Kalle Rovanperä has nudged his Rally Estonia lead above the 20-second mark for the first time with yet another dominant stage win.
Rovanperä’s stage wasn’t without drama though as he had to check on the brakes to avoid contact with a spectator who was dangerously close to the side of the road.
It did little to impact his stranglehold on the rally though as he beat rival Elfyn Evans by 3.3s to build a 22.4s lead.
But he wasn’t happy: “I don’t know what it is on this stage but it never feels good,” he said.
“Both passes I feel I leave a lot of time there, but maybe the time is good.”
Evans hasn’t given up the chase, though now faces an uphill battle to close an ever-widening gap.
“Obviously we’re trying!” Evans added. “It’s not easy, there were a few small errors in there in the braking zones but it’s the same for everyone.”
Ott Tänak remains a distant third, 1m01.4s back, and once again set the third fastest time on Elva; a stage that runs through co-driver Martin Järveoja’s home village. Did that spur Tänak on?
“I don’t think he has ever pushed me,” Tänak said. “I don’t think that would be a good idea,” he grinned.
Thierry Neuville remains fourth and is evaluating setup changes aboard his Hyundai.
“We are testing different things, it felt actually quite OK but also this morning,” he said.
“Somehow when the grip is changing I lose the positioning of the car and I have to correct and it’s every time there where I’m losing time.”
Takamoto Katsuta and Adrien Fourmaux are both effectively accidentally involved in a battle for fifth place – neither driver wanting to take any risks or worry about what any other driver is doing.
However the hypothetical battle is somewhat defused as Katsuta stretched his advantage over Fourmaux into double digits at 11.2s.
Esapekka Lappi was down in the dumps at midday service after pushing a tire off the rim in the morning and falling from fourth to seventh place.
The Toyota driver was a strong fourth fastest on Elva 2, but what was keeping him motivated?
“[I’m] just trying to enjoy, get relaxed with the driving and build up confidence,” he said.
Pierre-Louis Loubet and Gus Greensmith remain eighth and ninth overall and were the slowest of the Rally1 runners on the stage – Loubet a second quicker than Greensmith who was spooked by a tree stump in a cut.
Craig Breen and Oliver Solberg are running well outside the points, but Solberg got the better of Breen for the first time on Saturday on SS14 with the seventh-fastest time.
