The day's shortest stage, Ulupelit, is also the penultimate run on today's Rally Istanbul schedule. Having been over this trail earlier today, the drivers knew what to expect.

Dani Sola was fastest this time around, completing the passage in 5:25.4; the Spaniard's Fiat Grande Punto was only 0:00.6 faster than Luca Rossetti's Peugeot 207. Sola was exactly one second quicker than the third-place tie between Volkan Isik and Giandomenico Basso, both at the controls of their respective Grande Puntos.

After taking the previous stage, Freddy Loix fell back to fifth position on this trail, placing his Peugeot 207 Super 2000 ahead of those driven by Jan Kopecky and Nicolas Vouilloz.

The first car over the five-second mark on this stage, Renato Travaglia took eighth position ahead of Anton Alen, with both men performing their art at the controls of Grande Puntos. Tenth position went to Krum Donchev's Subaru Impreza.

Luca Rossetti's overall lead now stands at 41.2 seconds ahead of Nicolas Vouilloz, who apparently has some worries regarding his engine. Of note is Dani Sola's best time on this stage, which allowed him to move up to third place in the rankings, 9.6 seconds behind Vouilloz and 3.2 seconds ahead of fourth-placed Renato Travaglia. Anton Allen remains in fifth place, 16 seconds behind Travaglia, 1:10.0 behind the rally leader.

Brice Tirabassi took on two punctures on this stage and retired his Peugeot; he will most probably return tomorrow under SupeRally rules.