Wales WRC: Evans extends lead over Tanak

M-Sport driver Evans picked up where he left off at the start of the afternoon loop by winning SS5 Myherin, going 4.3 seconds faster than anyone else in his DMACK-shod Ford Fiesta.

Evans was then beaten to the fastest time on the next two stages by Sebastien Ogier and Thierry Neuville respectively, but still stretched his lead over closest challenger Ott Tanak to 24.6 seconds.

Tanak had looked feisty on the morning loop but was slower than Ogier on all three stages of the repeat loop - although he will head into the second day with 2.2s over his M-Sport teammate.

Ogier's victory on SS6 Sweet Lamb was his first since Thursday evening's superspecial, and was part of a stronger afternoon loop that hoisted back onto the tail of his teammates, with M-Sport cars currently occupying a 1-2-3 in the order.

Neuville's SS7 stage win was the first non-Fiesta win of the event, and elevated him to fourth in the order.

The Belgian complained that he was not happy with his Hyundai i20 after his stage-winning run through Hafren, but would be just three tenths away from Ogier in the overall order without a 10-second penalty incurred overnight.

Toyota driver Jari-Matti Latvala and Kris Meeke, who lost lost two positions on the afternoon's final stage in his Citroen C3, separate Neuville and his teammate Andreas Mikkelsen in the classification.

The third and fourth Hyundais of Dani Sordo and Hayden Paddon are eighth and ninth in the order, while Juho Hanninen is 10th.

Craig Breen stopped on the final stage of the day, with Citroen teammate Meeke reporting his C3 was stuck in a ditch.

He had earlier lost time on the first Hafren run with a slow puncture.