Evans started the day 5.7s behind leader Neuville but the Welshman inherited the rally lead when his Hyundai rival went off the road in stage 11, which forced the Neuville to retire from the day’s action.
The sole remaining Hyundai of Esapekka Lappi headed to service in third, 44.8s adrift.
Only 4.7s covered fourth to seventh with M-Sport’s Pierre-Louis Loubet leading the best of the rest.
Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier climbed ahead of team-mate Takamoto Katsuta to fifth overall, while world champion Kalle Rovanpera won three of the four stages to sit poised in seventh.
With the road order reversed, Rovanpera made the most of being first into the stages after difficult Friday that was headlined by losing more than two minutes to a flat tyre.
The Finn recorded his first stage win since Sweden in February by setting the pace in stage 9, as he began to close in on team-mate Ogier, who started the day with a one minute penalty for a safety belt infringement on stage 2.
Ogier’s morning also started on the back foot as the Frenchman had to fix a mysterious issue with his GR Yaris on the road section before stage.
“[There was] a small mistake was done in service this morning and we had to fix it [before SS9], the car would have been undriveable otherwise,” said Ogier, who was 1.4s slower than Rovanpera.
Source: Autosport