Last year’s championship runner-up dominated the opening night stages in dry conditions, securing a 15.1s lead over Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville.
Hyundai faced challenges as all three entries encountered issues. Ott Tanak, despite a throttle problem, finished fourth (+22.8s) behind nine-time Monte Carlo winner Sebastien Ogier (+21.6s) in third.
Adrien Fourmaux, in his full-time Rally1 return with M-Sport, claimed fifth (+39.0s) ahead of Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta (+46.3s), M-Sport’s Gregoire Munster (+1m06.0s), and Hyundai’s new recruit Andreas Mikkelsen (+1m08.8s).
Evans led the timing screens in the first stage, winning the 21.01km Thoard-St Geniez, with Tanak trailing by 5.2s due to a throttle issue. Neuville was 3.1s slower than his teammate, while Ogier faced challenges from a dirty road surface.
Fourmaux delivered a strong performance, securing the fifth quickest time, 16.2s adrift. Katsuta and Munster followed, with Mikkelsen finishing 32.9s behind Evans, battling engine mapping issues.
Evans continued his strong start, winning stage two (Bayons-Breziers 25.19km), with Neuville facing a “small trouble” and Tanak dropping to fourth due to worsening throttle issues.
Ogier climbed to third, posting the third fastest time, 11.8s adrift. In WRC2, Pepe Lopez led, while Sami Pajari was the top Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 runner, sitting fourth in class behind Citroen duo Nikolay Gryazin and Yohan Rossel.
The rally continues on Friday with six stages covering a total distance of 105.72km.
