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Evans had to fight his way up the leaderboard after receiving a 30 second time penalty when the Toyota Racing Development (TRD) team changed his Corolla's gearbox overnight.
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"I tried hard not to go silly over today's stages, and I kept telling myself that there's a championship on the line," Evans said.
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"I know I definitely don't want to start the day with a penalty again though, it's been hard work!"
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Evans won the majority of the day's stages and slowly clawed his way back into outright contention, eventually moving into second outright on the penultimate stage of the day.
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He couldn't catch Pedder though, who returned to form after some overnight changes were made to his ill-handling Lancer Evo 9.
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The only blight on Pedder's book was a cracked gearbox casing sustained on a fast dip during the last group of stages. Pedder pushed on though, and recorded he and co-driver Glen Weston's first heat win since Rally South Australia in 2005
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"This is the only event where I've never had a podium finish, and I finally feel like I might have lifted the curse of Queensland!" Pedder said.
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"It's a great result for Mitsubishi and the team and there's no reason why we can't continue this form into the last half of the season."
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Privateer Dean Herridge andToyota pilot Neal Bates resumed their neck-and-neck battle in heat two.
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Bates held second outright after the morning's first two stages but dropped time on the next 21- kilometre stage which allowed Herridge to move ahead.
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"Neal is like a blowfly . he's annoying and he just won't go away!" joked Herridge at the final service break.
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Bates didn't go away, instead he mounted a challenge on the last stage of the day to clinch third for the day and the final podium position from Herridge.
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"I've got to stop leaving it to the last minute," Bates said.
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"These battles with Dean are enjoyable when I come out on top, but they're pretty nerve-wracking while it's happening!"
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Some consolation for Herridge was maximum points scored in the Privateers Cup ahead of Queensland star Stewart Reid and fellow West Australian Darren Windus.
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Privateer Kelvin Croker capped off a brilliant weekend in 7th outright, ahead of fellow privateer David Hills.
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Tasmanian Simon Jansen made it a clean sweep in the BP Ultimate Challenge, courtesy of his second straight top ten outright finish.
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Pirtek Rally Team Ford finished heat two in 14th, and were buoyed by a constantly improving Focus. Driver Michael Guest worked particularly hard to give the team its first round finish without a DNF.
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The coates Rally Queensland is the third of six rounds of the NEC Computers Australian Rally Championship.
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The series now heads south to Hobart for the Subaru Safari Tasmania on July 14-16.
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Provisional Results- Heat Two- coates Rally Queensland
S.Pedder/G.Weston (Mitsubishi)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 1.00.57.4
S.Evans/ S. Evans (Toyota)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â +5.9 seconds
N. Bates/C.Taylor (Toyota)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â +13.4
D.Herridge/B.Hayes (Subaru)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â +17.8
S.Reid/A.McLoughlin (Toyota)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â +17.8
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Provisional Results- Overall Round- coates Rally Queensland
S.Evans/ S. Evans (Toyota)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
S.Pedder/G.Weston (Mitsubishi)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
N. Bates/C.Taylor (Toyota)
D.Herridge/B.Hayes (Subaru)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
S.Reid/A.McLoughlin (Toyota)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
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