Kalle Rovanperä has taken another huge swipe out of Elfyn Evans in the battle to lead Rally Estonia, carrying a 19.1-second advantage into Saturday afternoon.
Rovanperä stole the lead from Evans on the final stage of Friday, carrying an 11.7s advantage into the second full day.
Evans was quickest, albeit by just 0.6s, on Saturday’s opener but thereafter Rovanperä has had the edge.
Fully at one with his Toyota on the faster, wider stages, Rovanperä was untouchable on SS13 as he beat next-quickest Evans by 3.4s.
“Good feeling now in the car,” said Rovanperä. “In the morning I was not so awake as I normally am and what I want to be, but now these two ones were nice.
“The setup was better, I had a bit more grip so it was nice to drive.”
Evans added: It was OK but it wasn’t perfect, to be honest.”
Third-placed Ott Tänak and fourth-placed Thierry Neuville are both in no man’s land in their respective positions but had different experiences on the stage.
Tänak was “surprised” by the changing grip levels while Neuville was grinning, believing it made it “fun”.
After vaulting past Adrien Fourmaux on the previous stage, Takamoto Katsuta pressed home his advantage on the final stage of Saturday morning’s loop, adding another 1.6s to his gap to lead his rival by 6.3s.
Not that either driver was that bothered about the battle.
“Not really to be honest,” replied Katsuta when asked if he was thinking about Fourmaux, “I’ll just do my job and it’ll be fine.”
Fourmaux countered: “We have lost one position with Taka, but we are still sixth so it’s OK.”
Esapekka Lappi finds himself behind both Katsuta and Fourmaux thanks to a puncture on the previous stage, and he struggled in the low-grip conditions – suffering a wild moment at one junction.
“Quite tricky stage, the grip was changing many, many times and sometimes it was nothing,” he said. “We got caught at one junction completely, but no punctures.”
Pierre-Louis Loubet was another who found the slick and slimy conditions tricky, describing them as “like ice” as he continues to hold eighth spot.
Gus Greensmith was the slowest of the Rally1 drivers as he checked up his pace with no spare tires left in his trunk.
Craig Breen navigated the Saturday morning loop safely and at a decent pace considering his position as first car on the road. His M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 was never outside the top six times, and a strong third fastest on SS13.
Andreas Mikkelsen continues to lead WRC2 and holds 10th overall in his Toksport Škoda, but it’s been a close battle with Hyundai driver Teemu Suninen all day.
Over the course of the four-stage loop Mikkelsen has gained just 1.8s over his rival – each driver winning one of the first three stages and tying on the second.
But it wasn’t without its drama as Mikkelsen arrived to the end of SS13 with a damaged front-right rim.
“We touched these boxes on the inside just at the finish. It was at the end of the stage so luckily OK,” said Mikkelsen, who finished the loop with 13.9s in hand over the chasing Suninen.
“It’s a really tight battle for the lead,” added Suninen, “but we’re missing a bit of pace.”
Mikkelsen’s Toksport team-mate Marco Bulacia is third, 40.4s behind Suninen.
