Rovanpera leads Evans when Neuville loses ground
Rovanpera turned a 4.3s deficit into leader Neuville overnight into a 4.8s lead over Toyota teammate Elfyn Evans after Saturday morning’s three-stage loop. It was the fifth management change in the event so far.
Esapekka Lappi climbed to third with about 12 seconds on drift when the three Toyotas took advantage of Neuville’s struggle to find the grip and a costly mistake during the morning’s final stage. Neuville went to service 15.1 seconds behind Rovanpera in fourth.
Hyundai’s Oliver Solberg finished fifth overall in the morning but is now almost a minute behind the management team after fighting for confidence behind the wheel of his i20 N.
Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta enjoyed a smooth run and finished sixth ahead of M-Sport Ford duo Adrien Fourmaux and Gus Greensmith.
With stages 9 and 13 canceled last week due to reindeer settling in the area, the crews faced a shortened itinerary consisting of six stages, three in the morning followed by a repeat of them in the afternoon.
The day began with Rovanpera entering the rally lead, albeit with 0.7 s from Neuville after the Hyundai driver saw his lead evaporate after stage 8.
Rovanpera was not very happy with his run on the 10.49 km test and finished the session with the third fastest time behind stage winner Evans and teammate Lappi. Evans felt that his efforts were scratchy but it was enough to win the stage with 0.4s from Lappi.
Neuville could only manage the sixth fastest time and lost 6.7 in the process of coordinating the battle between the top four from 8.8 s to 3.2 s.
Solberg remained fifth overall but continued to slip away from the top four after admitting he had been too cautious in the stage.
Teammate Ott Tanak and M-Sports Craig Breen returned to the fight after both withdrew from the fight on Friday.
Rovanpera extended their lead by winning stage 10 and beat a resurrected Tanak by 0.1 s over the 19.49 km test.
Neuville was fourth fastest and lost another 3.4 s, which put Hyundai in third place overall, 0.1 s behind Evans, who took the third fastest time.
The time that covered the four best stretched back to 8.8s after Lappi in fourth place lost 5.6s against teammate Rovanpera on stage. Solberg once again struggled to match the pace of the leading group when Hyundai’s young pistol was in a lone battle for five.
Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Photo by: Austral / Hyundai Motorsport
Neuville’s hopes of regaining the lost ground were met with a blow on the last spectator stage of the loop, which was held in the center of UmeĆ„. The Hyundai driver drove over an intersection, which required a spin to get him back in the right direction.
In addition to the error, the Belgian reported a problem with his hybrid system which eventually cost him 11.2 s, which lowered him to fourth overall.
“I was going straight ahead at the first brake point,” Neuville said. “Then something was strange – the car was constantly braked by the hybrid system. I could not get up to speed, but we are still here.
“The Toyotas were really fast this morning and I could not get up to be honest, but we’re still here and we’re trying.”
The returning Breen showed his pace by winning the stage by 0.2 s from Rovanpera, while Evans and Tanak were 0.8 s back.
Solberg lost even more ground in the test and explained that he “drove very badly today” and had “no self-confidence to drive the car”.
The field will return to action this afternoon for a second session through the morning stages.