GEMsport's Elfyn Evans reinforced his position as an upcoming rally star last weekend when he came through to secure the Fiesta Sporting Trophy titles in both the UK and Ireland.

Elfyn had to take in two events in as many days, but despite that, he began perfectly and third place on the Colin McRae Forest Stages is enough to give him an unbeatable lead going into the final round of the FSTUK series in Yorkshire at the start of November.

Following that trip to Scotland, he immediately left Perth to catch a series of flights that would get him to Cork by midnight, ready to fight for the FST Ireland title the next day.

While Elfyn didn't win in Ireland, and opted to settle for second behind arch rival Alastair Fisher, that was enough there too.

Indeed while both end the season with 140 points in the FSTIE standings, Elfyn's win on round one, the Galway, ensures he finishes top of the pile and takes both crowns, something that is especially commendable after the tragic accident on the Donegal back in June.

"Having finished third on the McRae Stages on Saturday, we found this event far easier. We were able to use our own pacenotes in Ireland, which we were more comfortable with," Evans Jr reflected. "The morning stages were quite slippery, but we were only aiming for second, as we knew that we didn't have to beat Alastair [Fisher] to win the championship.

"This meant that we couldn't exactly crawl through the rally, but that we didn't have to take any stupid risks to secure the result we needed. The Irish FST has been really close competition between Alastair and I since Killarney; our stage times have been really close, but it's been a fantastic fight.

"As for winning both championships, we never thought that would happen, especially not in the same weekend - it just goes to show that you should never say 'never'! It's been a crazy weekend.

"Both events have been really tough and it has taken so much concentration to accumulate enough points to win both series."

GEMsport boss Gwyndaf Evans, himself a former British Rally champion and current works Mitsubishi driver, added that to win both the gravel series in the UK and the asphalt championship in Ireland, had exceeded all expectations. Indeed the team was only formed back in January.