Eight-time world champion Sébastien Ogier merely had no reply for Rovanperä’s tempo, although he got here just one.2s and a couple of.0s away from matching the rally chief on SS10 and SS11 respectively.
However on SS12 Rovanperä was again to his imperious finest, topping the instances by 4.8s.
“After this weekend it will go possibly to my prime three, prime 5 levels,” mentioned Rovanperä of the Tejeda take a look at.
Ogier was happier together with his GR Yaris on the afternoon move: “It’s been afternoon, we loved within the automobile, the steadiness is best. It seems to be like the one factor that’s lacking is a bit little bit of velocity in comparison with the chief.”
Championship chief Elfyn Evans continued to fall additional adrift of Ogier, the hole between second and third extending to 23s. Pajari’s demise promoted Takamoto Katsuta to fourth place; the Japanese driver hadn’t been difficult his youthful teammate on tempo beforehand.
“It’s fairly a giant mess to start with,” mentioned Katsuta of his second move by Tejeda. “I’m not completely satisfied in any respect with my drive. It wasn’t really easy, very completely different feeling than different levels, I don’t know why. Solely many corners I couldn’t get turned in, it was so unhealthy.”
