Oliver Solberg is now just 2.2 seconds behind Sébastien Ogier at Rally Islas Canarias, with two stages left to run.
Ogier carried a lead of 3.8s into the final day of the event, where Super Sunday and powerstage bonus points are also on offer.
Overnight rain threw a further curveball into the mix, but the times were just as close as they have been all weekend on the day’s opener; Solberg setting the pace by six tenths over Ogier.
That reduced the lead to 3.2s ahead of the powerstage dress rehearsal, where Solberg found a second over his rival to trail by 2.2s ahead of a repeated run of the same tests this morning.
“I’m trying to look after the tires as much as I can but still we need to push to the end. It’s a tough balance,” said Solberg. “I’m not flat out yet. Maybe later…”
Ogier was unperturbed: “We enjoy a lot, I try to save a bit the tire at the moment, it’s going to be a long loop,” he said. “I focus on myself, just try and drive fast and we will see.”
Elfyn Evans remains third overall but is second in Super Sunday, 0.1s ahead of Ogier and just 1.5s behind Solberg. Sami Pajari and Takamoto Katsuta are fourth and fifth respecitvely on both the ovrerall and Super Sunday leaderboard.
Dani Sordo and Adrien Fourmaux went against the grain by taking a package of three soft and three hard compound tires, with the rest of the field choosing four softs and two hards.
That really didn’t work for them on the wet opening stage of the day, but could play to their advantage as the morning progresses. Fourmaux admitted it was a tactic to try and optimize the powerstage.
Team-mate Thierry Neuville profited by leaping ahead of Sordo by 12.8s into seventh place, trailing sixth-placed Fourmaux by 16.7s.
