The reigning world champion delivered a perfect start to Saturday’s high-speed gravel stages to extend his overnight advantage to 20.3s over Neuville, who lost time to a slow puncture.
Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi edged Toyota’s Elfyn Evans in an intense fight for third, as 1.9s separated the pair. Teemu Suninen maintained his fifth position (+1m02.0s) in the third Hyundai i20 N.
M-Sport’s Pierre-Louis Loubet held onto sixth (+1m19.8s) despite receiving a five-second penalty on Saturday morning for a hybrid boost infringement during Friday’s stage seven.
Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta ended the loop in seventh (+1m39.1s) ahead M-Sport’s Ott Tanak, who surged into the championship points in eighth (+5m11.7s), following a five-minute engine change penalty.
Rovanpera wasted little time in trying to assert his authority on the rally as clear skies greeted crews for the morning stages.
After a day of sweeping the roads on Friday, the Finn declared his run through stage nine (Maekula 10.27km) as his worst of the event to date. He still however managed to win the stage and extend his rally lead over Neuville by a further 1.6s and issued a warning to his rivals.
Neuville also wasn’t happy with his run, admitting he could have gone faster if his pacenotes had been quicker.
“I am as motivated as I can be, that's for sure,” said Neuville. “The car felt good, just the driving wasn't 100% and the pacenotes were a bit slow.”
Source: Autosport