The championship leader survived slippery conditions to win the three asphalt stages to climb from sitting fourth overnight into a 29.2s lead over Toyota team-mate and title rival Elfyn Evans by 29.2s.
Evans needs to outscore Rovanpera at this weekend’s inaugural three country rally to take the title fight to a deciding round in Japan next month.
Overnight leader Thierry Neuville struggled on the wet roads which demoted the Hyundai driver to third (+30.1s).
M-Sport’s Ott Tanak ended the loop in fourth (+43.8s) ahead of Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta (+1m17.5s) Teemu Suninen (1m23.4s). The Rally1 field was completed by M-Sport’s Gregoire Munster (+1m31.1s), Pierre-Louis Loubet (+1m31.7s) and Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier (+1m44.4s), who lost time to a puncture. Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi’s crashed out of third on stage five.
Heavy rain created extremely slippery conditions for crews that favoured those at the top of the road order. Road conditions worsened after each pass as more and more mud was dragged onto the surface from cuts.
Rovanpera, who was first into stage three (Vlachovo Brezi 1 13.66km), made the most of his position, while again showcasing his class, to win the stage by 1.8s from Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi.
Evans was third fastest, 3.4s adrift, which moved him from eighth to third in the overall standings. Rally leader Neuville struggled with visibility which contributed to him dropping 4.5s in the stage.
Source: Autosport