Fastest time through the marathon 51.88km stage from Ascochinga across the Sierras Chicas mountains to Agua de Oro (SS3) promoted Jari-Matti Latvala into the lead.
The Volkswagen Polo R driver, second in the start order, was surprised at the good grip on roads that were damp in places. He was 10.3sec clear of team-mate Sébastien Ogier, who felt he lost time sweeping loose gravel in the dry sections. The gap between them is 3.3sec.
Andreas Mikkelsen drove the last 20km with a power steering problem on his Polo R. “I hit a stone with the front right,” explained the Norwegian, who was still third fastest.
Also unhappy was Thierry Neuville, whose Hyundai i20 ended the test trailing the cover which protects the rear differential and suspension. “It distracted me at the beginning because I didn’t know what it was,” said the Belgian, who struggled for grip.
Team-mate Dani Sordo worked furiously on his i20 before the start after being delayed in the previous test. He tried to fix a loose turbo pipe but could not clip it in place and drove the stage with no boost. He dropped over nine minutes to add to the three minutes in the previous test.