Heavy persistent rain that got worse. Ott TÄNAK wins the stage by 0.4s from Kalle ROVANPERÄ.
Adrien FOURMAUX runs off the road into tress and loses the passenger door and lot of bodywork.
Elfyn EVANS was 7.5s up on the splits but Sébastien OGIER pulled it back to 0.8s at the end.
Ogier leads the rally from Evans by 5.7s
Takamoto KATSUTA
“First of all thanks to the team for fixing the car and able to drive now for the Japanese fans so I will try my best to drive through and see hoe much I can push. It feels very difficult there is so much standing water, not too much yet but there are some places with some surprises. It was a sketchy stage.”
Kalle ROVANPERÄ
“I would say overall it is quite difficult and it was not super easy as there were a lot of grip changes. My gravel crew notes were not so perfect they were pretty good but I was missing some changeable tarmac.
Grégoire MUNSTER
“Not good. I had a couple of moments early on and if you start in such condition and the feeling is ok you can try something but there is too many risks.”
Ott TÄNAK
“It is sketchy especially at the end the grip drops away a lot and there is more pollution. The tyre is working surprisingly ok to be honest.”
Sami PAJARI
“That was something tricky. It was not good I know it. In some places I was aquaplaning like crazy. You don’t want to go off the road.”
Adrien FOURMAUX
“There was a lot of fog on the win screen and I couldn’t see much. I was approaching a corner and there was a bit slippery braking and it was full of mud and we went a bit wide and touched some trees.”
Elfyn EVANS
“I was a bit distracted by all the mess left in the road. [from Fourmaux]
Sébastien OGIER
“I find my rhythm. I tried to judge a bit at the beginning and then I found my rhythm.”
