World Rally Championship pacesetter Elfyn Evans set the joint-fastest time in shakedown for Rally Sardinia.
The 31-year-old finished joint top with Ott Tanak while his Toyota Gazoo Racing team-mate Sebastien Ogier was third fastest just 0.8secs behind.
Evans gets his challenge underway on Friday’s opening stages knowing he could end the weekend as Wales’ first world rally champ.
The Dolgellau ace is 18 points ahead of Ogier with Hyundai’s Tanak 27 points adrift with, in theory, two rounds left.
Fears grow that the 2020 #WRC will end in Italy this weekend amid Belgium COVID uncertainty and Monza impassehttps://t.co/TgVAmMKZip
— DirtFish (@DirtFishRally) October 8, 2020
But there are doubts over next month’s finale in Belgium due to COVID-19 while there have also been discussions over adding another rally in Italy in December.
But Evans is only focussed on this weekend’s rally having catapulted into the title lead after his victory last time out in Turkey.
“Whenever you finish one rally on a high like we did in Turkey then it’s always a good boost for the following round,” said Evans.
“Leading the championship is certainly a good position to be in, even though it does come with an added challenge in that we will need to sweep the road in Sardinia.
“It is how it is but it’s not going to make it an easy event for us – providing it stays dry, of course.
“Going to Sardinia in October could change the weather forecasts somewhat.
“It might make it a little bit less demanding for the tyres, but we will still have some difficult choices.
“We face some loops of stages where we have to choose the tyres for the first and second passes of stages without returning to service, so it’s still going be a big challenge.”