The biggest victim was rally leader Toyota’s Kalle Rovanperä. The Finn suffered a front-tyre puncture on the penultimate stage of the day.
To Rovanperä’s misfortune, the tyre deflated already before the halfway point of the long stage, and the game was up. Rovanperä fell from the lead to sixth place and is now trailing his team-mate Sébastien Ogier, who leads the rally, by almost two and a half minutes.
Hyundai’s Ott Tänak was also hit by tyre trouble. However, the Estonian currently holds fourth place in the rally, only 2.5 seconds away from a podium position.
“The afternoon was all clean. Obviously on the middle stage we clearly lost too much. In the first part we couldn’t drive fast enough, and in the second loop I just wasn’t able to commit enough, and therefore we lost quite a bit,” Tänak summed up his day.
When asked about the tyre failures, the Estonian thought it wiser to keep quiet.
“I don’t really know what to say. This topic is not very nice at the moment,” Tänak admitted.
On Sunday, Tänak will be chasing Toyota’s Elfyn Evans. The Estonian has a good chance of catching the World Championship leader, though of course there are many variables. Rain could completely change the game.
“It depends what the weather is like and when the weather is going to hit. If it’s dry, like this morning, the road keeps improving. But if it’s wet, then we have no idea what’s going to happen,” Tänak explained.
