Eight-time world champion Ogier took a 16.3s lead over Lappi heading into the afternoon's three stages after winning two of the three morning tests, held in largely dry conditions. However, Lappi starred in the wet to grab the rally lead on the final stage of the day, despite picking up a left rear puncture.
Lappi's team-mate Thierry Neuville headed to the service in third, 18.6s adrift after a handbrake issue, while world champion Kalle Rovanpera climbed from seventh to fourth but remains 46.1s in arrears.
Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta (+47.4s), Elfyn Evans (+1m05.6s) and M-Sport’s Ott Tanak (+1m09.8s) completed the top seven. M-Sport's Pierre-Louis Loubet crashed in the day's final stage, while Dani Sordo lost more than three minutes to a roll in the morning in the third Hyundai.
The weather closed in for the start of the afternoon loop as spots of rain began to fall at the start of stage five (Tantariles), the roughest of the morning loop.
Ogier was unable to repeat his stage-winning performance of the morning as nearest rival Lappi came to the fore, slashing the Frenchman’s rally lead from 16.3s to 8.7s.
The Finn produced a mistake free run and was aided by a decision to take four softs and one hard tyre. Ogier, who was 7.6s slower, carried an extra spare wheel having selected two hards and four softs.
There was however drama for third-placed Loubet as in-car cameras captured the Frenchman desperately trying to engage a gear, before moving to the start line. The issue stopped him from starting the stage in his correct time slot, resulting in a three-minute penalty.
Loubet eventually passed through the stage in road mode after officials were forced to cancel the stage due for spectator safety reasons. Seven Rally1 entries had already passed through at this point, Sordo the only other Rally1 car to run through at road speed and also handed a nominal time.
Source: Autosport