Evans inherited a 19.1s lead on Saturday morning after Friday’s pacesetter Thierry Neuville retired for the day after crashing out in stage 11 in the morning loop.
However, Evans faced a stern challenge from Tanak in the afternoon, who reduced the gap to 12.5s before a mechanical issue struck his car in the day’s penultimate stage.
Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi struggled for outright pace throughout, but held onto a comfortable third, 55.4s adrift in the sole remaining i20 N.
Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier managed to haul himself from seventh to fourth courtesy of three stage wins across the day, but is only 2.0s ahead of his world champion team-mate Kalle Rovanpera.
Ogier suffered a 10s penalty for checking into the day’s opening stage late after having to fix a problem on his GR Yaris, due to an error in service, on a …