As a result, he was 40 seconds behind Estonian Ott Tänak, who took the route and has a total lead with 28 points.
Tänak now only needs two more points to secure his first World Cup title - which he can already do this weekend.
-We will focus on ourselves and do everything we can. There's no reason to test the boundaries, if we don't win here we can take the fight in Australia, Tänak said ahead of this weekend's competitions.
Catalonia rally is the 13th and second last before the World Cup ends in Australia in a month.