Nasser Al-Attiyah continued to lead WRC 2 at RallyRACC - Rally de España after Saturday’s second leg but asphalt expert Julien Maurin halved his advantage to 65sec.
The French championship leader was at home on the six sealed surface special stages in his Ford Fiesta R5 and won four of them to slash the Qatari’s two-minute lead, built during yesterday’s gravel leg.
Maurin won all three morning stages but Al-Attiyah, driving a Fiesta RRC, remains in a strong position to enhance his title credentials at tomorrow afternoon’s finish.
“It wasn’t easy because Julien really pushed but we tried to keep a good pace. Tomorrow will be shorter and I’ll prepare well,” said Al-Attiyah.
Robert Barrable remains third in a Fiesta R5, 3min 27.0sec behind Maurin, with Benito Guerra fourth in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X. The Mexican suffered power steering problems in the final Salou test, but leads the Production Cup within WRC 2.
Karl Kruuda, who lost more than 20 minutes after rolling yesterday, won two stages in his Fiesta S2000 despite a fuel pick-up problem and the Estonian lies seventh.
Sébastien Chardonnet retired his Citroen DS3 R5 at the mid-leg service with mechanical problems, while neither Bernardo Sousa nor Juan Carlos Alonso restarted after retiring yesterday.