The afternoon lap of the first stage at Rally Latvia started with the usual three protagonists of the first stages. Kalle Rovanpera had in mind to widen his advantage over his rivals and he succeeded, signing a great performance in the SS6, the long Tukums 2 of 27.56 kilometers.
If in PS5 he had limited himself to following in the wake of Sébastien Ogier and Takamoto Katsuta, the two-time world champion literally changed pace in the following stage, completing it in 13’27″5.
Martins Sesks, Rovanpera’s main rival in the overall standings of the event, still took the second fastest time, but 3.5 seconds behind. This means that the Toyota Gazoo Racing Finn has a margin of 7.2 seconds over the M-Sport Latvian.
The fight between the two is on equal terms for the starting position, but Rovanpera is bringing it to his side thanks to greater experience in the WRC than the almost debutant Sesks, who, it must be said, is performing well on his home dirt.
Sébastien Ogier also tries to grit his teeth, third but almost 11 seconds from the top. His third place, however, is increasingly solid because Ott Tanak does not seem to have the pace needed to hunt for the lowest step of the podium. The Estonian is slowed down by a difficult starting position compared to his rivals, so the fourth position is still a result not to be thrown away.
Completing the Top 5 is Takamoto Katsuta, very close to Tanak with his 3″7 delay, while Adrien Fourmaux managed to overtake Elfyn Evans and move up to sixth place in the general classification. Nothing changes, however, in the last positions of the Top 10, with Esapekka Lappi eighth ahead of Gregoire Munster and the World Championship leader Thierry Neuville. The Belgian is 2 tenths behind the Dutchman.
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