Reigning world champion Rovanpera set a blistering tempo within the morning’s opening check to increase his in a single day lead from one second to six.7s over Ogier, earlier than drama struck on the next stage.
Rovanpera misplaced the rear of his GR Yaris in quick right-hander and clouted a tree which pitched the automobile right into a roll, earlier than it will definitely got here to relaxation on its aspect up in opposition to a tree. Rovanpera and co-driver Jonne Halttunen emerged from the incident okay, however their victory hopes ended on the spot.
WRC2 chief Oliver Solberg was first to move Rovanpera’s stricken automobile and barely 100 metres additional up the highway the Swede misplaced management of his Toksport Skoda leading to a sequence of rolls. Solberg and co-driver Elliott Edmondson have been capable of clamber out of the automobile. Citroen’s Yohan Rossel emerged with the WRC2 lead by 5.9s from Gus Greensmith.Â
Ogier received stage 11 [Montim, 8.69km] by 0.5s from Hyundai’s Ott Tanak to open up a 3.4s lead from the Estonian following Rovanpera’s exit.
Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta has moved again into third [+15.7s] because of this, with championship chief Thierry Neuville fourth [+30.2s] having leapfrogged team-mate Dani Sordo [+32.9s].
The stage proved to be extremely slippery with Toyota’s Elfyn Evans the primary of a variety of drivers to hit hassle. The Welshman recovering from a puncture and a pacenote subject yesterday suffered a spin after clipping a financial institution at a gradual pace nook.
“At a gradual junction, I obtained caught within the inside line and it spun the automobile at gradual pace. There was time misplaced however no harm. I used to be very stunned originally simply how free and slippery it was,” stated Evans. Â
Katsuta additionally dropped time to an error on the identical nook earlier than briefly stalling his Toyota.
Neuville was additionally caught out by the circumstances because the Belgian encountered two moments in the course of the stage. Neuville drifted large by a left hander, clipping a financial institution within the course of, and misplaced time to a stall. An extra mistake ripped the entrance bumper and splitter from his i20 N.
“I misjudged the grip with the braking so I went a bit large, after which on the hairpin I misjudged the grip once more. Two errors in a single stage isn’t good,” stated Neuville.
