Rovanperä clocked the fastest time with a 5.4-second lead over his teammate Sebastien Ogier. Latvian sensation Martins Sesks, who surprised Rovanperä on two stages on Friday, was 8.1 seconds behind the Finn.
“It was quite a nice stage, the grip was much higher. I didn’t use the grip as much as I could, but hopefully the grip is like that today. Let’s see if [the strategy] works out, you will see at the end of the loop if it works out,” Rovanperä said.
In the overall standings, Rovanperä extended his lead to 23.8 seconds over Sesks. Ogier is in third place, only 3.2 seconds behind the Latvian. Sesks is not forcing a fight against the eight-time champion.
“It wasn’t bad. Still finding some rhythm when it is a bit more loose. I was trying to be really clean, but in some places I was still a bit cautious. We will just drive, we are not that experienced to fight with guys like (Ogier, Rovanperä),” Sesks said.
“For sure the game is on, good line now that we didn’t have yesterday. I didn’t use them as much as I could. For sure, the line is stronger,” Ogier said, referring to his better starting position.
In fourth place continues Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta, but Hyundai’s Estonian driver Ott Tänak is now only three seconds behind. M-Sport Ford’s Adrien Fourmaux is in sixth place ahead of Toyota’s Elfyn Evans.
In the WRC2 class, Swedish driver Oliver Solberg continues to lead. Toyota driver Mikko Heikkilä drove almost equal time with Solberg on the opening stage. The gap between second-placed Heikkilä and Solberg is just over half a minute. Third-placed Sami Pajari beat the leading pair in Saturday’s opener and reduced Heikkilä’s lead to just 5.1 seconds.
“It went quite well, but there is still room for improvement. The grip is better than yesterday. Maybe I didn’t have enough confidence to push hard,” Pajari summarised.
In Rally Latvia, seven more special stages will be driven on Saturday. The competition ends on Sunday.
Rally Latvia standings after SS9/20:
| POS | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1. | Kalle Rovanperä | Toyota | 1:17:38.4 |
| 2. | Martins Sesks | Ford | +23.8 |
| 3. | Sebastien Ogier | Toyota | +27.0 |
| 4. | Takamoto Katsuta | Toyota | +41.3 |
| 5. | Ott Tänak | Hyundai | +44.3 |
| 6. | Adrien Fourmaux | Ford | +50.6 |
| 7. | Elfyn Evans | Toyota | +1:00.9 |
| 8. | Thierry Neuville | Hyundai | +1:39.7 |
| 9. | Gregoire Munster | Ford | +1:41.7 |
| 10. | Esapekka Lappi | Hyundai | +1:55.8 |
| 11. | Oliver Solberg | Skoda | +4:00.9 |
| 12. | Mikko Heikkilä | Toyota | +4:32.1 |
| 13. | Sami Pajari | Toyota | +4:37.2 |
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
