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WRC Rally Estonia: Dominant Tanak leads as Neuville retires

Hyundai's Ott Tanak took the fourth round of the 2020 World Rally Championship in Estonia by the scruff of the neck and leads after Saturday's 10 stages

The reigning world champion survived a day in which many fancied runners found their progress stymied by tyre wear and punctures on the fast, flowing gravel stages.

As the rally began early on Saturday morning, overnight leader Esapekka Lappi's Ford Fiesta WRC was quickly engulfed. The opening 21km stage was won by Toyota's rookie sensation Kalle Rovanpera who moved to the top of the order while Lappi tumbled to seventh.

Rovanpera then hit trouble on the next stage when a right-rear puncture took a slice out of his bodywork, knocking off several of the car's all-important aerodynamic panels. This incident dropped him to eighth and handed the advantage to the Hyundai men led by Tanak.

In front of a hugely passionate home crowd, Tanak delivered a scintillating performance to take the overall lead. By the end of the third stage of the day it was a Hyundai 1-2-3, with Craig Breen secure in second place and Thierry Neuville climbing to third.

Behind the Hyundais, the four Toyota Yaris WRCs sat in line astern with Sebastien Ogier claiming a win on SS5 to keep ahead of Elfyn Evans, an impressive Takamoto Katsuta and young Rovanpera as he fought to regain lost ground.

The starting order was switched during the lunchtime service, giving points leader Ogier a break from sweeping the stages. Although the Frenchman was immediately able to add a stage win on SS7, Toyota's challenge was blunted when both he and Evans were delayed by tyre problems through the afternoon.

Rally leader Tanak remained in imperious form and a superb performance from Breen allowed him to take wins on both SS9 and SS10, closing up on Tanak and putting a disheartening gap to the pursuing Toyotas.

Disaster struck the third Hyundai of Neuville, however. The Belgian began to close on Breen but slid wide on SS7, knocking the right-rear corner off his i20 WRC and forcing him to retire. A second retirement in a row for the winner of the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally means his chances in the drivers' championship of a truncated 2020 season have taken a potentially terminal blow.

Tanak holds a commanding position going into the final day, with part-time team-mate Breen performing a superb job of riding shotgun.

"I've been pushing [on a] couple of stages, you know, just to make some gap but this afternoon, especially the middle stages, got really rough so I know I can't risk anything," Tanak said after the final stage of the day.

"I need to definitely come through it if I want to win - or to fight - for the championship."

The WRC2 battle became a wild game of snakes and ladders early in the day as overnight leader Mads Ostberg lost half a minute to a puncture in his Citroen C3.

The Hyundai juniors also hit trouble as Ole Christian Veiby went out after damaging his engine on one of the jumps, while Nikolai Gryazin was delayed by several wild moments.

With the Skoda of Swedish privateer Pontus Tidemand picking its way carefully through the stages to avoid costly damage, the WRC2 leader's baton was briefly passed to the Ford Fiesta of Frenchman Adrien Fourmaux.

Once the front-runners were back up to speed, however, Ostberg thundered back to the lead and held a 38-second advantage over Gryazin at the end of the day.

Right behind Ostberg in the overall standings at the overnight halt lies Oliver Solberg's VW Polo at the front of the WRC3 class, who holds an 18-second advantage over local man Egon Kaur's Skoda while in the Junior WRC Latvia's Martins Sesks leads Sami Pajari.

Rally Estonia leaderboard after SS11

Pos Class Driver Car Gap
1 RC1 Ott Tanak, M.Jarveoja Hyundai 1h15m08.4s
2 RC1 Craig Breen, P.Nagle Hyundai 11.7s
3 RC1 Sebastien Ogier, J.Ingrassia Toyota 28.7s
4 RC1 Elfyn Evans, S.Martin Toyota 36.8s
5 RC1 Takamoto Katsuta, D.Barritt Toyota 1m01.9s
6 RC1 Kalle Rovanpera, J.Halttunen Toyota 1m34.9s
7 RC1 Esapekka Lappi, J.Ferm Ford 1m41.7s
8 RC1 Teemu Suninen, J.Lehtinen Ford 1m50.9s
9 RC1 Pierre-Louis Loubet, V.Landais Hyundai 2m15.2s
10 RC1 Gus Greensmith, E.Edmondson Ford 3m03.1s
11 RC2 Oliver Solberg, A.Johnston Volkswagen 5m02.9s
12 RC2 Egon Kaur, S.Simm Skoda 5m20.7s
13 RC2 Mads Ostberg, T.Eriksen Citroen 5m26.4s
14 RC2 Kajetan Kajetanowicz, M.Szczepaniak Skoda 5m31.8s
15 RC2 Jari Huttunen, M.Lukka Hyundai 5m46.4s
16 RC2 Nikolay Gryazin, K.Aleksandrov Hyundai 6m04.2s
17 RC2 Adrien Fourmaux, R.Jamoul Ford 6m11.9s
18 RC2 Marco Bulacia Wilkinson, M.Der Ohannesian Citroen 6m23.6s
19 RC2 Pontus Tidemand, P.Barth Skoda 6m24.8s
20 RC2 Eyvind Brynildsen, I.Minor Skoda 6m54.9s
21 RC2 Nicolas Ciamin, Y.Roche Citroen 7m05.3s
22 RC2 Gregoire Munster, L.Louka Hyundai 7m24.2s
23 RC2 Rainer Aus, S.Koskinen Skoda 7m41.3s
24 RC2 Raul Jeets, A.Toom Skoda 7m47.1s
25 RC2 Yohan Rossel, B.Fulcrand Citroen 7m51.6s
26 RC2 Sean Johnston, A.Kihurani Citroen 7m59.7s
27 RC2 Karl Kruuda, D.Moscatt Volkswagen 8m04.2s
28 RC2 Jan Solans, M.Barreiro Ford 8m13.2s
29 RC2 Gustav Kruuda, K.Jarveoja Volkswagen 8m21.3s
30 RC2 Priit Koik, A-Uku Heldna Ford 9m12.4s
31 RC1 Kimmo Kurkela, R.Hamalainen Ford 9m43.9s
32 RC2 Jaroslaw Koltun, I.Pleskot Ford 13m06.2s
33 RC4 Robert Virves, S.Pruul Ford 13m38.8s
34 RC4 Martins Sesks, R.Francis Ford 13m50.0s
35 RC2 Alexander Rzhevkin, Y.Fedorov Skoda 13m57.1s
36 RC4 Sami Pajari, A.Haapala Ford 14m06.2s
37 RC2 Roland Poom, E.Lepikson Ford 15m12.1s
38 RC2 Radik Shaymiev, A.Arnautov Ford 15m17.6s
39 RC4 Gregor Jeets, K.Sikk Ford 16m10.3s
40 RC4 Ruairi Bell, D.Garrod Ford 16m24.3s
41 RC4 Fabrizio Zaldivar, F.Mussano Ford 17m32.9s
42 RC4 Marco Pollara, M.Messina Ford 18m07.1s
43 RC4 Enrico Oldrati, E.De Guio Ford 20m36.3s
44 RC4 Vladas Jurkevicius, A.Paliukenas Ford 37m12.5s
45 RC2 Eerik Pietarinen, A.Linnaketo Skoda 38m55.9s
46 RC4 Kaspar Kasari, J.Viilo Ford 39m27.2s
47 RC2 Ole-Christian Veiby, J.Andersson Hyundai 40m55.7s
48 RC1 Thierry Neuville, N.Gilsoul Hyundai 41m19.6s
49 RC4 Ken Torn, K.Pannas Ford 43m36.7s
50 RC2 Georg Linnamae, V.Korsya Volkswagen 55m55.3s
51 RC4 Pontus Lonnstrom, S.Gustavsson Ford 1h33m39.8s
52 RC4 Raul Badiu, G.Lazar Ford 1h35m14.1s
53 RC2 Rakan Al-Rashed, H.Magalhaes Volkswagen 1h36m59.9s
54 RC2 Emilio Fernandez, R.Garcia Skoda 1h37m09.7s
55 RC4 Justas Simaska, T.Simaska Ford 1h37m35.1s

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