GEMsport's Elfyn Evans took a somewhat controversial win on the Swansea Bay Clubmans' Rally last weekend, the fourth round in the VK Ford Fiesta SportingTrophy UK series.

Initially it looked as if Kris Hall had taken the spoils, but problems earlier in the day in SS3 - only six of the 17 FST crews completed it at speed after it was cancelled - turned the result on its head. The stewards eventually opted to scrub all times for Resolven and that handed the maximum points to Elfyn and his co-driver Gareth Roberts by virtue of their fastest time on the final test.

Speaking at the finish, Elfyn conceded he was 'lucky', especially he got caught out in SS3 by a deceptive corner and rolled - heavily damaging both the front and rear of the car but fortunately landing on the wheels and pointing in the right direction and with very little mechanical damage.

Although he regained his composure and finished the test, he lost 30 seconds to Hall - something that was academic after the ruling by the organisers.

"The first two stages were fine but on the third stage we were too quick into a corner and we rolled," he explained. "We didn't lose too much time on the stage; we got to service, fixed the bodywork, and then had a good run on the last stage and assumed we had finished second. We were very surprised to hear that the organisers had cancelled the third stage. It was a lucky win for us but a good result for the team nonetheless."

Hall meanwhile thus had to settle for the runners-up spot, 4.1 seconds adrift, despite having been quickest in SS1, SS2 and SS3. He was only eighth in SS4, 8.1 seconds off Elfyn and that ended up being crucial.

While disappointed with the result he was happy to have put in a confident and mature performance though and he picked up the Castrol Hard Charger Award, which was some consolation.

Alastair Fisher took the final spot on the podium, and after retiring from the third round of the series, the Severn Valley stages, when he got stuck in a ditch, he was pleased with 'bronze'.

Fourth, losing out on a podium position on the final stage was Tom Walster and after missing two rounds of the FST UK series he has quickly confirmed himself as a championship front runner.

Meilyr Evans was fifth doing just enough on the final stage to hold off Max Utting. Utting was happy to jump to second in the overall championship standings with just two rounds to go – although he is 26 points behind Elfyn.

James Everard survived a last minute scare, sustaining suspension damage after the finish of the last stage to take seventh, although slipping one place in the overall championship standings to third, while John Lloyd completed the top eight.

The winner of the MIS Insurance Most Improved Driver of the Day went to Luke Francis.