World Rally Champion Ott Tänak became the third different leader of Rally Estonia in as many stages with an outstanding performance on SS3, as outgoing pacesetter Kalle Rovanperä dropped to eighth place with damage.
Rovanperä had stormed into a 0.3-second lead over Hyundai’s Craig Breen on Saturday morning’s opening stage but it all went wrong on the day’s second test, Kanepi.
The Finn’s Toyota Yaris WRC ended the stage with a delaminated right-rear tire, with a section of the aero package missing as well as the tread. He surrendered 28.9s to stage winner Tänak, and now trails him by 27.4s overall.
Right-rear puncture @KalleRovanpera on @RallyEstonia. “I have no idea where it came from, we definitely didn’t hit anything. It stayed on the rim, but it cost a lot. The time of the first one was good – happy with that.” pic.twitter.com/JMuAZDBmwW
— dirtfishrally (@DirtFishRally) September 5, 2020
Tänak however had been quicker on the split times anyway so was poised to wrestle the lead away from Rovanperä.
The home favorite had acknowledged that Rally Estonia presented a big opportunity for him, and he certainly showed it on Kanepi with a time 5.6s quicker than next-best Breen.
It means Tänak’s Hyundai now heads the rally by 4.4s over team-mate Breen with Elfyn Evans, who was third quickest, 6.1s behind Tänak overall in his Yaris. Sébastien Ogier is holding onto fourth place another 1.3s back.
Thierry Neuville seemed displeased with the handling of his i20 Coupe WRC, indicating to co-driver Nicolas Gilsoul with his hand at the end of the stage that the rear was moving around too much.
But he was still fourth quickest on the stage, just 0.5s adrift of Evans and crucially 0.8s faster than Ogier, meaning he is now just two tenths behind the six-time champion.
Esapekka Lappi is the leading M-Sport driver in sixth but his prediction that the Fiesta WRC might not be able to keep up with the Yaris and i20 Coupe WRC is proving true. He is already 18.2s behind overall, despite having shared the overnight lead after Friday’s superspecial.
Takamoto Katsuta impressed to set the fifth-fastest time on SS3, 1.4s up on Lappi, who he trails by 1.2s. Rovanperä is eight seconds behind Katsuta with Teemu Suninen lying ninth, 0.3s behind the early rally leader.
Rally1 debutante Pierre-Louis Loubet is 10th, 12.6s behind Suninen but 8.7s ahead of Gus Greensmith who confessed his pacenotes were “too slow” for the high-speed stages.
SS3 times
1. Tänak (Hyundai) 8m16.6s
2. Breen (Hyundai) +5.6s
3. Evans (Toyota) +6.3s
4. Neuville (Hyundai) +6.8s
5. Ogier (Toyota) +7.6s
Leading positions after SS2
1. Tänak (Hyundai) 19m28.6s
2. Breen (Hyundai) +4.4s
3. Evans (Toyota) +6.1s
4. Ogier (Toyota) +8.7s
5. Neuville (Hyundai) +8.9s
6. Lappi (M-Sport Ford) +18.2s
7. Katsuta (Toyota) +19.4s
8. Rovanperä (Toyota) +27.4s
9. Suninen (M-Sport Ford) +27.7s
10. Loubet (2C Competition Hyundai) +40.3s
