Dolfellau’s Elfyn Evans is just 0.7 seconds from the lead of the Rally de España at the end of a strong opening day for the team, with Toyota Gazoo Racing team-mate an WRC leader Sébastien Ogier making it two Toyota Yaris WRC drivers inside the top three.

Thierry Neuville in his (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC leads the way going into the second day which starts this morning.

Continuing his fine form after victory on the previous round in Finland, Evans made an excellent start to the asphalt event with the fastest time in all three of Friday morning’s stages.

The afternoon loop provided a different challenge with more gravel being pulled out onto the road, and Evans had a wide moment on a particularly slippery corner in the beginning of SS5.

He did well however to limit the time lost to his closest rival and end the day only narrowly behind overall.

Ogier, who led the drivers’ championship by 24 points over Evans coming into the penultimate round of the season, held third place throughout the day and finished it 19.4s away from the lead.

Elfyn said following his run yesterday: “This morning was very good for us. The feeling in the car was good and we got into a pretty nice rhythm, but I was surprised to have such a strong time in the first stage.

“The afternoon loop was OK for the most part, it was just the middle stage where it was a bit more dirty that seemed to be a bit difficult for us.

“We had a big moment and hit the rear fairly hard on a kerb, but we got away with it. It’s very close now between the top two positions and it’s all to play for going into another tricky day tomorrow.”