Evans guided his Toyota GR Yaris to two fastest times from the three stages, to open up a 2.6s-lead over Hyundai’s Teemu Suninen, as the WRC endured a spectacular return to South America's gravel roads.
M-Sport’s Ott Tanak headed to midpoint service in third, 0.1s adrift of Suninen, despite suffering a spin and loss of hybrid. Championship leader Kalle Rovanpera, who could seal a second world title this weekend, limited the damage of opening roads to hold fourth (+13.6s).
Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville (+21.7s), Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta (+28.3s) and M-Sport Rally1 debutant Gregoire Munster (+52.7s) completed the top seven. The latter was without a pacenote book, leaving co-driver Louis Louka to resort to reading notes from a mobile phone.
The rally kicked off with a demanding fast and technical pass through the Pulperia (19.77km), which provided plenty of drama.
Tanak, starting fourth on the road, managed to tame the “fun but extremely demanding” stage to move into an early lead after clocking a time 2.1s faster than Hyundai’s Suninen.
Evans, who topped Thursday’s shakedown, posted the third-quickest time (+4.9s) having started second on the loose gravel road, while Loubet reached the stage end in fourth (+7.4s).
But championship leader Rovanpera struggled dealing with the loose gravel starting first on the road. The Finn was fifth-fastest, 10.0s slower than stage winner Tanak.
“It is definitely one of the worst stages I have done this year driving-wise,” said Rovanpera.
Source: Autosport