Elfyn Evans resumed road-cleaning duties at the head of the field in dry and dusty conditions. He shaved 2.9 seconds off his morning’s run through Arganil but dropped 1.3 seconds to team-mate Takamoto Katsuta and 1.2 seconds to Sami Pajari, who sustained a slow rear puncture.
Oliver Solberg was on a charge, took 5.4 seconds out of Pajari and moved ahead of Pajari but Sébastien Ogier was on a charge, ran fastest and closed to within four seconds of leader Adrien Fourmaux. Thierry Neuville was second quickest and also moved ahead of Pajari into third place.
M-Sport Ford WRT’s Jon Armstrong suffered a power steering pump failure at service and completed the stage with no power steering. He dropped over one and a half minutes.
Nikolay Gryazin began the afternoon’s loop of four stages with a WRC2 lead of 7.4 seconds over Jan Solans, the Spaniard also heading the WRC2 Challenger section. Alejandro Cachón had been the leader after six stages but suffered alternator failure and was forced to retire.
Sweden’s Calle Carlberg overhauled Ali Türkkan during the morning’s loop and began the afternoon leading Junior WRC. His Turkish rival held a narrow advantage over Matteo Fontana in WRC3.
Car 18. KATSUTA/JOHNSTON
“Still a lack of grip but balance-wise it’s fine. I try my best. It’s as expected. Nothing new but it is easy to get a puncture or damage on the tyres.”
Car 33. EVANS/MARTIN
Caught a recovery vehicle near the finish of the stage.
Car 99. SOLBERG/EDMONDSON
“I tried to be careful with tyres also but the feeling is better and there is more grip on the road.”
Car 5. PAJARI/SALMINEN
“We hit something slightly (slow rear puncture). It is okay but we also stall on one hairpin. It felt strange why it happened.”
Car 16. FOURMAUX/CORIA
“It’s very different than this morning. There are rocks everywhere. I can see lines close to the edge all the time. It’s a good fight anyway.”
Car 1. OGIER/LANDAIS
“Better with the car. We made some changes and it helped for sure. We changed the suspension (settings).”
Car 11. NEUVILLE/WYDAEGHE
“It was okay. It is more the chassis balance and chassis control than the tyre. It gives more grip with the softs on the rear. We made a tyre choice according to the weather information we had. I trusted our weather crew. Normally, he is quite good at it!”
Car 95. ARMSTRONG/BYRNE
The power-steering pump had failed for the Irishman before the afternoon’s four stages and he lost over one and a half minutes on the stage. “It’s so tough with all the bedrock and the ruts. The hard ground comes through the steering wheel and vibrates through our hands. You have to hold tight in case the steering wheel jolts very quickly. Another three (stages) to go. It’s a good gym session!”
Car 55. MCERLEAN/TREACY
Problems starting the car after remote service in Arganil and he incurred a 50-second time penalty for leaving five minutes late.
Car 22. SESKS/FRANCIS
Dropped just 0.4 seconds to Dani Sordo and moved up to ninth overall at the expense of Josh McErlean.
Car 31. CACHÓN/ROZADA
Alternator failure after the morning’s loop of stages.