The Hyundai driver emerged from a dramatic Saturday with a 26.2s lead over Rovanpera, having started the day 36.4s adrift of the Finn.
Neuville claimed two stage wins across the morning before slashing the deficit to Rovanpera to 10.9s after the latter overshot a hairpin. The Belgian assumed the lead when Rovanpera switched into cruise mode after his title rival and Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans crashed out on stage 11.
With Rovanpera knowing Evans’s title hopes are all but over, he cruised through the afternoon allowing Neuville to open up a healthy lead.
M-Sport’s Ott Tanak ended the day in third, 1m49.1s followed by Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier (+2m20.2s) and team-mate Takamoto Katsuta (+2m47.9s).
Hyundai’s Teemu Suninen (+2m58,8s), Gregoire Munster (3m52.2s), Pierre-Louis Loubet (+9m05.8s), top Rally2 competitor Adrien Fourmaux (9m12.3s) and WRC2 leader Emil Lindholm (9m18.8s) completed the top 10.
Crews faced dry roads for the first time since Thursday as Saturday’s afternoon began. While the road surface was no longer wet there was plenty of slippery mud that had been dragged on to navigate.
Ogier coped with the conditions the best to score a first stage win of the event to date on stage 12 (Schärdinger Innviertel, 15.72km). The Frenchman pipped rally leader Neuville by 1.5s, who was keen not to overload his tyres.
Source: Autosport