Toyota’s Rovanpera was among the fortunate to enjoy a clean run through a gruelling and incident-filled Saturday morning loop of stages, to open up a 1m27.9s lead over Hyundai’s Neuville, who leapt from fourth to second.
Neuville took advantage of a chaotic loop for Evans and Katsuta, who were delayed by double punctures. Katsuta ended the morning in third, where he started the day, albeit 2m22.9s adrift of the lead. Evans plummeted from second to fifth [+3m43.8s] after his tyre dramas.
