Kalle Rovanpera recorded his two hundredth World Rally Championship stage win on his approach to extending his lead at Rally Latvia on Saturday morning.
The 2-time world champion received three of the 4 morning gravel exams to extend his benefit to 34.8s.
That lead was over Toyota team-mate Sebastien Ogier, who managed to pip native star Martins Sesks to second throughout the loop.
Hyundai’s Ott Tanak charged from sixth in a single day to fourth [+45.0s] forward of M-Sport Ford’s Adrien Fourmaux [+1m06.3s] and Toyota’s Elfyn Evans [+1m14.3s].
Takamoto Katsuta began the day in fourth however a mistake on stage 12 demoted the Japanese to seventh [+1m35.5ss] in entrance of Hyundai’s championship chief Thierry Neuville [+2m14.4s], Esapekka Lappi [+2m43.7s] and Gregoire Munster [+2m51.8s].
Highway cleansing was arguably a fair larger impact on Saturday with solely one of many day’s eight phases repeated.
This was evident within the morning’s first 18.87km check Pilskalns, as occasions tumbled with kind of each move.
Ott Tänak, Martin Järveoja, Hyundai World Rally Crew Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Photograph by: Tomasz Kalinski
Rally chief Rovanpera was granted the most effective highway place which he duly made probably the most of, whereas including additional gloss. The Finn posted a blistering time regardless of carrying the additional weight of two spare wheels not like his rally rivals Sesks and Ogier.
Rovanpera chalked up his sixth stage win from 9 exams by 5.4s from Ogier.
Ogier felt he might have used the traces from his rivals extra however his effort did shut the hole to second-placed Sesks to three.2s. Sesks continued to impress matching the fourth-fastest time set by Katsuta.
“I used to be attempting to be actually clear however in some locations, I used to be nonetheless a bit cautious,” stated Sesks. “We are going to simply drive we’re not that skilled to combat with guys like [Ogier and Rovanpera].”
Tanak claimed his i20 N was way more “constructive” which was mirrored within the stage occasions because the Estonian climbed forward of Fourmaux into fifth general by 6.3s, after posting the third quickest stage time, only a tenth slower than Ogier.
The opposite change of place got here additional down the order as Neuville benefitted from group orders on Friday night time that positioned team-mate Lappi forward of him on the highway order.
Neuville took benefit of barely cleaner highway situations to leap into eighth forward of M-Sport’s Gregoire Munster. The hole to seventh-placed Evans was 38.8s.
“I used to be too cautious, there was way more grip than I anticipated on account of one automotive in entrance. I wasn’t utilizing the road an excessive amount of. One automotive could make that a lot distinction,” stated Neuville following his Friday night time outburst on highway order guidelines.
Stage 10 [Snepele 17.52km] might be remembered as a milestone check for Rovanpera because the Finn’s cost continued, which unbeknown to him was his two hundredth profession WRC stage win. The triumph prolonged his rally lead out to 29.2s.
Kalle Rovanperä, Jonne Halttunen, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photograph by: Tomasz Kalinski
“That is fairly cool. If I’d have identified that [milestone was close] I’d’ve been quicker,” stated Rovanpera on reaching 200 stage wins.
Behind, a cautious Sesks responded to Ogier within the combat for second by pipping the eight-time world champion Ogier by 0.3s.
The battle for fourth was shut too as Katsuta held on to the spot by 0.5s from a charging Tanak who was solely two seconds slower than pacesetter Rovanpera.
Fourmaux was at a loss to elucidate why he was unable to duplicate the tempo he’d proven on Friday and got here beneath strain from Evans, who clawed time again to take a seat seven seconds adrift of Frenchman in sixth general.
Rovanpera’s streak of 5 consecutive stage wins got here to an finish on stage 11 [Ivande 23.04km] as Tanak lit up the timing screens.
Tanak’s first quickest time of the occasion so far was sufficient to grab fourth general from Katsuta.
The leaderboard underwent one other change with Ogier taking second from Sesks by 0.2s, regardless of surviving a wild second. Ogier discovered himself fully crossed up within the check that resulted in his GR Yaris briefly going up on two wheels earlier than the Frenchman one way or the other wrestled the automotive again on to the highway. Ogier reached the stage finish trailing chief Rovanpera by 33.4s.
Sébastien Ogier, Vincent Landais, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photograph by: Tomasz Kalinski
The ultimate stage of the loop [Vecpils 12.64km] wasn’t with out drama both. Katsuta out-braked himself heading right into a chicane which resulted in his GR Yaris discovering a financial institution. Fortunately, he was in a position to proceed however needed to combat a scarcity of energy steering that dropped him from fourth to seventh general.
There was no stopping Katsuta’s team-mate Rovanpera, who ended the loop in type by successful the quick and extensive gravel check by 1.4s from Ogier.
Oliver Solberg maintained his WRC2 lead over Mikko Heikkila with Sami Pajari in third.
