After six completed special stages, the gaps remain very small. Sebastien Ogier, Evans’s teammate in second place, is only 1.5 seconds behind the Welshman. The entire top six are separated by just over 23 seconds.
Evans set one fastest time on Thursday and has continued with consistently solid performances on Friday.
“No problems but it was tricky. Obviously, it looks like the first stage, especially, was evolving with every car – looking at the times of the later runners, at least.”
“It was also evolving quite quickly in that last run of the loop when the sun came out. That means what the ice the gravel crew had marked was generally not there. But of course, you only have to go around the corner to the shaded part and it was there. That’s not easy to to judge at all,” Evans said.
Ogier, who is chasing his tenth victory in Monte-Carlo, was in agreement with his teammate.
“Every stage we drove so far were challenging. The first one, a lot of grip change with the ice and the frost. It was difficult to read it. So I was a bit on the safe side but it was a decent time,” Ogier told.
“Then the last one was also difficult in the way that it was much drier and higher grip in general, but some very sudden big change of grip as well. It was not easy to to find the limit.”
The entire top six can still challenge Evans and Ogier for the rally victory. The gaps are unusually small for Monte-Carlo, at least for now.
“We have to try our best and don’t look so much around. It’s 1,5 seconds to Elfyn, but I think the top 6 is within 23 seconds, so it’s still close. Still many things can happen. So for sure, we have to keep doing our best and stay out of trouble.”
Three more special stages will be run on Friday. The Rally Monte-Carlo concludes on Sunday.
