The WRC points leader was unfazed by the tricky wet and muddy conditions, winning six of the day’s eight asphalt tests.
Rovanpera ended Friday having built up a 1m04s lead over Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville, who managed to bounce back from a 40s penalty for checking into service four minutes late after an alternator failure forced the Belgian and his co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe to push the car 800m back to the service park.
Ott Tanak briefly moved into second overall after Neuville’s penalty, but the Hyundai driver dropped to third after losing 20.2s to a puncture on the penultimate stage of the day.
Craig Breen led M-Sport Ford’s charge in fourth with the Irishman firmly in the hunt for the podium, albeit 1m35.2s adrift. The Irishman could have been higher up the rankings had he not dropped 12s in an off road excursion on Stage 2.
Hyundai’s Oliver Solberg completed Friday in fifth ahead of Toyota’s Elfyn Evans as he continued his recovery from two front-left punctures in the morning loop. Takamoto Katsuta and Gus Greensmith completed the top eight, the latter suffering two punctures across the afternoon.
Crashes for Toyota’s Esapekka Lappi and M-Sport’s Adrien Fourmaux resulted in early retirements alongside Pierre-Louis Loubet, who suffered three punctures in the first two stages of the morning.
Rovanpera kicked off the afternoon by winning the first of the afternoon stages but admitted he took a more cautious approach given the deteriorating condition of the road.
Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Photo by: Romain Thuillier / Hyundai Motorsport
Although much slower compared to the morning pass, he still managed to clock a time that was 0.6s faster than a recovering Neuville, who managed to jump from fourth back to second overall following his time penalty for checking into service late. Neuville’s gallant effort came despite having to drive with his “eyes” and not to the pace notes.
Tanak was…
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