Worse was to follow for Tänak, as he speared off the road into a field in the following Kanepi test. Pieces of bodywork from the front of the car flew into the air as he bounced across the grass and back onto the road but shortly afterwards he pulled over and parked the car, his rally over for the day.
Also sidelined was M-Sport Ford’s Gus Greensmith. The Briton stopped several times with mechanical problems before his Fiesta finally came to a halt for good in Kanepi.
SS5: ROVANPERÄ LEADS AFTER FRANTIC FRIDAY MORNING
- Friday’s morning loop is complete at Rally Estonia.
- Kalle Rovanperä leads the event by 4.8sec thanks to a string of storming stage times in his Toyota Yaris.
- Craig Breen is second despite being held up behind Gus Greensmith, who hit trouble earlier in the day. Owing to the delays, Breen was awarded notional times for SS3 and SS4.
- Ott Tänak started the week as a favourite to win, but his event ended after the fourth stage when he picked up two punctures on his Hyundai i20. Takamoto Katsuta also retired for the day when his co-driver Dan Barritt suffered a back injury.
- After limping through two stages, Greensmith eventually retired his Fiesta with a suspected water pump issue. Teemu Suninen suffered a similar issue but managed to get back to service after dropping more than a minute.
STANDINGS AFTER SS5 /24:
| POS. | DRIVER | TIME | |
| 1. | Rovanperä |  |
34min 37.9sec |
| 2. | Breen |  |
+4.8sec |
| 3. | Ogier | |
+33.5sec |
| 4. | Neuville | |
+40.3sec |
| 5. | Evans | |
+46.9sec |
| 6. | Loubet | |
+1min 32.8sec |