Elfyn Evans will carry a 13.3-second lead into the final day of Rally Sweden, with Toyota holding a dominant 1-2-3-4 formation.
Evans trailed team-mate Takamoto Katsuta by 2.8s at the beginning of Saturday, but with Katsuta struggling for grip and rhythm, the Welshman pulled clear across the second morning of the event.
Never outside the top-four times all day, Evans judged things perfectly as attention turned to the battle behind.
Oliver Solberg moved ahead of the two Hyundais of Esapekka Lappi and Adrien Fourmaux on Saturday’s opening stage, instead setting his sights on third-placed Sami Pajari.
But the Finn responded over the afternoon, winning two of the four tests to extend his cushion over Solberg from 24s to 33s.
That, in turn, put pressure on Katsuta’s shoulders, who only has a 12.1s advantage over Pajari with a 13.3s deficit to Evans. But Katsuta is not giving up on victory.
“One more day to go,” he said. “Not really happy today but we will find out what was wrong and definitely I try my best tomorrow.”
Can Katsuta catch Evans on Sunday?
Evans countered: “This morning was obviously pretty good but this afternoon a bit more mixed. Looking after the tires is maybe not my speciality bit it’s still been a clean afternoon.”
Pajari added: “I try to, let’s say, at least give some little pressure on Taka, but he’s still pretty quick as well. So it’s not too easy.”
“At least we’re up to P4 now which is something <i>,” Solberg confessed, “but it’s not where I want to be. I knew P3 would be a long shot but at least we are P4.”
Lappi remains the leading Hyundai in fifth place overall, fending off the advances of Fourmaux who unlocked more performance after some setup tweaks.
The Frenchman is trying to “optimize things for Super Sunday, just as we did in Monte Carlo”, but heads into that points-paying final day just 8.2s adrift of Lappi overall.
Thierry Neuville is rooted in seventh but had a better day than on Friday which he declared was the toughest time in his career. He’s ahead of M-Sport pair Jon Armstrong and Josh McErlean; the former Puma pilot impressing on SS13 by beating two of the Hyundais.
WRC2 leader Roope Korhonen completes the top 10, 16.6s ahead of rival Teemu Suninen.
