Rovanperä, 21, winner of the previous rally in Sweden and leader of the World Championship, ensured all day, without taking too many risks, and ended in style with a scratch time in the last special of the day (SS16).
He will start the last day, Sunday, with 19 sec and 9/10 ahead of Tänak.
The Toyota driver, on the defensive all morning, in conditions of very limited visibility, also suffered a puncture in SS11 of his front left tire, which he nevertheless managed perfectly.
This puncture allowed Tänak to come back to 16 seconds and 8/10 of him, at the midday break.
Estonian Ott Tanak, driving his Hyundai, during the 4th special of Rally Croatia, April 22, 2022 in Leskovac, near Zagreb Damir SENCAR AFP
“You have to be lucky with punctures in a rally like this,” said Rovanperä late in the morning.
"And you also have to score big points on Sunday," he added, hinting at increased caution on Saturday afternoon.
A relative caution, since he finished with a bang, on a dry road, just to calm Tänak's hopes.
The 9th special was neutralized on Saturday morning following Oliver Solberg (Hyundai) going off the road, which was not serious for the crew, then fixed times were awarded and the scratch time was set by Elfyn Evans, back in his Toyota.
The Belgian Thierry Neuville (Hyundai), 2nd Friday evening, was then penalized one minute for speeding, during a late meeting of the commissioners.
He had dropped from 2nd to 4th place in the standings, two minutes from Rovanperä, before starting this second day.
As for the 15th special, at the end of the afternoon, it was canceled outright "for safety reasons", its visibility conditions making it dangerous, in the opinion of the organizers.
Spectators return home, after the cancellation for "security reasons" due to the lack of visibility of the 15th special of the Croatian rally, April 23, 2022 in Platak DENIS LOVROVIC AFP
The last four specials, Sunday morning (SS17 to SS20), i.e. 56 km timed, will close this 3rd round of the 2022 season. Before the probable return of Sébastien Loeb, and perhaps Sébastien Ogier, 17 world titles between them, during the Portugal rally, at the end of May, for a new freelance.
© 2022 AFP