Thierry Neuville has claimed his third stage win of the day, finishing 1.8s ahead of fellow Citroen DS3 WRC driver Sebastien Loeb.
Elsewhere, Ott Tanak rolled his Ford Fiesta RS WRC six kilometres into the start of the stage. Both Tanak and co-driver are Kuldar Sikk are unharmed, but the pair have been forced to retire allowing Belgium’s Thierry Neuville to move into fifth.
“The road is very fast,” explained Russia’s Novikov who holds fourth place. “Even the smallest mistake can cause the car to roll in these sort of conditions. For the moment I will not push, fourth place is a very good result. Today’s conditions have been very difficult but our tyre choice has worked very well so I am pleased.”
Ford World Rally Team drivers Jari-Matti Latvala and Petter Solberg finished stage 20 third and fourth respectively. Citroen Total World Rally Team driver Mikko Hirvonen completed with a time of 10m28.4s, 2.5s adrift of Solberg.
In the Super 2000 World Rally Championship, local driver Hayden Paddon stopped during the stage to change a puncture but the Kiwi continues to lead the support category going into the rally’s closing two stages.