Tänak, 2019 world champion came back to 16 sec and 8/10 from his young rival (21 years old), leader of the world championship, who was on the defensive all morning and suffered a puncture in the ES11, which he nevertheless managed perfectly.
“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.
The 9th special stage 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, getting back in her 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.
Provisional standings for Rally Croatia after the first four timed special stages of Day 2 (SS9 to SS12), run on Saturday morning southwest of Zagreb:
1. Kalle Rovanpera-Jonne Halttunen (FIN/Toyota) 1h51:02.3
2. Ott Tänak-Martin Järveoja (EST/Hyundai) at 16.8
3. Craig Breen-Paul Nagle (IRL/M-Sport Ford) at 57.8
4. Thierry Neuville-Martijn Wydaeghe (BEL/Hyundai) at 1:24.0
5. Elfyn Evans-Scott Martin (GBR/Toyota) at 2:01.2
6. Takamoto Katsuta-Aaron Johnston (JPN-IRL/Toyota) at 4:15.8
7. Yohan Rossel-Valentin Sarreaud (FRA / Citroën C3) at 6:29.7
(1st category WRC2)
...
9. Eric Camilli-Thibault de la Haye (FRA / Citroën C3) at 7:33.4
12. Gus Greensmith-Jonas Andersson (GBR-SWE/M-Sport Ford) at 13:52.6
13. Pierre-Louis Loubet-Vincent Landais (FRA / M-Sport Ford) at 1h05.00.0
14. Esapekka Lappi-Janne Ferm (FIN/Toyota) at 1h19:16.4
Best times in the special stages:
Rovanperä 6 (SS1, SS2, SS4 to SS7), Evans (SS3, SS9), Neuville 2 (SS8, SS12), Lappi 1 (SS10), Tänak 1 (SS11)
Abandonment:
Oliver Solberg-Elliot Edmondson (SWE-GBR/Hyundai), off road (SS9)
© 2022 AFP