DOLGELLAU’S Elfyn Evans has work to do to keep his FIA World Rally Championship title hopes alive after a tough day at Rally Saudi Arabia on Thursday.

After Wednesday evening’s opening super special stage in host city Jeddah, Thursday took crews northwards into the mountains and deserts for two loops of three stages, split by mid-day service.

A loose sandy surface meant that road cleaning would be a major factor, with each car creating a cleaner line for those behind to follow.

Toyota Gazoo Racing’s three protagonists for the drivers’ championship – Elfyn Evans, Sébastien Ogier and Kalle Rovanperä – suffered the most with road cleaning given their positions at the front of the road order.

Al Faisaliyah was the least severe in this regard and Ogier was able to set two third-fastest times there and end the day at the head of the trio in seventh overall.

Rovanperä was running one position behind before he sustained tyre damage in SS4 and conceded around 40s.

He managed to move back in front of Evans – who was opening the road as the championship leader – for eighth place on the day’s last gravel stage.

Evan said: “It’s been a tough day out there. This morning I was too conservative on the first stage and a bit disappointed to give away so much time.

“After that, the cleaning effect was more dramatic on the next two stages, and it felt like my pace wasn’t so bad compared to Seb just behind.

“I think the cleaning was maybe even worse in some places on the second pass of the stages.

“It’s tough to know how well you’re driving when the road is evolving so fast.

“But we’re still here and tomorrow we have a longer loop of stages where staying out of trouble will probably be quite tough, but I’ll just stay focused on my own driving.”

1 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) 1h18m45.3s

2 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +6.0s

3 Mārtiņš Sesks/Renārs Francis (Ford Puma Rally1) +6.9s

4 Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +13.7s

5 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +14.9s

6 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +22.9s

7 Sébastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +44.2s

8 Kalle Rovanperä/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +1m21.2s

9 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +1m25.3s

10 Grégoire Munster/Louis Louka (Ford Puma Rally1) +2m10.9s

(Results as of 21:10 on Thursday, for the latest results please visit www.wrc.com)

Friday will be the longest day of the rally, with 134.34 competitive kilometres to be driven across another two loops of three stages, separated by mid-day service.