Saturday's stage offered great drama right from the morning's first stage and during the day all drivers among the top ten in the WRC class had in some way changed position in the results list.
Yesterday's leader Sébastien Loeb started the day extending his lead, but joy quickly turned to disappointment after the nine-time world champion was forced to retire with mechanical problems for the second leg of the day.
The Frenchman was far from alone in having problems, all drivers struggled with varying setbacks.
Thierry Neuville took two stage wins during the morning and at the lunch break had a lead of 31 seconds over Esapekka Lappi.
Ott Tänak third.
Neuville guarded lead
The Belgian Neuville guarded his lead during the afternoon and before Sunday's three final stages has a lead of 27.9 seconds to teammate Ott Tänak, WC second overall.
Dani Sordo new third after Esapekka Lappi crashed to twentieth place after fuel-related problems.
Team orders may be relevant
Teammates Neuville and Tänak at the top before the decision.
Tänak is practically the only one who can stop WC leader Kalle Rovanperä's title chances in the drivers' championship.
72 points separate Rovanperä and Tänak before this competition.
So the question is whether the team order will be relevant tomorrow regarding Neuville letting Tänak win.
- If I had been the team manager, I would have changed the places of the two drivers because it does not affect the team championship.
Then it is hard to "take away" the first win of the season for Neuville, but at the same time it is important to give Tänak every opportunity to be able to threaten, match Rovanperä in the title fight.
Although Tänak's chances there are small, says Jonas Kruse.
Photo: Standings before Sunday's finish Photo: WRC/SVT