The repeat run through Amarante would be a severe examination of tyre wear, but the niggling throttle issue returned to haunt Greensmith early in the rally’s longest speed test.
As the Briton struggled to coax the Ford Fiesta through the twists and turns of the demanding special, Rovanperä missed his initial stage start time and was stranded on the road section. A technical issue with the Yaris had come to light and the dejected Finn was instructed by his team to return to the service park and retire for the day.
Evans eventually claimed the quickest time, as Greensmith dropped 68 seconds to team-mate Fourmaux but remained 7.7 seconds in front in his quest to maintain sixth. “We know what the problem is,” said the Briton. “There is nothing we can do about it. When it comes on, stop, when it goes off, go again…”
Katsuta swiped a tree with the rear of his Toyota in a bid to overhaul Ogier and ended up dropping another 2.1 seconds to the World Champion. But drama was unfolding on the stage behind: Tänak damaged his rear-right suspension and eventually ground to a halt after 31.4km of the stage, his shock woes handing Evans an outright lead of 16.4 seconds over Sordo.
Suninen stopped on the stage after five kilometres and that delay gave Lappi a massive WRC2 advantage of 35.6 seconds to take to the final stage. Solberg spun, became wedged on a banking, dropped around 55 seconds and gifted third place to Østberg.
