Elfyn Evans insists he will not give up his maiden World Rally Championship victory without a fight after a drama filled second day in Argentina.

The Dolgellau racer saw his overnight lead of 55 seconds slashed to just 11.5 secs after a tough battle in South America.

Evans won the opening stage to take his rally tally to seven – the most by any driver this season – increaing his lead to over a minute.

But then he and co-driver Dan Barritt hit problems,

A misunderstanding with a pacenote on stage 12 forced Evans to slide wide and he picked up a puncture, slashing his lead to 44 seconds by mid-day service.

In the afternoon there was further drama when the rear diffuser ripped off after a heavy landing on the opening test of the loop.

The incident affected the handling in the rear of the car, especially through the long 38.68km Los Gigantes test, and Evans inevitably dropped further time – spinning his DMACK Fiesta WRC in the final stage.

The 28-year-old, whose previous best WRC result is second, said: “We had a number of problems today, from the puncture after a pacenote misunderstanding to ripping off the rear diffuser and having lots of oversteer in the final few stages.

“We also spun in the last one. But I’m still leading, I didn’t come here to finish second and if Thierry Neuville wants the win he’s going to have to fight for it.”

Evans has three more stages to fend off the Belgian on Sunday but faces two passes over El Condor and one run through the classic lunar landscape Mina Clavero test.