Solberg ended Thursday 44.2s clear of Evans after he mastered a treacherous loop full of wet Tarmac, slush, ice, snow and even fog.
Friday morning didn’t offer the crews any respite, with SS4 again a mixed-surface affair – beginning dry before turning icy as the stage gained elevation.
And once more, Solberg was the boss – stopping the clocks 19.1s faster than Thierry Neuville, 26.5s quicker than Evans, to boost his rally lead north of one minute.
However the Swede immediately lost the time he gained on the succeeding stage, when a front-left puncture afforded Evans to take 27.2s out of him – narrowing Solberg’s lead back down to 43.5s.
The damaged tire was a studded Hankook, leaving Solberg somewhat compromised for the final stage which was icy at the start before drying towards the end.
But the 24-year-old re-established his authority, beating Evans by 20.7s to move his rally lead back up over a minute to 1m04.2s.
“For sure it was cleaning a little bit, but there was so much mud on the second part,” Solberg said. “I had one snow tire, only three studs, oh my god I tell you that was crazy. We took some small risks, but it worked!”
Sébastien Ogier has never finished lower than second at the Monte Carlo Rally when he’s started it in a top-class car, but is currently third – 1m39.9s off the lead and 35.7s behind Evans – and struggling as an early runner on the tricky conditions.
Thierry Neuville is just 16.7s behind the world champion, gaining good time on SS4 and SS6 but losing plenty on SS5.
Neuville leads Hyundai’s charge, 31.6s ahead of team-mate Adrien Fourmaux who took fifth from M-Sport’s Jon Armstrong on the middle stage of the loop.
Armstrong failed to match the height of his top-three time on Thursday – setting the seventh-best time on all three of the morning’s stages – but remains in a top-six position on his Rally1, and Monte Carlo, debut.
“If we’re still going, that’s the main thing. We just tried to get through,” he said.
Takamoto Katsuta picked up a puncture on SS5 and then again on SS6, leaving him a lonely seventh overall with a “really careful” Hayden Paddon 16.0s behind.
Paddon questioned if anyone actually enjoys the Monte Carlo Rally...
“I enjoy the car, I enjoy being here, but I don’t know who enjoys this rally…” Paddon smiled.
Grégoire Munster had been ninth but stopping to change a puncture – that then left him without studs on the front and therefore battling understeer – dropped him outside the top 10. Like Katsuta, he too collected another puncture on the final stage of the morning to drop another minute.
Léo Rossel’s WRC2-leading Citroën is therefore ninth, 31.s2 ahead of Nikolay Gryazin’s Lancia.
Josh McErlean and Sami Pajari both restarted after retiring on Thursday night’s second stage, running first and second on the road.
And both got through the morning unscathed, despite Pajari’s door opening towards the end of SS5.
“I’m trying to work really hard to understand where I can still take some time – I’m not really happy but I just need to keep working,” said the Finn.
