Evans’ superstar Sabbath gives him leadership in Finland

• Elfyn Evans defeated his rivals with a masterful attack on Saturday to take control of Secto Automotive Rally Finland.

He was the fastest on all four stages in the Finnish autumn forests to go from third to first in his Toyota Yaris, leaving the Hyundai i20 duo Craig Breen and Ott Tanak in his wake.

Tanak responded this afternoon and scored three runs before Evans added another best time. The spoils were shared in the final stage and Evans came to the night stop by 9.1 seconds in this 10th round of the FIA ​​World Rally Championship.

Victory here is essential for Evans to maintain his hopes of winning his first world title. Although he admitted to making some small mistakes, he was pleased with his performance on a grueling day that contained more than half of the rally’s competitive distance.

“It was a good day, I really enjoyed it”, She said Evans. “It was a big fight and obviously there is still a long way to go tomorrow, but we will take it in stages”.

Tanak wasn’t able to respond to the Welshman this morning, but his i20 mid-stage servicing shift changed his feel in the car and prompted him to recover in the afternoon.

Brien started the day in the lead, but the Irishman couldn’t match his rivals. After giving up pole position to Evans in the second stage of the morning, she slipped behind Tanak on the first day of the afternoon and finished the day 19.5 seconds behind his head.

Craig Brin came third after another good day for the Irish

Esapekka Lappi retained fourth place with her Yaris. The Finn was 6.7 seconds off the lead after yesterday’s first skirmish, but finished the penultimate stage 25.3 seconds behind Brien.

Kali Rovanpera was also in the fight for victory on Friday night. Lappe fell from fourth in Saturday’s opening test, but that didn’t matter three stages later when the Finn swerved before hitting a dirt ramp and backing away with frontal damage to his Yaris.

Championship leader Sebastien Ogier finished fifth, 38.9 seconds behind. The Frenchman had been fighting in his Yaris all morning before the setup changes boosted his confidence and improved his times in the afternoon.

Their hopes were fed by abandoning Thierry Nouvel. The Belgian extended his lead on the Ogier before retiring into the last part of the woods with the i20’s front end damaged.

Esapekka Lappi was the Finnish leader who finished fourth in a Toyota Yaris

Ford Fiesta Gus Greensmith and Adrien Fourmaux finished sixth and seventh, with WRC2 leader Teemu Suninen eighth in a Volkswagen Polo GTI. Mads Ostberg and WRC3 leader Emil Lindholm completed the standings.

Takamoto Katsuta retired from eighth in Päijälä this morning when he landed poorly after a jump and threw his Toyota Yaris crash into the brush. With the right rear suspension broken, the Japanese driver did not go further.

Only four sections totaling 45.74 km make up Sunday’s end. The riders traveled east to Jyväskylä for two passes each on the classic tracks at Laukaa and the big jumps at Ruuhimäki. The second pass through Ruuhimäki is the Wolf Power Stage.