April 25 (Reuters) - Sebastien Ogier led teammate Oliver Solberg by a slim 3.8-second margin as Spain's Rally Islas Canarias headed into Sunday's finale with Toyota drivers still filling the top five places.
Frenchman Ogier, the reigning nine-times world champion, had started Saturday 8.9 seconds clear but ended under intense pressure with four asphalt stages remaining, and 78.4km of competitive action, in the season's fifth round.
Ogier lost ground steadily in wet and tricky conditions, with the Frenchman's advantage cut to 5.3 by the midday service in the Canary Islands' capital Las Palmas.
So close was the battle that the pair shared the same fastest time in stage 13.
"The pace is high and the times have been so close. When Seb and Oliver set identical times, it tells me that you cannot drive that stage any faster than that," said Toyota's deputy team principal Juha Kankkunen.
"Normally I’m nervous when our drivers are fighting, but they have been driving so cleanly and consistently that I’ve had nothing to be worried about."
Welshman Elfyn Evans won three of the day's six stages and was in third place, 21.9 seconds off the pace, ahead of Finland's Sami Pajari and Japan's championship leader Takamoto Katsuta.
Katsuta, winner of the last two rounds in Kenya and Croatia, ended the day one minute 03.1 seconds behind Ogier.
"We lost a bit of ground this morning: the second stage especially was tricky and we took a safe approach, then tried to push more in the next one and got unlucky with the rain at the end," said Ogier, who is competing part-time this season but still seeking to add to his tally of 67 wins.
"In the end, the gap is still in our favour and the strategy for Super Sunday is very simple now: we just have to push to the maximum."
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin; editing by Clare Fallon)
