Hyundai’s Ott Tänak increased his lead to 3.9 seconds in Arganil 2, although the stage win went to his team-mate Thierry Neuville.
Adrien Fourmaux spun and damaged his i20’s front suspension 7.5 kilometres into the stage. The i20 came to rest in the middle of the track and a broken wheel meant the crew were initially unable to move it out of the path of oncoming vehicles. The Frenchman’s demise lifted Takamoto Katsuta into second place.
Sébastien Ogier was happy with his progress on the afternoon’s loop of three stages and moved up to third.
Kalle Rovanperä felt more confident with the improved stage conditions but he ceded half a second to the stage-winning Neuville. The gap between the two was trimmed to 8.3 seconds in the battle for fourth place.
Elfyn Evans shaved a staggering 19 seconds off his morning’s run with improved afternoon grip in dry conditions. But he was still no match for his main title rivals and held sixth, ahead of Sami Pajari, Grégoire Munster and Josh McErlean.
WRC2 leader Oliver Solberg moved into the overall top 10 and increased his cushion over French rival Yohan Rossel to 8.7 seconds. Gus Greensmith retained third place.
Car 33. EVANS/MARTIN
“This was alright. A lot better than this morning and very dry now. I am sure the same pattern will continue.”
Car 1. NEUVILLE/WYDAEGHE
“It’s not enough (time). At least I get the feeling of a good rhythm back after we had the balance issue. This afternoon we went in the right direction and I feel more comfortable with the car in these conditions.”
Car 8. TÄNAK/JÄRVEOJA
“Not good for us (Fourmaux), I try to have a good stage. It was a clean run. I had some bad impacts that pushed me out and I have broken the windscreen.”
Car 17. OGIER/LANDAIS
“Okay, it has been a good loop. Little things I could do better but not too bad. The last loop may be even more difficult in terms of rock cleaning.”
Car 69. ROVANPERÄ/HALTTUNEN
“We try to do everything we can to have a better position for tomorrow. This one was pretty nice. This felt like the first Rally Portugal stage of the week, like normal conditions.”
Car 18. KATSUTA/JOHNSTON
“I had to slow down a bit there (Fourmaux) but we still have two new stages to do today. Normally, we are going back to the hotel!”
Car 5. PAJARI/SALMINEN
“Much better conditions, feeling wise and grip wise than the morning. Maybe it was not a bad plan to keep a steady pace.”
Car 13. MUNSTER/LOUKA
“We stalled once. It was a bit difficult to understand what to do with Adrien (Fourmaux’s car).”
Car 22. SESKS/FRANCIS
“You have a lot of bedrock so you are driving on rocks and stones. It was a challenge to be honest. I will say it’s like a normal sauna here (in the car)!”
Car 55. MCERLEAN/TREACY
“I just didn’t find the correct rhythm. It was not so nice, we keep on learning. Still three to go..”
Car 2. SALVI/CORONADO
Ran wide in the stage and left the track. Diogo complained of steering issues after finishing the stage on a front-left puncture. “Difficult with four wheels but with three I should help myself. I try to make it a bit more complicated. I am enjoying it more, maybe that’s why I get the flat tyre.”
Car 20. SOLBERG/EDMONDSON
“I spun earlier (SS6) and couldn’t get into reverse. I had so much problems getting into the gear. I lost a lot of time. But it doesn’t matter, I have to do it all over again. The tyres worked nicely in this stage.”
Car 21. ROSSEL/DUNAND
“It’s always the same. The car is not bad but the grip is so low and we don’t understand why. I don’t know whether it’s the tyre or the ground.”