Evans doubles Rally Sweden lead over Tänak

The Toyota Yaris driver dominated in the forests of Norway and Sweden and doubled his lead over world champion Ott Tänak to 17.2sec with just one test remaining in Sunday’s amended finale.

Temperatures climbed above freezing overnight and the roads were softer than yesterday. Gravel sections put increased stress on studded winter tyres, but the changing conditions had no effect on Evans who has finished first or second in all but one special stage so far.

The Welshman survived a scare when a compression almost launched him off the road in the penultimate Nyckelvattnet stage. “I was caught out near the end when the sump guard touched and it threw the car into understeer in the wrong place,” he admitted.

“Who knows what tomorrow brings? Hopefully we can find the same rhythm as the last two days. We need to hit the nail on the head, it’s a long stage and you can easily lose a lot of time if you don’t gel with the conditions,” added Evans.

Credit: Courtesy of wrc.com – the official website of the FIA World Rally Championship