Rovanpera fastest, Sordo extends lead

Ogier needed to stem the tide on the re-run of Lousã. He had dropped 31 seconds to Sordo on the morning’s loop and was in trouble of seeing his chances fading before his eyes. The Frenchman shaved three seconds off his opening run but still dropped 2.2 to Neuville. 

Tänak saw his advantage over the Belgian trimmed to 2.4 seconds, as Rovanperä benefited from changes to his Toyota’s settings to record a stage-winning time of 9min 02.6sec. Greensmith impressed with the second fastest run, as he edges ever closer to a first ever WRC stage win. Sordo was third and managed to extend his outright lead to 7.6 seconds. 

Gryazin was fastest again in WRC2 and moved in front of Lappi to lead by 0.7 seconds. Suninen retained third.