Jan Kopecký has made it a hat trick of stage wins on the 15.56-kilometre Macinaggio-Centuri test to extend his advantage over second-placed Pierre Campana to 11.3s with one run of Giru di Corsica-Tour de Corse remaining.
“It’s like driving on a circuit because I have done it so many times now and maybe that helps,” said the ŠKODA Motorsport driver. “But we need to keep pushing because Campana will definitely push in the last stage.”
Campana, who could only manage the seventh fastest time, said: “I lose just one second in a hairpin but it was okay.”
Mathieu Arzeno impressed with the second fastest time in his Peugeot 207 with rally leader Dani Sordo third quickest for the Drive-Pro MINI team.
Defending IRC champion Andreas Mikkelsen, from Norway, was fourth quickest with Irishman Craig Breen setting the fifth fastest time.
Frenchman Bryan Bouffier completed the top six for the Delta Rally squad. “It was okay, the car is working very well and I think I drive well. Now we have a long and interesting stage to go so we try to drive well again.”
Sepp Wiegand reported making a small mistake at a hairpin in his ŠKODA Auto Deutschland Fabia S2000 on his way to the ninth best time behind fellow German Hermann Gassner Jr.
The final stage, the third run through the Marinca-Cagnano test, gets underway at 18:10hrs local time and will be shown live on Eurosport.