In this 7th of the 13 rounds of the WRC world championship, the Finn is 9.4 seconds ahead of the Norwegian Andreas Mikkelsen (Hyundai) and 16.1 seconds over the Briton Elfyn Evans (Toyota) after 15 of the 19 special stages. In his Hyundai, Thierry Neuville is 6th at 58.3 seconds.
On Saturday afternoon, Rovanperä left only crumbs to the competition. The reigning world champion dominated the 4 special stages contested. He won narrowly, by 1/10th of a second, on SS12 ahead of Neuville, followed by the Frenchman Adrien Fourmaux (Ford) at an additional 1/10th. Mikkelsen took 2nd place on SS13, again 1/10th behind Rovanperä but 3 seconds ahead of Thierry Neuville.
In the 14th special, the Saint-Vithois finished 2.2 seconds behind the Finnish leader, just ahead of Mikkelsen at 2/10th. SS15 saw Elfyn Evans take the runner-up position, 2.8 behind Rovanperä, 1.4 seconds ahead of Mikkelsen and 2.3 seconds ahead of Neuville, 4th. An error caused the Belgian driver to lose a second, who ended the day in 6th place.
The gap remains tight overall, with less than 10 seconds ahead for the world champion over Andreas Mikkelsen. Leader at the start of the day, the latter won in Poland in 2016 and is still seeking a 4th WRC victory.
Evans, despite a puncture, managed to limit his losses and also scored 13 world championship points to reduce the gap on leader Thierry Neuville, who has 128 points to Evans’ 117. Estonian Ott Tänak (Hyundai), who retired on the first special, is 3rd with 104 points.
There are four stages remaining on Sunday.
