Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin maintained their lead on Rally Sweden after another seven blisteringly fast stages but came under

Starting first on the road in World Rally Championship snow and gravel rallies often presents a huge disadvantage, but in Sweden this weekend this could be significantly reduced, which is music to the ears of Toyota’s Elfyn Evans.

He leads his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 team mates Japan's Takamoto Katsuta and his Northern Ireland co-driver Aaron Johnson by just 0.6s.

Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin lost the lead of Rally Sweden twice, once to Takamoto Katsuta and once to Ott Tänak, but by the time the crews rolled into the stop control on the final Friday stage, the Toyota Gazoo Racing crew held a 0.6 second lead over Katsuta who won stage five and took the overall lead.

So to get a lie of the land heading into the WRC’s only snow event of the season, DAZN News spoke to legendary WRC television commentator Becs Williams for an expert opinion on what could unfold on the snow and ice.

ELFYN Evans has claimed the early lead at Rally Sweden for Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team in the only pure winter round of the FIA World Rally Championship, ahead of team-mate Kalle Rovanperä.

Elfyn Evans conquered the driving snow of Rally Sweden on Friday to edge ahead of a group of five drivers separated by less than 10 seconds. The Finnish driver ended up more than 25 seconds off the pace.