Today’s route is the longest of the event and takes in two identical loops of three stages covering 177.70 competitive kilometres, the highlight being two runs through the demanding 44.26 kilometre Monte Lerno test. Neuville started the day with 11.1 seconds in hand to Latvala but the Belgian lost time in the first stage, running wide, and then dropped a couple more seconds uncomfortable with the car. In the final long stage of the loop, however, he dropped a chunk of time to Latvala being over cautious in the closing kilometres. As such, Latvala is now 2.9 seconds adrift having enjoyed a better morning following an overnight gearbox change. Ogier ran without problems in the opening two stages, but the Frenchman dropped time to Andreas Mikkelsen and Mads Østberg in the Monte Lerno stage and while he managed to hold on to third, Østberg’s fastest time saw him overhaul Mikkelsen for fourth and come within three-tenths of a second of Ogier.

Behind fifth-placed Mikkelsen, Dani Sordo is sixth and the Spaniard has struggled with rear-end grip this morning. Ott Tanak won the second stage and the Estonian is now ahead of Henning Solberg, who also climbed one place into eighth.