Finland's Kalle Rovanperä, also on a Toyota and leader in the general classification of the world championship, is in 3rd position at 11.1 seconds after setting two out of three scratch times on Friday (SS3 and SS4).
Ott Tänak, the 2019 world champion, had a scare at the start of the day during the 2nd special when the gear lever of his Hyundai broke.
The Estonian lost a lot of time and was only in 7th position, 29.6 seconds behind the leader.
He had to drive on the following stages with a lever hastily cobbled together by the Hyundai mechanics.
The first special of the day was won by Sébastien Loeb (Ford), who edged Evans, Ogier and another Frenchman, Adrien Fourmaux (Ford), who is in 8th place overall some 32 seconds behind.
The 4th special was very trying for the competitors because of the dust which invaded the passenger compartments, the ruts also deepening as the cars passed.
This favored Rovanperä which opened the way.
"I got lost in my own dust", admitted Loeb, 5th at 15 sec, considering that the passage on the same course, but in the other direction, for the 7th and last special of the day in the after- noon might not be possible.
Belgian Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) lost a lot of power there, the clogging of the air filter by dust being identified as a possible cause.
He was therefore only in 9th position overall, more than a minute behind Evans.
Irishman Gus Greensmith (Ford) suffered a puncture when he was in 4th place overall and then saw one of his shock absorbers catch fire forcing him to stop on the edge of the track before leave not without having lost a lot of time.
© 2022 AFP