The Belgian, driving one of two Hyundai’s carrying a special tribute livery to the late Craig Breen, ended the morning loop at the asphalt rally with a 16.1s lead over Toyota’s Elfyn Evans.
M-Sport’s Ott Tanak managed to reach service park in third, 22.1 seconds adrift despite struggling with his Ford Puma, while the sister Hyundai of Esapekka Lappi was fourth, 34.9s in arrears. Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta and M-Sport’s Pierre-Louis Loubet completed the top six.
After suffering a puncture on stage 2, Ogier won three of the four stages but ended the loop seventh overall, 1m27.1s behind.
Rovanpera found himself outside of the points after his delay, which was compounded by struggles coping with the dirty road conditions.
The rally began under clear skies with Ogier making the most of the cleanest of the road conditions, starting first in the order.
The eight-time world champion and championship leader delivered a stunning time despite the low grip caused by mud that had been brought onto the surface from rain in the lead up to the event.
Ogier was 2.6s faster than Neuville, second on the road, although the Belgian was struggling with the handling of his i20 N, admitting at stage end that he ”was fighting the car" and had a “big job” to do to reach the finish.
The road conditions became increasingly worse after every pass with the next fastest being Tanak, who was 10.5s slower, although some of the time loss was down to a stall at a tight hairpin left.
Source: Autosport