Welsh star just misses out on podium place after mechanical puts him out of contention.
Elfyn started the new season right on the pace, finishing Rallye Monte Carlo’s opening night’s stages in second place behind multiple event winner and team-mate Sebastien Ogier.
That feeling continued throughout the first day as untypically fully dry stages lifted the pace and a flat-out battle ensued.
However, a puncture on stage five cost over 40 seconds, dropping Elfyn down the order and out of the battle for victory as he struggled to understand just where the tyre issue had happened.
He battled back on the mountain stages, going fastest on Friday afternoon before setting a string of top-three times on every stage during Saturday to eventually climb back to fourth.
With three extra Power Stage points he came away holding fourth position in the championship.