Rovanperä is more than a minute behind Loeb, a consequence of his position as opener, and therefore chief sweeper, all day, on dirt tracks where the grip of his Toyota was necessarily less good than that of his rivals who left several minutes after him because they were lower ranked in the championship.

"It was a dream day, even if we had brake problems at the start of the last special", reacted Loubet at the stop point of the last special of the day (SS7).

He started the day well then took advantage of a small fault by Loeb, in SS5, to take the lead by setting the very first scratch time of his WRC career.

The Alsatian champion then let his younger brother do it again in SS6 and then took control of the general classification by setting the fastest time in SS7, ie his 4th scratch time of the day, out of six contested stages.

A bit like the heyday when he reigned supreme over the WRC, from 2004 to 2012.

Loeb will start Saturday morning, for the second day, with only 1.7 seconds ahead of Loubet, who could be his son, but he in turn will have the handicap of opening the road, and therefore of sweeping the track, as leader of the rally, which should allow Rovanperä to make up all or part of its delay.

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Loeb won the Rallye Monte-Carlo at the start of the season, aged 48, then took part in the rallies of Portugal and Kenya.

This is his last freelance this year for British team M-Sport, which has a lower budget than Toyota and Hyundai, which have not won since January

Rovanperä aims for the title

Beyond the anecdotal return of Loeb, the main issue of this rally is to know if Rovanperä will still get closer to a first world title, at 21 years old.

The record is still held by Briton Colin McRae, crowned in 1995 at 27 years, 7 months and 25 days.

Thanks to five successes this season, in nine rounds, Rovanperä has a good margin of safety at the top of the championship: 72 points ahead of the Estonian Ott Tänak (Hyundai), who won in Sardinia then has just win in Finland and Belgium, but is only 6th Friday evening in Greece, and 87 on the Welshman Elfyn Evans, his teammate at Toyota.

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To be crowned this weekend, Rovanperä must have a 91-point lead on Sunday evening over its first pursuer, because a maximum of 30 points can be won on a rally (25 points for the victory, 5 points for the best time in the final Power Stage).

If the son of Harri Rovanperä, winner of the Swedish rally in 2001, wins this "rally of the gods" by also winning the Power Stage, as he has often done in recent months, and if Tänak cannot do better than 5th Sunday, without a bonus point, the Finn will be titled.

But several scenarios are possible.

© 2022 AFP