Rovanpera emerged as the class of the field winning three of the four morning stages held on slippery wet asphalt as he made the most of the clean conditions being first on the road.
The Toyota driver ended the loop with a 12.5s lead over Neuville, who produced a solid display for Hyundai, with team-mate Ott Tanak, 47.3s adrift in third.
Craig Breen will head in to the afternoon stages in fourth, only 1.9s shy of the final podium position. M-Sport team-mate Gus Greensmith completed the distance in fifth. But it proved to be a challenging day for the Ford squad, who lost Adrien Fourmaux to a spin off the road on stage 3, while Pierre-Louis Loubet retired after suffering three punctures in two stages.
Elfyn Evans also suffered two front left punctures across the morning stages which left him 2 minutes and 1s adrift in eighth, behind Oliver Solberg and Takamoto Katsuta after Toyota’s Esapekka Lappi retired on the opening stage.
The rally began in an eventful fashion as crews grappled with the slippery conditions and a road that became increasingly dirtier as drivers dragged mud onto the surface from cutting corners.
Rovanpera set a blistering time on the first test, winning the stage by 4.1s from Neuville, who was lucky to escape from an excursion into a ditch on the exit of the third corner.
The Belgian labelled the stage “horrible” and the challenging road was winning few fans among the drivers.
Breen emerged third fastest ahead of Tanak while Greensmith was fortunate to wrestle his car back on the road after a wild moment that resulted in his Ford Puma climbing a grass bank, narrowly avoiding a tree.
Solberg also lost time to a spin but worse was to come for Toyota’s Lappi and Evans, and M-Sport’s Loubet.
Lappi clipped a rock while cutting a right hander which damaged his front right suspension, ending his day early on his Croatia debut, while Evans picked up a front left puncture and lost 1minute 20s.
Meanwhile, Loubet could count himself unlucky as the Frenchman picked up punctures to both his front tyres, but was able to replenish his rubber having carried two spares.
Rovanpera continued his impressive start by winning the second stage and again Neuville emerged as his nearest rival, albeit 7.5s adrift.
Breen lost his grip of third overall to Tanak after the Irishman dropped 12s when he suffered a moment on the wet roads. The M-Sport driver ran wide on a left hander and elected to take evasive action by running up a grass bank avoiding a water hydrant in the process.
Behind, team-mate Loubet suffered even more misfortune, as he incurred a third puncture of the day, which ruled him out of the remaining stages on Friday.
The rain returned at the start of the third stage but it failed to dampen Rovanpera’s charge although he was unable to complete three consecutive stage wins.
Team-mate Evans issued a response after his slow start to the rally to take the honours in stage 3, posting a time 2.6s faster than Rovanpera, while Tanak was third and Breen fourth.
Up until this point Fourmaux was the only M-Sport driver to avoid trouble. However, that ended 200m into the stage when he lost the rear of this Puma and speared through a hedge, before coming to rest in a garden. The Frenchman didn’t start the final stage of morning.
Rovanpera wrapped up a strong opening morning by winning the final stage before service held in heavy rain. Neuville kept the pressure on the Finn, to sit 0.7s back while Breen made up 6.1s on Tanak in the battle for third.
After suffering his second puncture of the morning, Evans managed to limit the damage by dropping only 16.8s.
Yoann Rossel leads WRC2 from Britain's Chris Ingram, while Jon Armstrong tops the Junior WRC category, sitting an impressive 18th overall.
The crews will repeat the morning loop of stages this afternoon.
Results:
| Cla | Driver/Codriver | Car | Total Time | Gap | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
 Kalle Rovanperä Jonne Halttunen
| Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 | 25'58.800 | ||
| 2 |
 Thierry Neuville Martijn Wydaeghe
| Hyundai i20 N Rally1 | 26'10.400 | 11.600 | |
| 3 |
 Ott Tanak Martin Jarveoja
| Hyundai i20 N Rally1 | 26'32.300 | 33.500 | |
| 4 |
 Craig Breen Paul Nagle
| Ford Puma Rally1 | 26'38.800 | 40.000 | |
| 5 |
 Gus Greensmith  Jonas Andersson
| Ford Puma Rally1 | 26'58.700 | 59.900 | |
| 6 |
 Adrien Fourmaux Alexandre Coria | Ford Puma Rally1 | 27'07.300 | 1'08.500 | |
| 7 |
Oliver Solberg Elliott Edmondson
| Hyundai i20 N Rally1 | 27'15.200 | 1'16.400 | |
| 8 |
 Takamoto Katsuta Aaron Johnston | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 | 27'23.100 | 1'24.300 | |
| 9 |
Elfyn Evans Scott Martin
| Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 | 27'46.500 | 1'47.700 | |
| 10 |
Yohan Rossel Valentin Sarreaud
| Citroën C3 Rally2 | 28'02.300 | 2'03.500 | |
| 11 |
Chris Ingram Craig Drew
| Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo | 28'15.600 | 2'16.800 | |
| 12 |
 Nikolay Gryazin Konstantin Aleksandrov | Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo | 28'36.200 | 2'37.400 | |
| 13 |
Stéphane Lefebvre Andy Malfoy | Citroën C3 Rally2 | 28'39.700 | 2'40.900 | |
| 14 |
 Kajetan Kajetanowicz Maciek Szczepaniak
| Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo | 28'40.700 | 2'41.900 | |
| 15 |
Jari Huttunen Mikko Lukka | Ford Fiesta Rally2 | 28'45.500 | 2'46.700 | |
| 16 |
Eric Camilli Thibault De la Haye | Citroën C3 Rally2 | 28'46.600 | 2'47.800 | |
| 17 |
Emil Lindholm Reeta Hämäläinen | Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo | 28'57.300 | 2'58.500 | |
| 18 |
Grégoire Munster Louis Louka | Hyundai i20 N Rally2 | 29'09.600 | 3'10.800 | |
| 19 |
Jon Armstrong Brian Hoy | Ford Fiesta Rally3 | 29'25.400 | 3'26.600 | |
| 20 |
Erik Cais Petr Těšínský | Ford Fiesta Rally2 | 29'26.800 | 3'28.000 | |
| 21 |
Robert Virves Aleks Lesk | Ford Fiesta Rally3 | 29'38.500 | 3'39.700 | |
| 22 |
Lauri Joona Mikael Korhonen
| Ford Fiesta Rally3 | 29'42.400 | 3'43.600 | |
| 23 |
Neil Simpson Michael Gibson | Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo | 29'47.400 | 3'48.600 | |
| 24 |
Armin Kremer  Timo Gottschalk
| Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo | 29'51.500 | 3'52.700 | |
| 25 |
Mikko Heikkilä Samu Vaaleri | Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo | 29'59.500 | 4'00.700 | |
| 26 |
Sami Pajari Enni Mälkönen | Ford Fiesta Rally3 | 29'59.700 | 4'00.900 | |
| 27 |
Georg Linnamäe James Morgan
| Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 | 29'59.900 | 4'01.100 | |
| 28 |
Mauro Miele Luca Beltrame | Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo | 30'01.000 | 4'02.200 | |
| 29 |
Mikołaj Marczyk Szymon Gospodarczyk
| Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo | 30'07.300 | 4'08.500 | |
| 30 |
Johannes Keferbock Ilka Minor | Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo | 30'19.100 | 4'20.300 | |
| 31 |
Olivier Burri Anderson Levratti | Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 | 30'42.500 | 4'43.700 | |
| 32 |
Jean-Baptiste Franceschi Anthony Gorguilo | Ford Fiesta Rally3 | 30'44.200 | 4'45.400 | |
| 33 |
 Sean Johnston Alexander Kihurani | Citroën C3 Rally2 | 30'45.700 | 4'46.900 | |
| 34 |
Pierre Ragues Julien Pesenti | Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 | 31'10.200 | 5'11.400 | |
| 35 |
Pierre-Louis Loubet Vincent Landais
| Ford Puma Rally1 | 31'23.000 | 5'24.200 | |
| 36 |
 Benito Guerra  Daniel Cue
| Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo | 31'37.800 | 5'39.000 | |
| 37 |
 Enrico Brazzoli Manuel Fenoli
| Ford Fiesta Rally3 | 31'54.000 | 5'55.200 | |
| 38 |
Róbert Bútor Róbert Tagai | Peugeot 208 Rally4 | 32'51.400 | 6'52.600 | |
| 39 |
 Aljosa Novak Uroš Ocvirk | Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo | 32'55.700 | 6'56.900 | |
| 40 |
Alfred Kramer Jeannette Andersson | Peugeot 208 Rally4 | 32'59.300 | 7'00.500 | |
| 41 |
Darko Peljhan Matej Čar | Škoda Fabia R5 | 33'25.000 | 7'26.200 | |
| 42 |
Niko Pulic Aleksandra Kovačić | Škoda Fabia R5 | 33'34.700 | 7'35.900 | |
| 43 |
Ricardo Trivino Marc Marti
| Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo | 33'34.800 | 7'36.000 | |
| 44 |
Filippo Marchino Roberto Briani | Škoda Fabia R5 | 33'46.000 | 7'47.200 | |
| 45 |
Vlastimil Majerčák Jakub Slovák | Ford Fiesta Rally3 | 34'12.600 | 8'13.800 | |
| 46 |
Zoltán László Tamás Kürti | Ford Fiesta Rally3 | 34'23.600 | 8'24.800 | |
| 47 |
Fabrizio Arengi Massimiliano Bosi | Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo | 34'57.400 | 8'58.600 | |
| 48 |
Ivica Siladić Jasna Durak | Ford Fiesta Rally3 | 35'03.500 | 9'04.700 | |
| 49 |
Martin Ravenščak Marko Stiperski | Ford Fiesta Rally4 | 35'24.800 | 9'26.000 | |
| 50 |
Viliam Prodan Zoran Raštegorac | Renault Clio Rally4 | 35'32.900 | 9'34.100 | |
| 51 |
McRae Kimathi Mwangi Kioni | Ford Fiesta Rally3 | 36'21.100 | 10'22.300 | |
| 52 |
Željko Magličić Ivan Poljak | Ford Fiesta Rally4 | 36'41.200 | 10'42.400 | |
| 53 |
Jan Pokos Viljem Ošlaj | Ford Fiesta Rally4 | 36'42.100 | 10'43.300 | |
| 54 |
Krešimir Ravenščak Dora Ravenščak | Ford Fiesta Rally4 | 37'04.000 | 11'05.200 | |
| 55 |
Lazar Milovanović Goran Rabasović | Ford Fiesta Rally4 | 37'16.300 | 11'17.500 | |
| 56 |
Carlo Covi Michela Lorigiola | Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo | 38'49.600 | 12'50.800 | |
| 57 |
 Henk Vossen Hans van Goor | Ford Fiesta R5 | 39'03.600 | 13'04.800 | |
| View full results | |||||
