Elfyn Evans resumed cleaning duties but still managed to beat Takamoto Katsuta by 3.8 seconds. Cleaning was more prevalent in this stage, however, and the Welshman began to lose time to his other rivals.
He retained a 2.1-second lead over Sami Pajari in the overall classification but slipped from second overall to fifth behind a stage-winning Oliver Solberg, Adrien Fourmaux, Thierry Neuville and Sébastien Ogier.
Solberg and Fourmaux both complained of loose rocks on the road, while Ogier was happier with the balance of his Yaris. Dani Sordo struggled for grip with hard tyres and dropped 10.3 seconds to Solberg. He held seventh behind Pajari.
Teemu Suninen was fastest in WRC2 in the opening stage from Jan Solans and Yohan Rossel but Estonian Robert Virves was the first casualty and stopped early in the first special. Nikolay Gryazin was the quickest of the early runners in SS2.
Car 18. KATSUTA/JOHNSTON
“It was quite slippery in many places and the off-camber sections. He (Elfyn) has committed quite well.”
Car 33. EVANS/MARTIN
“Quite loose, especially at the end and with the camber. We couldn’t get any grip.”
Car 99. SOLBERG/EDMONDSON
“There were quite a lot of loose rocks. I was trying to be clean and not pushing.”
Car 5. PAJARI/SALMINEN
“Actually the feeling was not too bad. I had a few moments. It was not a clean stage. I was not expecting a good time.”
Car 16. FOURMAUX/CORIA
“It was a good stage. I had a clean one. There were loose rocks everywhere. I was a bit scared withpunctures.”
Car 1. OGIER/LANDAIS
“A bit better. It’s not fantastic but we made some steps already. We improved the balance.”
Car 11. NEUVILLE/WYDAEGHE
“It was okay but it’s tough in there. You see a lot of lines in there. It’s very technical. I am still feeling for the grip. I cannot trust it. We need to work on that. We have done some changes in the right direction.”
Car 95. ARMSTRONG/BYRNE
“It’s obviously a lot of exploring; The stages are very narrow and technical. It’s polished from the rain and now we have the dust and the rocks. It didn’t feel great but we are here.”
Car 55. MCERLEAN/TREACY
“Towards the end it was very slippery. I didn’t have such a good rhythm in that one. It’s still great fun to be here.”
Car 22. SESKS/FRANCIS
“Maybe a bit of progress. At some point it felt good. It’s like waves at this point. We definitely need to work on something.”
Car 6. SORDO/CARRERA
“The tyres, hard tyres and no grip. Before, we had a little bit more grip.”
Car 20. KORHONEN/VIINIKKA
“A bit better now, better grip now than we expected.”
Car 21. ROSSEL/DUNAND
“It’s good to follow (the lines). We do the job at the moment. We need to improve the balance of the car. I hope to start behind tomorrow.”
Car 23. VIRVES/VIILO
Stopped in stage one after the 6.85km split.
Car 24. DAPRÀ/GUGLIELMETTI
“One split where we saw many rocks and we lost a bit of time there. I need to focus again and improve and have less gap than this time.”
Car 25. GRYAZIN/ALEKSANDROV
“It feels not easy on this stage. No grip but the balance was better. Not easy to drive but, maybe, that is for everyone.”