Ott Tänak has snatched the lead of Rally Sweden away from Craig Breen despite a puncture as Thierry Neuville drew level with Kalle Rovanperä in third place.
A delaminated tire very late on the previous stage meant that Tänak closed to within just half a second of Breen heading onto SS14.
Breen has been in fine form on his first event back with Hyundai, but it was Tänak’s turn to steal the limelight under the cover of darkness.
His stage time was set to be absolutely astonishing before a front-left delamination, right towards the end of the stage, cost him the stage win to Neuville.
But Tänak’s searing pace was still enough for him to overhaul Breen and become the new rally leader – not that he was particularly impressed.
“Ask Pirelli guys f***** hell. It delaminated on the straight like Hyundai guys before,” said a frustrated Tänak.
Breen dropped 2.8s to Tänak on the stage and therefore trails by 2.3s.
“Quite tricky,” said Breen.
“It’s a bit of a bogey stage for me that one, struggled in the really high speed stuff at the end. But we’re still in the fight, we’re still there and we won’t lay down that easy.”
A spin for Rovanperä on the previous stage has dropped him into the clutches of Neuville, lying 3.4s ahead going onto SS14.
And Neuville has come alive as he sniffed the chance to take what would now be a podium position after team-mate Esapekka Lappi’s delaminated tire-induced off on SS13.
Incredibly, Neuville managed to outpace Rovanperä by 3.7s meaning the pair now share third place overall.
“We’re going to push,” promised a bullish Neuville, before he knew he was now level with the world champion.
“As long as the rally isn’t over there’s still an opportunity for us to fight on the podium, so we’re going to try.”
Rovanperä added: “He has to have better tires. For sure I had a clean stage but the rear tires are gone. I cannot do much more, I was actually driving quite well. He did well.”
Elfyn Evans and Pierre-Louis Loubet find themselves in their own sections of no man’s land.
Evans is 27.5s behind the tied Rovanperä and Neuville in fifth, but 1m57.9s clear of sixth placed Pierre-Louis Loubet.
