The 2019 world champion won four of the six stages to open up a 58.3s advantage aboard his Ford Puma, having started the day with a 4.2s margin over Suninen.
An inspired tyre call across the morning loop helped Tanak increase his lead to 47.8s, before a masterclass in tyre management maintained his momentum in the afternoon.
Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville ended the day in third (+1m03.0s) after surviving a couple of wild moments. The Belgian had 10.7s in hand over Toyota’s Elfyn Evans, who dropped from second to fourth after Toyota’s tyre strategy miscue in the morning.
Championship leader Kalle Rovanpera headed to service in fifth (+2m24.0s) after he too lost time to Toyota’s tyre mistake, before being delayed by Gregoire Munster’s dust in stage 12. The third Toyota driven by Takamoto Katsuta completed the loop in sixth (+4m07.2s).
Following a dramatic morning dominated by tyre strategy, thanks to Chile’s abrasive gravel roads, a much more conservative approach was taken for the afternoon.
The leading Rally1 and Rally2 crews opted for hard compound tyres after Toyota’s call to run softs backfired, but tyre management across the 77km loop was still a key concern.
Rovanpera set the pace on stage 10, a repeat of the Chivilingo test he won in the morning. The Finn was 2.5s faster than title rival Evans, but he was already concerned by his rubber management.
After losing almost a minute on stage nine, Evans began his recovery by taking time out of Neuville, who was also wary of the energy he'd taken out of his Pirellis. The Welshman brought the gap to third overall down to 11.3s.
Source: Autosport