The overnight leader started the morning with a 1m23s margin but a front-left puncture on the loop’s penultimate test reduced his advantage to 16.8s over Hyundai’s Ott Tanak heading into the afternoon’s four stages.
Rovanpera’s issue has brought Tanak into the fight for victory after the 2019 world champion was elevated into second once teammate Thierry Neuville was demoted to fourth overall, after incurring a one-minute penalty for speeding during a road section on Friday.
M-Sport’s Craig Breen headed into service in third spot 57.8s adrift of the lead, but the Irishman’s margin over Neuville is 26.2s after the latter won the final stage of the morning.
Organisers were forced to cancel the day’s opening stage following a high-speed crash for Hyundai’s Oliver Solberg on stage 9, which was held in foggy and damp conditions.
The Swede lost the rear of his i20 N before clouting a grass bank with the rear of the car. A hot exhaust caused the vehicle to catch fire but luckily Solberg and co-driver Elliott Edmondson escaped unharmed before the blaze began.
The incident elevated Toyota’s Elfyn Evans to fifth overall ahead of Toyota teammate Takamoto Katsuta.
Following Solberg’s crash, crews headed to Stage 10 which started 40 minutes late as a result of the earlier incident.
Inconsistent conditions made tyre selection a tough choice with the roads featuring a mixture of dry and wet sections.
Esapekka Lappi, who rejoined the fray after retiring on Friday’s opening stage, took the stage win using a mix of wet and slick tyres
The Toyota driver emerged 0.6s faster than teammate Evans, while Gus Greensmith was only 2.2s back as he attempted to recover ground after Friday’s punctures.
Rally leader Rovanpera dropped 10.6s to nearest rival Tanak in the stage as both drivers elected to run with four wet tyres.
Conditions took a turn for the worse in Stage 11 as thick fog descended, reducing visibility to 10-15 metres, while the roads were also soaking wet.
Tanak and Rovanpera appeared to be in the box seat given their tyre choice and it was the former who starred.
The Hyundai driver won the test by an impressive 18.6s from teammate Neuville, who produced a committed run that included a brush with a grass bank.
Tanak’s stage time proved a significant one as Rovanpera became the latest driver to pick up a puncture this weekend, which resulted in the Finn losing 54.4s as he battled with a deflated front left.
Breen was third-fastest in the test to maintain his momentum in the battle for the podium places but declared the conditions the worst he’s faced.
"I'm happy just to get to the end of that,” said Breen. “They were the worst conditions I've seen in my life and I could see absolutely nothing. This guy [co driver Paul Nagle] did a cracking job he was always keeping me updated on what I needed to see. You could see 10 metres, 15 metres at time but I enjoyed it though.”
Crews faced dry tarmac and vastly improved visibility for the final stage of the loop which was won by Neuville.
The Belgian was 0.8s faster than Evans while Tanak and Pierre-Louis Loubet, returning to the action after three puncture put him out of the rally yesterday, shared the third fastest time.
Breen lost ground to Neuville after sliding wide at hairpin which required a three-point turn to rejoin the action. The M-Sport driver mirrored a move Lappi had pulled off just moments earlier.
Greensmith’s difficult rally continued as he suffered his fifth puncture of the event, this time a slick let go following a compression.
The crews will head back out for a second pass of the morning loop stages this afternoon.
