The first half of that stage had acted as a wake-up call for Ogier, who admitted he hadn’t found the right rhythm to start the Nukata test. The eight-time world champion then outpaced Evans on all the remaining stages, clinching the win by 11.6s.
A dramatic powerstage was also won by Ogier by a mere 0.096s over Evans, clinching a maximum 35-point score in the process.
“It’s been a challenging weekend because after the rain today nothing was certain; it was the start of a new rally this morning,” said Ogier.
“Big setup change this morning and the car very quickly felt good, we didn’t have to do anything, so well done team, it’s amazing to count on that. When there was not too much water on the road we can enjoy.”
Evans was marginally beaten by Ogier across all three points-scoring opportunities; he finished 5.1s adrift in the Sunday classification, meaning Ogier closed the gap in the title race to only three points with just the Saudi Arabia season finale remaining.
“I was going to say it’s fun but that’s a bit of a lie about today,” said Evans. “Overall it’s been a fun weekend to try and fight with Seb. Today it’s been very difficult to do that; conditions have been very difficult and he’s driven very well.”
Kalle Rovanperä remains mathematically in the title race but realistically needs both Evans and Ogier to run into severe difficulties at the season finale in Saudi Arabia to have any hope of becoming champion.