With SS2 then cancelled due to torrential rain, which caused flooding and landslides, competitors only had one more test to do, the 36.43 km Francardo-Sermano 1 test. Conditions remained tricky for SS3, but despite not thinking he had done enough, a storming time, 10.3s up on Kevin Abbring, vaulted him to the top.
Evans will now take a 18.7s cushion into the overnight halt, with better weather forecast for the weekend.
“It didn’t feel great to be honest,” the Welshman told the official WRC site after the stage. “I didn’t feel like I was carrying enough speed. It’s such a busy stage. My gravel note crew though did a great job.”
Meanwhile, Abbring was another on the move and his second best time in his Hyundai i20 WRC moved him up from P7 to P2, 4.2 seconds ahead of Jari-Matti Latvala’s Volkswagen: “We made some changes in service and the car feels good,” Abbring said. “The pace notes are good too. Okay, it is only our second tarmac rally in this car, but I’m happy with how it is working.”
“A difficult stage,” added Latvala. “I took it really carefully. I didn’t want to risk anything. It was very demanding.”
2015 Tour de Corse – Rallye de France: Overall standings after Stage 3 (Top 10):
1. Elfyn Evans M-Sport WRT Ford Fiesta RS WRC 46m 48.5s M
2. Kevin Abbring Hyundai Motorsport i20 WRC +0m 18.7s
3. Jari-Matti Latvala Volkswagen Motorsport Polo R WRC +0m 22.9s M
4. Mads Ostberg Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT DS 3 WRC +0m 38.8s M
5. Robert Kubica Ford Fiesta RS WRC +0m 40.3s
6. Stephane Sarrazin Ford Fiesta RS WRC +0m 43.1s M
7. Andreas Mikkelsen Volkswagen Motorsport II Polo R WRC +0m 44.5s M
8. Kris Meeke Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT DS 3 WRC +0m 47.0s M
9. Bryan Bouffier M-Sport WRT Ford Fiesta RS WRC +1m 04.8s M
10. Sebastien Ogier Volkswagen Motorsport Polo R WRC +1m 13.2s M