The lead changed hands yet again as Sebastien Ogier returned to the top of the leaderboard, moving ahead of Mads Ostberg by just two tenths of a second after winning the test.
The sunshine started to break through the overcast skies as Ogier finished the test, and the Volkswagen Polo R pilot showed a sunny disposition as he smiled his way through the post-stage interviews.
“In the stage before I had difficulty in pushing and forgetting the championship position. There was too much on my mind and the split times weren’t working. They were OK in here and I realised I was slow and had to do something, so I finished the stage better,” said Ogier, who shared fastest time with team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala.
Ostberg was only 1.0sec slower in his Ford Fiesta RS, but the Norwegian was frustrated. “It wasn’t a perfect stage,” he told WRC Live. “It’s so, so fast in places. I can’t find the small details to go faster at the moment. I know I have more seconds in me, but it’s just finding a way to get them out.”
Mikko Hirvonen was fourth, the Citroen DS3 driver 0.8sec ahead of overnight leader Thierry Neuville to reduce the margin between the duo to just 1.8sec.
Neuville remained relaxed and admitted he, too, had more pace to come. “I drove at a normal rhythm. I could have gone a bit better but it’s a stage everyone knows from the past and I don’t, so I had to be careful,” explained the Belgian.
The big drama revolved around Evgeny Novikov (pictured). He went off the road after 5km and hit some logs, arriving at the finish with his Fiesta RS’ bonnet obscuring his windscreen. “It was a right after a crest. I don’t know what happened,” was his only explanation.
Novikov delayed the following Kris Meeke as he struggled on. Meeke dropped 20sec and slipped to seventh overall behind Andreas Mikkelsen as he tried to find a way past, breaking his DS3’s front left wheel and cracking the windscreen in his efforts.
Riku Tahko retired his Mini John Cooper Works before the stage, reportedly with broken steering.