Increasing on the lead built up during SS2, rally leader Mads Ostberg suffered a substantial roll roughly 15k into the stage while Daniel Sordo took the sage win, putting more pressure on Ogier.
After clipping a bank, Qatar M-Sport World Rally Team driver, Mads Ostberg, lost control of his Fiesta and rolled the car. It’s understood that both driver and co-driver were unhurt. A post on twitter from Mads read: “this is what happens when you go for a 5 in a 4-blind corner”. The car sustained significant damage forcing it to retire from the day’s rally.
With Ostberg out, Sebastien Ogier had to push but also look after his soft compound tyres. An impressive drive secured the lead although he finished third in the stage. An impressive push from Daniel Sordo saw the Volkswagen Motorsport driver take the stage win with a time of 12:31.4s, placing him 4.4s behind the rally leader.
Jari-Matti Latvala was second fastest, securing third overall, while Mikko Hirvonen secured fourth in the stage despite a small collision with loose rocks. Thierry Neuville finished fifth in the stage in his Fiesta WRC.
Abu Dhabi Citroen Total World Rally Team driver, Kahlid Al Qassimi reported the clutch was failing on his Citroen DS3 WRC.
Car 2, Hirvonen/Lehtinen
“It’s not perfect, we really need to fight the car to be able to push, but we are trying. There were some really big loose rocks on one corner. We hit and it moved the car, but we carried on.”
Car 3. Sordo/del Barrio
“We thought we had a problem with the tyres. The road is really, really rough, it will destroy the car in every corner. We just take it easy. The rally is too long. We’re careful of the tyres. We’ve got long road sections too.”
Car 5, Novikov/Minor
“To be honest, there aren’t many changes. I just keep going as before but the time is still not there.”
Car 6, Al-Attyah/Bernacchini
“It’s really very rough. A lot of loose big rocks. The car is working very well, the Michelin tyres are working very well. I’m just happy to carry on like this.”
Car 7, Latvala/Anttila
“We didn’t even see him (Ostberg). We saw one line hit on the bank, but that’s it. We had a problem with the splits, we really tried to push so we’ll see how it is.”
Car 8, Ogier/Ingrassia
“He (Ostberg) went off? He was too fast, some sections it was not possible to follow him. My tyre choice isn’t the best. It will make the loop, but maybe it wasn’t the optimum choice.”
Car 9, Mikkelsen/Markkula
“I’m happy! I’m just thinking all the time, it’s so much to take in. This car is so amazing. I just need to learn to drive it. I’m so amazing with how fast you can go compared to the S2000, which is a big learning curve for me.”
Car 10, Al Qassimi/Martin
“There’s a problem with the clutch, it feels soft. I’m trying to be reasonable with what I’m doing. It’s difficult to judge everything.”
Car 11, Neuville/Guilsoul
“I think it was not bad, maybe at the end it was rough in some places. I need to find a better feeling with the car, we’re sliding too much in places. We need to change the set-up maybe.”
Car 12, Kosciuszko/Szczepaniak
“On this stage the tyres were overheating, so we lost a lot of time. We spun and I had to reverse, so we lost even more time.”
Car 15, Kuipers/Buysmans
“It’s completely different. A lot rougher, a lot more bed-rock. A lot more stones to be careful of. It’s completely dry.”
Car 21, Prokop/Ernst
“I was really trying to do my best, tyres are okay.”
Car 31, Lappi/Ferm
“It was perfect, pace-notes were perfect. We can push, but I don’t want to.”
Car 40, Smailov/Rusov
“Everything was fine. We saw Al Ketbi, they looked okay.”
Car 32, Wiegand/Christian
“Basically not too bad. The stage is now really rough, so you must be fast, but you must be careful. We had a puncture on the last stage, so we have to be safe. Just got to keep a good pace.”
Car 41, Fuchs/Mussano
“It was very good. It’s very, very rough. If I need to take a slower route I’m happy. There’s a lot of stones in the road, I tried to slow but no problem.”
Car 48, Al-Kuwari/Duffy
“Better than the morning, but still we have to push a bit more. It’s a different challenge here, the crests are totally different to our pace-notes. We’ll see how it goes. It’s a long rally.”
Car 50, Gorban/Korsia
“There might be an oil problem, we just hope to make it to service.”
Car 51, Chardonnet/De La Haye
“It was okay, it was a good pace I’m also 1km a minute faster than this morning.”
Car 52, Gilbert/Galimiche
“I had a puncture on the rear left since the start of the stage.”
Car 59, Bouffier/Panseri
“It was better than this morning, but I took it easy because there was a lot of risk to have a puncture.”
Car 73, Kondrakhin/Fappani
“We lost the throttle, it stuck on full power.”
Car 74, Kubica/Baran
“It has been a good stage. We had some little issues on the road section. We have to fix the radiator. We have to fix the fan too, but everything is fine. I’m struggling with the rear of the car, it doesn’t give a lot of confidence when it’s sliding.”
Car 75, Evans/Barrit
“I’m not look at the times too closely, it’s all about learning the boundaries of the car. I need to learn how much I can punish the car really, but yeah, we’re learning. There’s no problem so far though, the car is very strong. We’re not here to put it to the test, we just want to get through the rally.”
Car 76, Aska/Arena
“We’re pushing quite a bit, we’re still getting there with the car. The first two stages we were just making sure everything was correct.”
Car 77, Ligato/Garcia
“There’s a lot of stones, the line is too hard. The car is working well, but we must make some changes tonight for tomorrow. We don’t have a good feeling through the suspension.”
Car 78, Bresolin/Pollet
“It was good. The road is very, very difficult. We can’t get confident with the car and the road, but I’m happy. It’s just really difficult.”
Car 79, Barrable/Loudon
“We’re happy, we found a good rhythm which I thought would be difficult to find. We had a bit of a 6th gear moment, but that’s all. We’re happy with everything.”
Car 82, Protasov/Sikk
“Everything is good, but the second time on this road is very bad. There’s been lots of damage.”
Car 83, Magalhães/Magalhães
“I begin to recover my rhythm and confidence with the car.”
Car 90, Andersson/Axelsson
“Okay, we enjoyed a lot of the stage. For us the conditions are harder than the morning. But we’re having a good time.”