Tyres and tyre wear were the talking points of the second of this afternoon’s three gravel stages, as drivers sought to find a balance between speed and wear to preserve their rubber for the final, longest stage of the day.
Thierry Neuville went through the stage fastest, taking his second win of the rally but it was a close affair, as Elfyn Evans was just 0.4s slower, re-creating the epic battle the two shared throughout the previous rally in Argentina.
Third was Ott Tanak, a further 1.6s slower with Dani Sordo fourth and Hayden Paddon fifth. Leader after the previous stage, Kris Meeke, deliberately took things easy, the Citroen driver admitting he was saving his tyres for the following 27.5Km stage. He was just 11th on the stage and as a result, lost the overall lead of the event.
As a result, Ott Tanak inherited the top spot, just 0.1s in front of early leader, Jari-Matti Latvala. Third was Hayden Paddon with Craig Breen in fourth and Meeke, fifth, just 6.2s off the front of the pack. Two seconds further back are Sebastien Ogier and Dani Sordo, the two tied after six stages.
The top eight positions are now covered by less than nine seconds.