Motorsport: Evans confirmed in third Ford Fiesta

Elfyn Evans will return to the World Rally Championship elite category after he was confirmed as a starter for M-Sport Ford in a 2017 Fiesta for this month's Monte Carlo rally.

Evans had been with the Ford outfit previously but was left without a WRC drive in 2016 when the British team opted to go with Norway's Mads Ostberg and French youngster Eric Camilli.

But the Welshman returns to the top level of the sport in 2017 and will pilot the third Fiesta that will run on DMACK tyres unlike his two teammates, who will run with Michelins.

World champion Sebastien Ogier announced he was moving to M-Sport Ford in December while Estonian Ott Tanak will race the second Fiesta.

Kiwi Hayden Paddon, Thierry Neuville and Dani Sordo will drive the three Hyundai entries in Monte Carlo while Toyota and Citroen will run just two cars each on the first event of the year. Jari-Matti Latvala and Juho Hanninen will pilot to the Toyota Yaris cars in the Japanese manufacturer's return to the WRC while Brit Kris Meeke and Frenchman Stephane Lefebvre will run the Citroen C3 WRCs.