Chasing his first finish of the season, Tempestini completed the 3.12-kilometre Bråtebäcken super special – which finished in a quarry lined with fans – in 2min 24.0s aboard his MRF-equipped Škoda Fabia RS Rally2.
“It was a nice stage,” said Tempestini, who also won the ERC Staff House Rally Hungary super special earlier this month. “It is good to start the rally and we have enjoyed it from the beginning. It was really fast in practice and qualifying. But there was a lot of cleaning in this stage [tonight}.”
On a stage that largely favoured the early runners due to a gradual loss of grip, MRF-supplied Stéphane Lefebvre was 0.2sec behind Tempestini in a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2. Tempestini started the stage 20th on the road with Lefebvre running four places further back.
“This one was much more difficult for me,” said Lefebvre. “In qualifying it was so fast, I’m missing the proper speed in high speed but on this one I struggle a lot. We need to work on the car and the confidence needs to be back.”
ERC points leader Miko Marczyk was third quickest in a Michelin-shod Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 followed by round two winner Roope Korhonen.
Pirelli-equipped Jon Armstrong drove his Ford Fiesta Rally2 to the fifth fastest time with Norwegians Mads Østberg and Eyvind Brynildsen equal sixth ahead of Hankook-shod Mille Johansson.
Andrea Mabellini and Isak Reiersen filled out the top 10 with Jakub Matulka and Frank Tore Larsen next up.
Qualifying Stage winner Philip Allen had to rapidly adjust his line after he admitted he “missed a note and turned in too early”. He was 14th quickest as a result, one place behind FIA Master ERC pacesetter Jos Verstappen. Max McRae is 15th overnight.
Driving a replacement Ford Fiesta Rally3, Tristan Charpentier set the FIA ERC3 pace in a time of 2min 33.2sec. Adrian Rzeźnik was slowed slightly when his Fiesta’s tailgate opened during the stage although he still ended up third fastest behind fellow 18-year-old Pole Tymek Abramowski.
Ville Vatanen, Hubert Kowalczyk, Igor Widłak, Martin Ravenščak and Błażej Gazda completed the Rally3 category contenders, as Victor Hansen set the FIA ERC4 pace in his Peugeot 208 Rally4.
BAUHAUS Royal Rally of Scandinavia continues tomorrow (Friday) with the 9.65-kilometre Grönlund stage from 07:51 local time. Sasa Ollé is set to open the road ahead of fellow FIA Master ERC Championship contenders Henning Solberg – who reported a broken handbrake at the completion of SS1 – and Verstappen.