The penultimate stage of the day was the legendary Arganil. Scott Martin’s pace notes had been left at the end of the previous stage and Elfyn Evans and his co-driver were forced to use the digital back-up copy again on the ‘phone. The Welshman ceded another 8.1 seconds to Thierry Neuville on the loose surface, although the Belgian had no hybrid for the entire stage.
A flying Ott Tänak set the second quickest time in a bid to claim a more favourable start position on Saturday and the Estonian climbed from fourth to third at the expense of Sébastien Ogier, who lost hybrid power for part of the stage. Kalle Rovanperä won the stage and extended his lead over Takamoto Katsuta to one second.
Pierre-Louis Loubet’s impressive WRC2 charge from down the running order came to an end at the start of the previous stage. Yohan Rossel gambled on soft tyres and dropped just half a second to Oliver Solberg, who headed for the final stage of the day with a two-second cushion in WRC2.
Car 11. NEUVILLE/WYDAEGHE
“I was really on it. There is so much loose in there. We are going to lose a lot of time.”
Car 33. EVANS/MARTIN
“You couldn’t write the day really. Nothing is going our way. That’s the way it goes sometimes. He’s (Scott) managing very well. But, next time, it would be better if he remembered the book!”
Car 16. FOURMAUX/CORIA
“I am really enjoying but I am starting to kill a bit my tyres. I am happy with my drive. It has been quite a demanding day to be fair.”
Car 8. TÄNAK/JÄRVEOJA
“I drive so hard but it’s not like it should be to drive fast. Altogether it is not working. I want to be as high a possible for the road position tomorrow.”
Car 69. ROVANPERÄ/HALTTUNEN
“The gap should be much bigger. This is the only thing I can do at the moment. It is not easy. I try my best. I cannot push hard in case I make a mistake or go off.”
Car 18. KATSUTA/JOHNSTON
“I am pushing a lot for tomorrow position. One small mistake and, luckily, we didn’t get a puncture.”
Car 17. OGIER/LANDAIS
“No hybrid for half the stage. It is bad.”
Car 13. MUNSTER/LOUKA
“It was quite rough and rutted. Maybe too low with the ride height on this one. A couple of times we were hitting and thrown out to the right.”
Car 6. SORDO/CARRERA
“It was good. It was slippery in the middle of the stage. The rest was okay. I feel good.”
Car 20. SOLBERG/EDMONDSON
“I did not lose as much in here. That sucks. When the road is faster it (engine misfire) doesn’t seem to lose as much time.”
Car 21. ROSSEL/DANAND
“I push on the limit. I tried to take the soft tyre for this one.”
Car 22. GREENSMITH/ANDERSSON
“This was the one I was trying to save my tyres on. I had to find a pace to save my tyres.”
Car 25. GRYAZIN/ALEKSANDROV
“We had a good tyre choice. They were working. We need better choices for tomorrow and still a lot of work to do. The pace is getting better. I am not trying to push and make stupid mistakes.”