Evans suffered a puncture right at the start of the stage and had to stop for a tyre change. At the same time, the Welshman lost a lot of time and dropped to 10th place overall, 12.8 seconds behind Grégoire Munster.
Evans was a complete question mark when he reached the midday service. He had not the slightest idea what had caused the puncture.
“Quite early on in the stage we got a puncture warning, and before that we had no indication of anything,” Evans said.
“We monitored the tyre pressure through the car’s systems, and it dropped really quickly, even though we still had a long way to go. In the end, changing the tyre was the only sensible option. But of course we lost a lot of time doing that,” Evans recapped.
Evans, however, remained very calm about his difficult situation.
“Now we just need to put our heads down and do everything we can in the afternoon to catch Grégoire again – and then carry on from there,” he noted.
Evans’ team-mate Sébastien Ogier naturally saw what had happened to the Welshman and drove very cautiously through the final loop of the morning. At the same time, Kalle Rovanperä was able to put pressure on Ogier and close the gap between the pair to just 19.9 seconds.
“The surface is really soft and there are rocks everywhere, so it’s largely about taking risks. And we have no particular desire to do that, that’s for sure,” Ogier reasoned.
Evans’ problems naturally played into Ogier’s hands – but the rally is, of course, still far from over.
“But in the end it doesn’t really change the rally – we still have to stay ahead. That’s the aim for the afternoon, even though what’s ahead is going to be even rougher. This isn’t something I particularly enjoy, but that’s just the situation we’re in,” Ogier said.
