Tänak solid leader, Rovanperä recovers

After a high-flying day on Friday punctuated by two victories and a lead of more than 16 seconds overall, Ott Tänak (Hyundai) n’a pas flanché ce samedi.

Avec trois spéciales au programme de la matinée dont deux très rapides, l’Estonien se devait d’assurer afin de ne pas voir les Toyota d’Elfyn Evans et Kalle Rovanperä remonter au classement. Chose faite.

Ott Tänak started his day by signing a first scratch and pushing the Toyotas far behind him. He then increased his overall advantage to more than 23 seconds over his teammate and runner-up. Craig Breen while Kalle Rovanperä and Elfyn Evans were relegated to 26”1 and 46”9 respectively.

Something to reassure yourself before the two very fast stages. During the second, the Hyundai driver could do nothing against the speed of the Yaris who achieved a hat-trick (Evans ahead of Rovaperä, new runner-up in the event, and Ogier). At the time, the Estonian only lost 6 seconds overall. Nothing to panic about.

During the last outing of the morning, the overall leader brought everyone back into agreement by ahead of the two Toyota drivers Elfyn Evans and Sébastien Ogier, despite the difference in top speed. Enough to knock out the competition before the second loop of the day.

Overall, Ott Tänak has created a nice lead over Kalle Rovanperä and Craig Breen. With his special victory and his very good SS5, Elfyn Evans returned to 2” from fourth place Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) and less than eight seconds from the podium.

Although he seems to have regained his rhythm at the end of the morning, Sébastien Ogier has fallen behind in the rankings. The reigning world champion is 8th, more than 54 seconds behind Ott Tänak.

The Arctic Rally resumes this Saturday afternoon with SS6 at 14:38 p.m., still live-text on AUTOhebdo.