Last year’s championship runner-up blitzed the pair of night stages held in dry conditions to open up a 15.1s lead over Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville.
It proved to be a challenging evening for Hyundai as all three of its entries suffered issues. Ott Tanak battled a throttle problem to end the loop in fourth (+22.8s), behind nine-time Monte Carlo winner Sebastien Ogier (+21.6s) in third.
Adrien Fourmaux impressed on his full-time Rally1 return with M-Sport to net fifth (+39.0s) ahead of Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta (+46.3s), M-Sport’s Gregoire Munster (+1m06.0s) and Hyundai’s new recruit Andreas Mikkelsen (+1m08.8s).
Evans lit up the timing screens in the opening stage of the season, even if the Welshman was unsure if he had made the most of the grip on the dry asphalt.
The Toyota driver’s benchmark time on the 21.01km Thoard-St Geniez was more than enough to win the test.
Hyundai’s new signing Tanak came the closest to toppling Evans after posting a time 5.2s adrift. The Estonian did reveal at the stage end that he was battling a throttle issue.
Source: Autosport