Rovanpera leads Neuville, double puncture costs Evans

Toyota’s Rovanpera was among the fortunate to enjoy a clean run through a gruelling and incident-filled Saturday morning loop of stages, to open up a 1m27.9s lead over Hyundai’s Neuville, who leapt from fourth to second.

Neuville took advantage of a chaotic loop for Evans and Katsuta, who were delayed by double punctures. Katsuta ended the morning in third, where he started the day, albeit 2m22.9s adrift of the lead. Evans plummeted from second to fifth [+3m43.8s] after his tyre dramas.

M-Sport’s Adrien Fourmaux climbed to fourth [+2m50.6s] with an ill WRC2 class leader Gus Greensmith in sixth [+11m47.3s] after M-Sport’s Gregoire Munster retired with broken suspension.

Saturday kicked off with a drama-laden run through the Soysambu [29.32km] test. Overnight rain threatened to provide damp conditions, although the first stage of the day was largely dry.

The action began before crews reached the test as Ott Tanak, returning after his crash in stage six on Friday, encountered problems with his Hyundai i20 N on the road section. The Estonian failed to properly fasten a bonnet pin during his roadside repairs, which forced a stoppage mid-stage to address a flapping bonnet, costing him more than a minute.

“We had a very busy road section with loads of work and the bonnet pin was our mistake, just realised it didn’t click correctly,” said Tanak.

Tanak wasn’t the only driver to hit trouble though, as second-placed Evans suffered a left-rear puncture that cost him a place in the podium positions. The wheel change, completed 12.7km into the stage, cost the Welshman 1m50s, dropping him from second to fifth overall.     

Munster joined the list of those to suffer issues when the M-Sport driver suffered a broken rear suspension on his Ford Puma that reduced him to a crawl. Munster and co-driver Louis Louka attempted a repair after reaching the stage end, but they were forced to retire from the day.

Rovanpera’s streak of six consecutive stage wins came to an end on the stage as the rally leader opted for a careful approach to preserve his lead. The Finn, who was hampered by dust from the delayed Evans, dropped 5.2s.

The stage was won by Katsuta despite the Japanese struggling with dust coming into his eyes. Katsuta was 0.2s faster than Lappi, who rejoined the rally after his gearbox failure on…