.

The Hyundai driver finished the rally in eighth place and now has 130 points, compared to 136 for Evans and 180 for reigning champion Ogier.

The French driver could seal his eighth world title at the first of two events next month, Rally Finland (1-3 October) which is followed by Rally de Espana (14-17 October).

The season's final race scheduled for Japan has been cancelled, but details are awaited of a replacement 12th round staged at Monza.

The Italian circuit also hosted a late additional event last year when Ogier won the final stage to clinch his seventh championship and deny Evans a first WRC title.

For 20-year-old Rovanpera it was his second WRC victory, having previously won the Rally Estonia in July.

"I was not maybe the most comfortable coming here, but it just showed that now everything is going well for us and we can really push hard," said the Finnish driver who is now fourth in the championship with 129 points.

"Big thanks to the team, everybody did a great job. We had a perfect car and also a rough rally and it was running without issues all the time.

"I hope at least the same speed in Finland, but let's see."