Sebastien Ogier has unsurprisingly dominated his home rally, chasing what would be his tenth victory at the iconic event. The Toyota driver leads the season opener by 20.3 seconds ahead of his teammate Elfyn Evans, with three stages left to run.
The battle behind Evans is much closer, with Hyundai drivers Adrien Fourmaux and Ott Tänak also in contention for second place. Tänak was in blistering form on Saturday afternoon, setting three consecutive fastest stage times.
“Our guys have done a good job, but the competition is fierce. Tänak has made a huge leap today. He’s been driving at an incredible pace and taking some risks that have paid off,” Toyota team principal Latvala told RallyJournal.com, praising the Estonian star from the rival team.
“Now he’s breathing down our necks. And Fourmaux isn’t far behind either. It’s shaping up to be a tough battle for the final day,” Latvala predicted.
Among the Toyota drivers, Kalle Rovanperä lost fourth place to Tänak on Saturday afternoon, as the Estonian pulled away decisively. Rovanperä had no answer to Tänak’s speed during the second pass of the stages.
Latvala had a conversation with Rovanperä when the Finnish star arrived at the evening service.
“He said that narrow and slippery roads are a bit of an issue. He doesn’t have full confidence in the car’s turn-in on those sections. On wider roads, he has no problems,” Latvala explained.
According to Latvala, Rovanperä still has much to learn about the new Hankook tyres being used in the WRC for the first time this season.
“To put it bluntly, Kalle hasn’t had enough time with these tyres. It’s a bit like Monte in 2022 when he didn’t feel completely comfortable with the car at the start. Now it’s the same story. He would’ve needed more work with the slick tyres,” Latvala noted.
“He’s had plenty of running on snow and studded tyres, but driving with slicks has been so limited that he hasn’t been able to find the limits of the car.”
