Elfyn Evans is lying ninth after the second day of Rally Sweden after being hit by a puncture on the snowy roads.

The Dolgellau-born driver is looking to follow up his sixth place in Monte Carlo last month on his return to the World Rally Championship.

Evans would have been higher placed but for the puncture in his DMACK Ford Fiesta WRC car.

“It’s been a tricky day,” admitted Evans. “I had a puncture this morning and we’ve struggled this afternoon but there’s positives to take away.”

Evans is three minutes down on Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville who finished the day with a lead of over 28 seconds.

There are two days left of the second round of the season.

Standings after SS8:

Pos. Driver Car Time/Gap
1 Thierry Neuville Hyundai 1h16m24.7s
2 Jari-Matti Latvala Toyota +28.1s
3 Ott Tanak Ford +49.7s
4 Kris Meeke Citroen +51.8s
5 Sebastien Ogier Ford +55.7s
6 Hayden Paddon Hyundai +1m17.8s
7 Dani Sordo Hyundai +1m40.3s
8 Craig Breen Citroen +1m54.3s
9 Elfyn Evans Ford +3m01.5s
10 Stephane Lefebvre Citroen +3m23.6