Kalle Rovanperä has started a potentially historic day with fastest time, leading Rally New Zealand by 29.6 seconds over Toyota team-mate Sébastien Ogier.
With closest World Rally Championship rival in third, Rovanperä is in position to win his first ever world title subject to scoring enough powerstage points later on Sunday.
But the 22-year-old isn’t feeling any pressure, keeping his rhythm to win the Whitford Forest test by 0.6s.
“I just try to have a normal slow pace to save the tires a bit, so nothing crazy.”
Tänak isn’t planning any heroics, simply stating that he needs to finish the rally. He’s heading a Hyundai 3-4-5 in the overall standings.
The Rally1 field is also down another car, after Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta failed to start the day, having crashed out on SS12 the previous afternoon.
It means his run of scoring points on every rally this season is at an end.
