Adrien Fourmaux opted for a soft tyre choice and the Frenchman benefitted with another fastest time, although Ott Tänak held an outright lead of just two-tenths of a second after five stages.
Another good time by Sébastien Ogier (third quickest) moved the Frenchman above Kalle Rovanperä and he finished the morning in third position. Fourth-placed Takamoto Katsuta was second quickest in his Toyota and closed to within 0.7 seconds of Ogier.
The first pass through Arganil was the last of the morning’s loop but the sandy surface had been compacted by the rain. Elfyn Evans was the first to entertain the large crowd in his Toyota GR Yaris. The Welshman laid down the gauntlet with a run of 9min 08.1sec but road cleaning was evident yet again and he dropped another 12.3 seconds to the stage winner and finished the loop in sixth place, just 4.1 seconds ahead of Thierry Neuville.
Sami Pajari, Josh McErlean and Grégoire Munster hold eighth, ninth and 10th overall. 11th-placed
Oliver Solberg extended his early WRC2 lead to 16.7 seconds with Yohan Rossel and Gus Greensmith running behind. The Briton is just 2.7 seconds behind the Frenchman. Nikolay Gryazin and the Portuguese Championship-leading Kris Meeke began the stage as the closest challengers in Rally2 but neither are registered for WRC2 points.
Car 33. EVANS/MARTIN
“Quite different to all the others. The sand is compacted with all the rain and is like a glass top. It’s so slippery and difficult to judge at the moment. Sliding a lot but we were not efficient enough.”
Car 1. NEUVILLE/WYDAEGHE
“Very slippery, no grip. I have been pushing hard. I made a small mistake (SS2) that cost me around eight seconds. I don’t get the good feeling. I am struggling. I am not trusting it all the time and that’s when I lose the time.”
Car 8. TÄNAK/JÄRVEOJA
“We put the hard tyre on for this one and it was clearly not the choice. The battle is intense.”
Car 17. OGIER/LANDAIS
“It’s good to see (the time). It has been a big fight. The loop has been challenging and I was not happy with the car for the first two stages. Now I am in the fight for the win.”
Car 16. FOURMAUX/CORIA
“I had a good feeling with the car. The grip was low. It was crazy. I had a good push and I was happy with the tyre choice. There is still a long way to go.”
Car 69. ROVANPERÄ/HALTTUNEN
“The conditions seem to be very different to previous years. The roads are now super slick and there is no grip anywhere. I think we could have made a better tyre choice. Not the best but we are here.”
Car 18. KATSUTA/JOHNSTON
“It’s not comfortable in the car. This stage was very slippery. A few surprises but still no moments so it’s quite okay.”
Car 5. PAJARI/SALMINEN
“We tried to do some small changes on the car (dampers and diffs) and some sections are way better.
But to make a full stage with the full flow is really tricky. It is the same for the others.”
Car 13. MUNSTER/LOUKA
“We made some change but the stage character was also different. This one was super soft. Let’s see if we can do something about it at remote service.”
Car 22. SESKS/FRANCIS
“We call this experience. The morning was unfortunate and now we take it quite steady. Let’s see what the second loop brings. I think it will be more demanding on us, the car and the tyres.”
Car 55. MCERLEAN/TREACY
“Very difficult. It’s changing all the time. Sometimes you run wide and then there is no grip, especially down the back of the mountain where you don’t want to look at the big drops.”
Car 2. SALVI/CORONADO
“Beginning, three times off, slowly, and then Lousa, I hate that, and Arganil better and I start to know the car.”
Car 20. SOLBERG/EDMONDSON
“Every stage is so different. I am trying new things with the car on every stage to see where I can improve. The key is to find the last details and that comes with more driving.”
Car 21. ROSSEL/DUNAND
“The position is good but, for the moment, the fight is not on. I push very well. The car is not bad.”
Car 23. GREENSMITH/ANDERSSON
“Not been the best to be honest. The balance of the car has changed every stage. It’s quite difficult to adapt your driving style every time.”