Ott Tänak continued to attack and set yet another fastest time on the first pass through the iconic Fafe stage where thousands of spectators were present at the Pedra Sentada jump, many of whom had camped out and partied all night and into first light.
The Estonian closed to within 7.4 seconds of Kalle Rovanperä, who was fourth quickest. But six-time event winner Sébastien Ogier set the second fastest time and extended his outright lead by nine-tenths of a second to 16.3 seconds.
Takamoto Katsuta clouted a banking but was the fastest of the first eight Rally1 cars. The Japanese maintained his fifth position but dropped 2.7 seconds to Thierry Neuville in fourth.
Championship leader Elfyn Evans needed to get ahead of his team-mate Sami Pajari and move into sixth place. He took another 3.9 seconds from the Finn and reduced the gap to just 3.2.
M-Sport Ford’s Josh McErlean got the better of team-mate Grégoire Munster again, albeit by 1.8 seconds. Diogo Salvi clipped a rock and sustained a front-right puncture in the third of the Pumas.
Oliver Solberg maintained a comfortable lead (55.2 seconds) in WRC2. Yohan Rossel continued to edge away from Gus Greensmith in the battle for second. The gap rose to 4.4 seconds.
Car 33. EVANS/MARTIN
“Not too well in here. Conditions are really slippery. I missed my lines sometimes. Not the perfect run but better than yesterday.”
Car 1. NEUVILLE/WYDAEGHE
“Massive cleaning. There is nothing you can do. We have seen it all weekend. It is even worse in some places and I’m struggling with the rear in some places. With this road position there is no chance. I don’t think we will climb any positions but we will keep pushing.”
Car 8. TÄNAK/JÄRVEOJA
“We had a go. A bit hard on the jump landing. It’s been tough. We are pushing quite a bit already. I’m not sure what more we can do.”
Car 16. FOURMAUX/CORIA
“It’s a really nice stage with the atmosphere and the jump at the end. There’s not much more we can do. It’s over already for us.”
Car 69. ROVANPERÄ/HALTTUNEN
“I don’t have anything more than that. I am on the edge of the cloud all the time. That was a good run for me with this car as I have now. I just don’t have grip to do anything more.”
Car 18. KATSUTA/JOHNSTON
“It is quite slippery. Let’s see.”
Car 5. PAJARI/SALMINEN
“I am trying to go at a steady pace. Elfyn is pushing more trying to catch some Sunday points. We are one team. Maybe it’s not sense for me to push more.”
Car 13. MUNSTER/LOUKA
“It’s always a nice stage to do. Having a good flow is not always easy because you have camber in the corners. If you carry too much speed, sometimes you have the wrong approach for the next one.”
Car 22. SESKS/FRANCIS
“It was very slippery. We had to be really cautious. We were just driving through.”
Car 55. MCERLEAN/TREACY
“It’s special coming down that hill knowing you are coming towards that jump. It’s a special place to be.”
Car 2. SALVI/CORONADO
A front-right puncture for the Portuguese. “I think I did all the corners, the worst in the world. I went over all the rocks. Nine days of rally is too much at a certain stage. I hit a rock, plain stupid.”
Car 20. SOLBERG/EDMONDSON
“Just taking it easy and enjoying myself. It is quite slippery this morning as well. I try to be as clean as possible.”
Car 23. GREENSMITH/ANDERSSON
“The first two stages we had a soft brake pedal. Since we put the second spare in the car, the balance is terrible.”