Amid stunning scenery and on smoother and faster roads around Lake Elmenteita, the Hyundai i20 pilot was quickest out of the blocks to win the opening Elmenteita speed test and widen his advantage to 26.3sec over Takamoto Katsuta.
The pair traded times over the following stages at Soysambu and Sleeping Warrior and Neuville returned to the Naivasha service park 28.1sec clear of the Toyota Yaris man.
It was a less frantic morning all round after yesterday’s carnage which sidelined so many of the frontrunners but still far from easy.
“With the experience from the first day, you have so many things you can carry on to the next day regarding set-up, ride heights and the speed you can go,” said Neuville.
“We learned so much that, today, everybody knows how fast you can go in which sections. Maybe once I went a little bit wide, I went over stones, but nothing bad.”
Katsuta was cautious but the Japanese man was looking over his shoulder at the progress of Ott Tänak, who sliced nine seconds from his deficit to leave the gap at 28.1sec.
“It’s exactly what I had to do. Quite hard stages, it’s very difficult and I’m making so many mistakes,” Katsuta explained. “I didn’t take huge risks, but it’s so difficult to follow the road and know where you are. There are so much changes after the recce.”
“It’s not a huge push, but we have to keep some pressure as much as we can do. The gaps are big, so there’s nothing you can really catch in a normal fight, but it’s Safari and so many things can happen,” he explained.
Gus Greensmith remained fifth ahead of Ford Fiesta team-mate Adrien Fourmaux, separated by 39.4sec after a good morning for both. Fourmaux was second in Soysambu but had a tougher time in Sleeping Warrior when a broken roof vent allowed clouds of dust into the car and hampered visibility.
Kalle Rovanperä, restarting after retiring yesterday when his Yaris bogged down in deep sand, was seventh, almost eight minutes further back. WRC3 leader Onkar Rai was eighth, with Karan Patel and Carl Tundo completing the leaderboard after Daniel Chwist retired in Soysambu.