The Jaguar driver topped the timesheets at the end of the four-and-a-half-hour session with a 1m24.791s, leaving him just 0.023s clear of Porsche’s Antonio Felix da Costa.
The same pair also topped the standings on Tuesday morning prior to a fire in the garage of battery supplier WAE (formerly known as Williams Advanced Engineering) which halted proceedings at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Spain.
With the FIA conducting an investigation and satisfied with the findings, running once again resumed on Thursday at 2pm local time.
Edoardo Mortara set the early pace with a 1m25.661s as Mahindra ran only one car after the team suffered damage as a result of the blaze on Tuesday, including to the car of Nyck de Vries.
It meant the ex-AlphaTauri Formula 1 driver was unable to take part in the session having finished last of the runners on Tuesday morning, his first time driving Mahindra’s Gen3 machine.
Mortara finished Thursday’s session third overall, just 0.112s behind Evans, but came to a stop twice on the same lap before recovering to the pits with over an hour left on the clock.
Robin Frijns, on his return to Envision, was the only other driver to dip below the 1m25s mark in fourth.
Source: Autosport