Amarante (37.24km) was the longest stage of the rally and next on the morning’s itinerary. Ott Tänak began to turn up the heat on Pierre-Louis Loubet and the Estonian was closing in on the Frenchman in the rankings when his team-mate ran sideways, clipped a tree root on the left-hand side of the track and the impact slammed the Puma into the banking on the opposite side of the stage.
The former World Champion duly inherited fifth and also began to close in on the battle for second and third between the Hyundai trio of Dani Sordo, Thierry Neuville and Esapekka Lappi. The trio were separated by just six seconds in second, third and fourth places.
Kalle Rovanperä was again the class of the field and the flying Finn secured another stage win by 3.3 seconds and increased his advantage over Sordo to 45.8 seconds. Gus Greensmith trimmed Oliver Solberg’s WRC2 advantage by another 2.5 seconds and Andreas Mikkelsen closed to within nine seconds of a struggling Yohan Rossel in the fight for third. Teemu Suninen was the quickest of the WRC2 drivers.
Car 11. NEUVILLE/WYDAEGHE
“I tried what I could. The car is all over the place. I had a good push but the car is all over the place. I cannot control it.”
Car 69. ROVANPERÄ/HALTTUNEN
“It’s a good stage time. I didn’t feel so good in the car. Soft tyres, it’s a long stage to take care of the tyres. Let’s try and finish the loop with a good stage.”
Car 8. TÄNAK/JÄRVEOJA
“We could improve the balance a bit from the previous stage but I still had a massive struggle with the suspension.”
Car 6. SORDO/CARRERA
“Soft tyres.. I was trying to be a little bit clean.”
Car 4. LAPPI/FERM
“I’m sure the referees will give us the time back (Loubet accident). No point to take a risk on that place when someone has stopped. It was an okay stage. For sure, Kalle is coming pretty fast but I am more concerned with Dani.”
Car 18. KATSUTA/JOHNSTON
“Actually, it was not so bad. Outside it is quite cold. Last year we had bigger problem with the heating. Still very slippery with a fine layer on the surface.”
Car 7. LOUBET/LANDAIS
Ran sideways on the inside left, clipped a tree root at speed and smashed the Ford into the banking on the opposite side of the track. The car came to rest blocking the track less than one kilometre from the stage finish and the Frenchman tried frantically to move off the stage to avoid stopping the action behind.
Car 20. GREENSMITH/ANDERSSON
“We tried to be as clean as possible to keep it in the line. Some places I felt I could go quicker but if you go out of the line you lose time.”
Car 21. SOLBERG/EDMONDSON
“Awful, I think. It’s so difficult with the soft tyres. I don’t know if it was the right choice. I drive way to careful. I am leading by 40 seconds so I have to be consistent.”
Car 23. SUNINEN/MARKKULA
“That was a good stage. I am happy with the car and it’s good to show some performance.”
Car 24. MIKKELSEN/ERIKSEN
“We tried to keep a good pace and climb as much as we can. We have to stay on the road as well so we shave to find the balance. So far so good.”
Car 26. ROSSEL/DUNAND
“I have a big problem with my car. It is like that. The plan is to go to the service.”
Car 30. LINNAMÄE/MORGAN
Slow roll in SS9 and is out of the event for today.
Car 35. BULACIA/VALLEJO
“I was feeling we were maybe going to lose a lot. The condition of the road is too loose and the car is a bit slow on the hill climb. We were managing a bit the tyres. We had two soft and two hard and the two softs overheated.”