The Toyota driver reeled off seven consecutive stage wins to turn an overnight 6.9s lead into a commanding 32.1s advantage over Neuville heading into the final day.
After losing third following a spin in the morning, Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta snatched the final podium position back from Hyundai’s Teemu Suninen. Jari-Matti Latvala, the only other Rally1 field to complete full rally distance to date, ended the day in fifth, 3m39.5s adrift in his WRC comeback drive.
Reigning world champion Kalle Rovanpera was absent from Saturday’s action after incurring chassis damage following a roll while leading the rally on stage eight yesterday.
The championship leader joined Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi and M-Sport’s Ott Tanak on the sidelines after their respective retirements due to a crash and engine failure on Friday. The second M-Sport Ford of Pierre-Louis Loubet was able to rejoin the rally after crashing out yesterday.
The rain showers that dominated the morning running were replaced by sunshine for the start of the afternoon loop. While the roads remained damp, navigating the ruts was arguably the biggest challenge.
Stage 14 belonged to Evans as he stamped his authority on the event with perhaps his best drive in a Rally1 car to date. The Welshman defeated Neuville by a whopping 7.8s across the 18.94km test to push his lead out to 25.5s.
Neuville was surprised by the ruts and struggled with his i20 N yielding inconsistent grip.
Source: Autosport