ELFYN Evans dropped from first place to third at the end of Saturday's racing after "struggling for confidence in the tricky conditions".

The longest day of Rally Monte-Carlo rally began with Evans leading Toyota Gazoo Racing team-mate Sébastien Ogier by 4.5 seconds with Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) also in close pursuit.

Neuville moved to the front during the morning, but the top three were separated by only 7.7s at mid-day service.

Ogier then began the afternoon with back-to-back fastest times, recording his 700th WRC stage win as he claimed the rally lead for the first time this weekend in the day’s penultimate test.

Neuville responded to end the day in the lead, but Ogier, who trails by just 3.3 seconds going into the final day, still has a good chance of sealing a record-extending 10th victory on home roads.

Evans conceded the lead in SS10, which he had to drive without the additional power of the hybrid unit.

In the afternoon he switched his focus to beginning his season with a strong haul of points: the new points system introduced for 2024 means that by finishing Saturday in third overall, he will receive at least 13 points should he complete the rally on Sunday.

Up to 12 extra points will also be available from Sunday’s separate classification and the rally-ending Power Stage.

Holding second and third tonight also means TGR-WRT is in a good position for manufacturers’ championship points.

Evans said: "Well it’s been a tough afternoon and not really what we expected. I struggled for confidence in the tricky conditions and lost time because of that.

"The feeling wasn’t great and I didn’t want to take risks by pushing more. Let’s see how tomorrow works out, especially with the various points on offer.

He added: "It’s not been the best day for us. The morning was a bit mixed: the first stage was difficult to judge with a lot of black ice, and then in the middle stage we didn’t have the hybrid power, which was not ideal.

"Then this afternoon we just didn’t seem to have the pace for some reason. We need to look into why.

"The feeling was not where it was before, but it was also maybe not as bad as the times suggested.

"Anyway, with the new format tomorrow is sort of a new day and that’s how we’ll treat it, and we’ll try to be ready to fight again.”