Tanak headed to the final service of the gravel event with a slightly reduced 51.6-second lead over Hyundai’s Teemu Suninen.
Suninen came under pressure from charging Hyundai team-mate Thierry Neuville (+58.3s), who won the morning’s two stages.
Toyota’s Elfyn Evans completed the loop in fourth overall (+1m19.1s) ahead of title rival Kalle Rovanpera (+2m07.8s), with the third Toyota driven by Takamoto Katsuta in sixth (+4m42.4s).
Sunday began with a fast yet technical pass through stage 13, held in overcast conditions.
Rally leader Tanak could afford to opt for a measured approach having built up lead of more than a minute.
He successfully navigated the test without issue, albeit 10.8s slower than the pacesetter Neuville, as his overall lead was trimmed to 52.3s.
Teemu Suninen, Mikko Markkula, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images
Keen to overhaul team-mate Suninen to claim second overall, the Belgian took the stage win by 4.8s from his Hyundai stablemate to reduce the gap to 9.1s.
“I had a good stage, I enjoyed it,” said Neuville. “A couple of small moments, I was on the limit on many corners but the car was working nice so I enjoyed the ride.”
Evans’ hopes of stealing third were dealt a blow as he couldn’t match Neuville’s speed and dropped 5s. Title rival Rovanpera, celebrating his 23rd birthday, remained in fifth overall after clocking the fifth-fastest stage time.
There was, however, drama for M-Sport Rally1 debutant Gregoire Munster before the stage began as he was involved in a road traffic accident that left his Puma with minor damage.
“Just before the refuelling out of the service we had a road accident with a car, so we were a bit scared with the right side,” said Munster.
Stage 14 (El Ponen), a dress rehearsal for the rally-ending Power Stage, followed and it was again claimed by Neuville. The Hyundai driver beat team-mate Suninen by 2.4s, leaving only 6.7s separating the pair heading into the final loop.
Tanak was third-fastest with Evans and Rovanpera completing the top five stage times.
In WRC2, Toksport Skoda driver Oliver Solberg maintained his lead over team-mate Gus Greensmith to hold seventh and eighth positions overall.
