Neuville took too big a risk and ended up in a ditch. His teammate, Ott Tänak, was puzzled by Neuville’s situation.
“I was really surprised by that, to be honest. He was driving in no man’s land, but still, it happened to him,” Tänak said.
“The roads have been extremely difficult, especially this afternoon with the extra roughness as well,” Tänak continued.
A fierce battle for the lead is ongoing between Tänak and Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier. Tänak holds a 3.5-second lead over Ogier going into Saturday afternoon’s stages.
“No, there’s nothing left. Yeah, it’s been tough. I mean, at the same time, it’s so rough as well. It’s a big job. Sometimes it’s even difficult to feel if you are on the limit or how the rhythm is,” Tänak reflected.
Sebastien Ogier’s morning started badly when the Frenchman suffered a slow puncture.
“The pressure was big to finish the loop because we knew we would face more rough conditions, and another puncture would have been game over for us. So it was challenging,” Ogier recounted the morning.
“I’m happy with how we managed the time loss this morning. The last two stages were so rough that I’ve never seen anything like it. It was really, really rough and difficult to drive the car. Not fun at all. But we are here. Now it’s time to reset, refresh the tyres, and go again,” Ogier planned.
The afternoon still offers four more special stages.
“The profile is a bit different, a little bit more speed now because it was very slow this morning,” Ogier anticipated.
