Ogier was the quickest on the second run of the Milzkalne stage, which was only five kilometres long. The time gaps were minimal, with Ogier’s teammates Takamoto Katsuta (+0.1) and Kalle Rovanperä (+0.2) right behind him. In the end, the top five on the stage were separated by only 0.7 seconds.
Ogier remains in third place overall, 7.3 seconds behind leader Rovanperä.
“This stage is really nice, but too short. We just started, and now we have already finished,” Ogier smiled.
Rovanperä holds a 3.7-second lead over Latvian hopeful Martins Sesks, who finished fifth on the second run of Milzkalne. Rovanperä started the afternoon loop with two spare tyres.
“On this kind of flowing stage, taking spares, you can feel the weight a bit. But everybody seems to have different tyre plans for the afternoon. It’s a long loop, so let’s see how our plan works,” Rovanperä commented.
Hyundai’s Ott Tänak remains in fourth place, 15.2 seconds behind the leader. Behind him are Katsuta and M-Sport Ford’s Adrien Fourmaux, who moved up to sixth ahead of Toyota’s Elfyn Evans.
Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi had a tyre come off the rim of his front wheel and ended up three seconds behind Ogier’s fastest time. Lappi is still eighth overall, over half a minute behind Rovanperä.
Three more special stages will be run on Friday in the Rally Latvia. The competition will conclude on Sunday.
Rally Latvia standings after SS5/20:
| POS | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1. | Kalle Rovanperä | Toyota | 35:24.3 |
| 2. | Martins Sesks | Ford | +3.7 |
| 3. | Sebastien Ogier | Toyota | +7.3 |
| 4. | Ott Tänak | Hyundai | +15.2 |
| 5. | Takamoto Katsuta | Toyota | +18.6 |
| 6. | Adrien Fourmaux | Ford | +22.6 |
| 7. | Elfyn Evans | Toyota | +23.2 |
| 8. | Esapekka Lappi | Hyundai | +35.4 |
| 9. | Greigoire Munster | Ford | +43.9 |
| 10. | Thierry Neuville | Hyundai | +44.3 |
| 11. | Oliver Solberg | Skoda | +1:34.6 |
| 12. | Mikko Heikkilä | Toyota | +1:59.4 |
Rally Latvia Itinerary (CET)
Thursday 18.7. 06:31 Shakedown: Cimdenieki (3.58 km) 19:05 SS1: Bikernieki Track (11.13 km) Friday 19.7. 09:00 SS2: Milzkalne 1 (4.99 km) 09:45 SS3: Tukums 1 (27.56 km) 11:00 SS4: Andumi (17.86 km) 12:50 Tyre fitting zone 13:30 SS5: Milzkalne 2 (4.99 km) 14:15 SS6: Tukums 2 (27.56 km) 15:30 SS7: Strazde (17.44 km) 16:20 SS8: Talsi (20.52 km) Saturday 20.7. 07:20 SS9: Pilskalns (18.87 km) 08:35 SS10: Snepele (17.52 km) 10:30 SS11: Ivande (23.04 km) 12:05 SS12: Vecpils 1 (12.64 km) 13:30 Service (40 min) 15:15 SS13: Podnieki (10.09 km) 16:05 SS14: Vecpils 2 (12.64 km) 18:00 SS15: Dinsdurbe (6.64 km) 19:15 SS16: Liepaja City Stage (2.56 km) Sunday 21.7. 07:55 SS17: Krogzemji 1 (18.70 km) 09:05 SS18: Mazilmaja 1 (13.34 km) 10:55 SS19: Krogzemji 2 (18.70 km) 13:15 SS20: Mazilmaja 2 (13.34 km) *Power Stage
