Freddy Loix now holds a 21.1-second lead in the Rally Madeira after Luca Rossetti crashed out of second place on SS12.
Abarth driver Rossetti had been Loix's nearest threat all day, until going off one kilometre from the end of the Cidade de Santana stage.
That left Loix, who is nursing an arm injury, with a more comfortable margin over a tense battle for second place between the best of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge regulars, Kris Meeke and Jan Kopecky.
Peugeot UK's Meeke ended the day just 1.2s in front of Skoda man Kopecky, whose championship-leading team-mate Juho Hanninen is a distant fourth.