Honda’s Eli Evans has won the opening leg of the Australian Rally Championship’s Queensland round on the Sunshine Coast.

After a morning stoush with Renault driver Scott Pedder, Evans went on a charge over the afternoon loop of stages to win the Leg and lead the event overall by 24 seconds.

“We played our cards right with tyre choice and managed to break a bit of a lead on the Renaults which gives us some breathing space for tomorrow morning,” said Evans

“We ran the second hand tyre this afternoon and it felt really good given the roads were so swept.

“There’s rubber marks on the ground so you know it’s quite hard packed out there.

“We’re really happy where we’re at. The car’s feeling good and the boys have just given it a 45min service so it will feel brand new when I drive out of here tonight.”

Tom Wilde held third place and has a comfortable buffer of one and a half minutes over Honda’s second car driven by Mark Pedder.

Evans’ afternoon charge saw him win all four stages as he aims to continue his ARC winning streak which will come to ten should he succeed on the stages of the Sunshine Coast this weekend.

Esapekka Lappi leads the way in the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship category after another dominate performance today.

Lappi, 22, won six of the day’s 10 stages in Round 3 of the APRC to finish just over two minutes ahead of his MRF Skoda teammate Gaurav Gill.

Japanese driver Atsushi Masamura was third in a Mitsubishi while the first Australian driver Adrian Coppins is fourth in his Ford Fiesta R2.

ARC Overall Standings after Leg 1 – Rally Queensland