Evans must outscore Rovanpera at this weekend’s first running of the asphalt event to take the title fight to the season finale in Japan next month.
The Toyota driver put up a stern fight on Friday recovering from starting the day in eighth overall to run as high as second behind his team-mate Rovanpera. But Evans was unable to match the Finn’s speed in tricky wet conditions.
Evans dropped to third behind Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville by the end of stage eight, 47.2s adrift of Rovanpera.
The Welshman declared Rovanpera did an “incredible job”, admitting that his rival's pace wasn’t all down to starting first on the road in the tough conditions.
“Clearly the gap is not going to be reachable by pure driving,” Evans told Autosport. “He has done an incredible job today.
“Of course, he made the use of his road position but also more than that, and in fairness he has done a really great job and I couldn’t follow his speed.
“From our side we have to try and fight to get back in front of Thierry. We will continue to do the best we can until the end.”
Source: Autosport