Evans started the day 5.7s behind leader Neuville but the Welshman inherited the rally lead when his Hyundai rival went off the road in stage 11, which forced Neuville to retire from the day’s action.
The sole remaining Hyundai of Esapekka Lappi headed to service in third, 44.8s adrift.
Only 4.7s covered fourth to seventh with M-Sport’s Pierre-Louis Loubet leading the best of the rest.
Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier climbed ahead of team-mate Takamoto Katsuta to fifth overall, while world champion Kalle Rovanpera won three of the four stages to sit poised in seventh.
With the road order reversed, Rovanpera made the most of being first into the stages after difficult Friday that was headlined by him losing more than two minutes to a flat tyre.
The Finn recorded his first stage win since Sweden in February by setting the pace in stage 9, as he began to close in on team-mate Ogier, who started the day with a one-minute penalty for a safety belt infringement on stage 2.
Ogier’s morning also started on the back foot as the Frenchman had to fix a mysterious issue with his GR Yaris on the road section before stage.
“A small mistake was done in service this morning and we had to fix it [before SS9], the car would have been undriveable otherwise,” said Ogier, who was 1.4s slower than Rovanpera.
Ott Tänak, Martin Järveoja, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1
Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images
Tanak, much more comfortable in the Ford Puma, produced arguably the most impressive drive considering his road position to clock the second fastest-time, 1.2s adrift of Rovanpera.
Despite facing the worst of the conditions, Neuville was able to tame his Hyundai on the roads made slippery from gravel being dragged onto the surface to extend his rally lead by setting the fourth quickest time.
Evans admitted he was too careful in the stage and dropped 4.8s to Neuville, who pushed his lead out to 10.5s.
Neuville was able to eke out his advantage over Evans to another three tenths after stage 10, which was won by Rovanpera, who pipped Ogier by 0.1s.
Tanak continued his charge and also took time out of Evans to close within 16.1s of the Toyota driver in the battle for second.
However, the battle for victory took a decisive twist on the next test, stage 11, the only brand new addition to this year’s route.
Again facing the worse of the road conditions, Neuville misjudged a long right hander, 5.2km into the 10.13km test and crashed out of the…
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