Sebastien Ogier opened up a healthy lead in the Rally Italia Sardegna as overnight leader Hayden Paddon ran into trouble in the Mediterranean island race.
New Zealander Paddon came into the day with an eight-second lead but championship leader Ogier put two minutes and 14 seconds between himself and his nearest rival on Saturday.
Paddon had managed to keep hold of a slender lead in his Hyundai i20 but a spin on stage 17 saw him drop into second and he then lost one minute 47 seconds to the leader on the final stage of the day after hitting a rock on stage 18.
"I thought it was all gone in the last one," he told www.wrc.com.
"We hit a big rock in the line and broke part of the drivetrain. We strapped it up as best we could but coming into this stage (19) I thought it was all over.
"I don't want to be a drama queen but when it happened it ripped my heart out."
Just like on Friday, the rocky conditions provided a test for all the drivers with Paddon saying of his spin on stage 17: "At a right bend coming into a hairpin, the rear of the car got away and we spun at the hairpin.
"That wasn't a big problem, but the engine wouldn't restart and we lost about 10 seconds.
"Then we saw Ott (Tanak) stopped and decided to take it easy to protect the car. It's too rough to push, so now we cruise."
Ogier was left to reflect on two days of racing that left him with a good lead to take into Sunday's final four stages.
"Two fantastic days for me," said the Volkswagen Polo R driver ."I never said leading was impossible, but I knew my chances were very small.
"A lot of things have happened today. It's been very rough this afternoon. This one was better and I could really enjoy it."
The Citroen of Mads Ostberg is third, three minutes 26 seconds behind the leader.
