M-Sport's Ott Tänak took control of Rally Sardegna on Saturday night after Friday leader Hayden Paddon crashed out of the action in what he described as an "amateur mistake".
Paddon held an almost 10-second lead over Tänak before he swiped a bank during the afternoon's opening speed test, wrecking the rear-suspension on his Hyundai i20 and forcing him to retire from the event.
"I turned in too early and clipped a bank on the inside. Amateur mistake. I’ve let everybody down," he said after.
That handed Tänak the lead and the Estonian set about protecting his lead over second-placed Jari Matti Latvala which stood at 24.3s on Saturday evening following two late stage wins.
"This afternoon was surprisingly good," he said. "It has been good to drive up to now with a safe margin but now we can push more. I don’t see any reason why Latvala should be any quicker than me tomorrow."
Thierry Neuville sits in third, 37.9s behind in the other i20. The Belgian was team-mate Paddon’s closest challenger when brake failure cost him just over a minute in this morning’s final stage.
Esapekka Lappi was fourth on only his second outing in a World Rally Car. Brake problems hampered the Finn but he overhauled Yaris team-mate Juho Hänninen in the final stage, when Hänninen spun and his power steering failed. The gap is 31.3s.
Championship leader Sébastien Ogier holds sixth ahead of Mads Østberg and Andreas Mikkelsen in eighth, with WRC 2 leader Jan Kopecký and Eric Camilli completing the top ten.
