The reigning world champion delivered a dominant display to reel off the fastest times in all six of Friday’s stages to open up a commanding 56.9s lead over Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans.
Rovanpera’s most impressive drive arrived in stage four where he was 11.1s faster than nearest rival Hyundai’s Ott Tanak, who retired from the day two stages later. Tanak had managed to stay within 18.6s of the Toyota driver before crashing out on stage six.
