Evans took a commanding 1m49.9s lead over team-mate Sebastien Ogier into the day’s eight stages after starring in treacherous wet conditions on Friday.
The Welsh driver conceded time to Ogier across Saturday’s stage but will head into Sunday’s final six stages with a margin of 1m15.0s.
Toyota remained on course to secure a podium lockout on home soil as two-time world champion Kalle Rovanpera ended the day in third, 1m40.6s adrift.
The sole remaining Hyundai of Esapekka Lappi completed the day in fourth (+3m09.3s) after starting Saturday in seventh.
M-Sport’s Ott Tanak managed to extend the gap over sixth-placed Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta to 14.9s in the day’s final stage.
WRC2 champion Andreas Mikkelsen, Gregoire Munster, Nikolay Gryazin and Kajetan Kajetanowicz completed the top 10.
Source: Autosport