Esapekka Lappi won two of today's special stages and took over the lead from Estonian competitor Ott Tänak on stage seven, which was the last of the day.
The last two special distances were deleted after problems with, among other things, the removal of a car in the rally2 class that started to burn.
Lappi and Tänak are 0.7 seconds apart ahead of tomorrow's stage with eight special stages.
Third in the rally is 25-year-old Pierre-Louis Loubet who impressed a lot during the day.
- What a day and what a pleasure to be here after everything I have been through in recent months.
Thanks to everybody!
I will stay focused for tomorrow, Loubet writes in social media.
Evans broke
Loubet's teammate Craig Breen is four - 0.4 seconds behind and Dani Sordo is chasing heels.
The Spaniard who shares a car with Oliver Solberg.
It is very even at the top with the top five drivers within 16 seconds.
Several drivers had major problems today, including Elfyn Evans who was forced to break for the day early after the car was damaged in the landing after a jump.
World Cup leader Kalle Rovanperä, who won three races in a row, tore his hind wing when he walked wide and was on the side of the road on one of the stretches.
The injury affected, among other things, the aerodynamics and the 21-year-old lost a lot of time on subsequent distances.
Rovanperä is eight full 1.13.1 after Lappi.
The runner-up in the World Cup overall, Thierry Neuville, also had costly problems today.
On stretch five, the Belgian came to the finish line with transmission problems and after that, his chances for a leading position on Friday were ruined.
He is nine for tomorrow.
Follow the World Rally Championship in Sardinia live on SVT this weekend.