Evans spent the majority of the day fighting with world championship leader Rovanpera, after the Finn assumed the rally lead on stage two and then went on to reel off five consecutive stage wins.
Rovanpera’s roll on stage eight handed Evans a lead which he maintained across the afternoon to hold a 6.9s gap over Neuville after 10 of 22 stages.
Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta completed the day in third (+16.4s) ahead of Hyundai’s Teemu Suninen (+28.8s) and Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala (+1m23.7s), competing in a one-off WRC comeback drive.
Only five Rally1 cars reached service following retirements from Rovanpera, Esapekka Lappi (who crashed his Hyundai in stage five) plus M-Sport duo Ott Tanak and Pierre-Louis Loubet. Tanak suffered an engine issue caused by an impact to his Ford Puma’s sump guard in stage three, while Loubet crashed out in the same stage.
After an impressive morning loop, Rovanpera continued his stage-winning form heading into the afternoon by winning stage six (Laukaa, 11.78km).
The Finn was surprised to set the pace after stating he was “too careful” on the wet gravel roads. However, he still lit up the timing screens to take the stage win by 0.2s from Katsuta, with nearest overall rival Evans 1.4s slower.
Neuville struggled to unlock pace from his Hyundai in the conditions and subsequently lost third overall to the rapid Katsuta.
Neuville even lost more time on stage seven (Lankamaa, 14.21km) in unusual circumstances as heavy rain began to fall. The Belgian slowed before the flying finish boards due to an issue with his windscreen wipers.
Source: Autosport