Championship leader Rovanpera started the day third, 25.5s down on overnight leader Neuville, but returned to the service park with a 2m04.4s rally lead over Hyundai’s Dani Sordo.
Hyundai's Neuville retired from the lead on the afternoon’s first stage, handing the advantage to Ogier. However, the Toyota driver then lost four minutes to a suspension issue on the afternoon’s last test, dropping the Frenchman to fourth overall.
As a result of the late drama, Toyota’s Elfyn Evans ended the day third (+2m09.4s) despite dropping more than a minute to an overheating issues on his GR Yaris in the final stage of the morning loop.
Behind Ogier, M-Sport’s Ott Tanak moved up to fifth (+4m49.7s), the Estonian hampered by a 3m40s penalty on Friday after repairs to a water pump issue meant he was late leaving a tyre fitting zone.
Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi brought his wounded i20 N through the day’s final stage in sixth ahead of Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta, who suffered pair of punctures during the afternoon.
The afternoon loop started in dramatic fashion as Neuville’s hopes of repeating last year’s Acropolis victory vanished on stage 10 (Pavliani, 24.25km).
The Belgian struck a hole in the road 11 kilometres in, which bent his front right wheel and damaged the suspension beyond a roadside repair.
Neuville’s demise handed the lead to Ogier, who completed the stage with the second fastest time behind pacesetter Rovanpera.
Source: Autosport