The Toyota driver appeared to make gentle work of opening the roads to finish the day with a slender 3.0s lead over Neuville.
Neuville assumed the rally lead on stage two and held the benefit till stage six when Rovanpera managed to overtake the Belgian after claiming his second stage win of the occasion.
Nevertheless, M-Sport’s Ott Tanak delivered the drive of the day to win 5 of the seven phases to shoot up eleventh within the leaderboard after a five-minute penalty for an engine change on Thursday.
Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi managed to leapfrog Toyota’s Elfyn Evans throughout the afternoon to maneuver into third, as 14.1s separated the highest 4.
Hyundai’s Teemu Suninen ended his first aggressive day in a Rally1 automobile in fifth (+33.8s) forward of M-Sport’s Pierre-Louis Loubet (+48.8s) and Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta (+1m03.6s). Toksport Skoda driver Andreas Mikkelsen took eighth general to steer WRC2.
After dominating the occasions throughout the morning phases, Tanak’s stage-winning streak was delivered to an finish on stage 5, held beneath threatening skies.
Tanak opted for a delicate set-up on his Puma having anticipated muddy situations however the highway floor was drier than anticipated. The choice in the end contributed to Tanak posting the sixth-fastest time, 5.6s off the tempo.
The tempo was set by Rovanpera, who emerged because the stage winner after battling his method by way of the now heavily-rutted roads with spots of rain within the air.
Regardless of the difficult highway situations, Rovanpera closed the hole to rally chief to 2.1s, as Neuville additionally discovered the going robust within the damp situations.
Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai World Rally Workforce Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Picture by: Austral / Hyundai Motorsport
With using his hybrid unit restored, Lappi proved to be Rovanpera’s nearest rival on the take a look at, ending the stage 2.1s behind his compatriot. Lappi took 0.3s out of Evans because the battle for third general started to warmth up.
In the meantime, Katsuta and Loubet had been lucky to not encounter hassle after the pair survived wild two-wheel moments after operating large on the similar level within the stage.
The identical couldn’t mentioned for WRC2 chief Oliver Solberg, who broken a damper which put him out of the motion, handing the benefit to class rival Mikkelsen.
The general rally lead additionally modified palms on stage six as Rovanpera claimed his second stage win of the occasion to maneuver right into a 2.3s benefit over Neuville.
Rovanpera got here by way of the stage 3.5s sooner than Tanak, who survived two wild moments. First, the Estonian got here near a tree in a slim forest part, earlier than rescuing a lurid slide moments later.
“We do not name them slides, they’re surprises,” smiled Tanak.
Whereas the rain held off for Rovanpera, situations worsened to a degree the place WRC2 runners confronted heavy rain.
Neuville encountered gentle rain throughout his go however it was a wrestle with understeer and oversteer within the ruts that resulted in 4.4s being dropped and the lead switching to Rovanpera.
Ott Tänak, Martin Järveoja, M-Sport Ford World Rally Workforce Ford Puma Rally1
Picture by: M-Sport
Evans and Lappi posted equivalent occasions to keep up a second hole between the pair in general standings heading into stage seven.
The penultimate take a look at of the day provided a a lot smoother highway floor which performed into the palms of the M-Sport drivers.
Tanak returned to the highest of the occasions whereas team-mate Loubet produced his greatest drive of the day to assert third-fastest, 3.1s slower than the Estonian.
“When it is like a grand prix the automobile is behaving quite okay. My boy was cheering me on in the beginning line so I needed to give him a little bit of a push,” mentioned Tanak.
Neuville, hampered by a brake subject, managed to take a tenth again from rally chief Rovanpera. There was extra pleasure for Hyundai as Lappi set the second-fastest time to leapfrog Evans into third general earlier than torrential rain arrived for almost all of the WRC2 discipline.
Tanak rounded off Friday with a sixth stage win of the occasion in the one go by way of the 7.7km Neeruti stage. He took the spoils by 1.1s from Evans, who in flip closed the hole in his combat for third general with Lappi to 1.9s.
Neuville was unable to profit from his highway place in comparison with Rovanpera and dropped 0.8s to his rival in battle for the rally lead.
The rally continues on Saturday with an extra 9 phases scheduled, comprising of 136.73 kilometres.