After the contested first morning in which Sebastien Loeb emerged as the first driver of this Rally of Portugal, the afternoon held many unpleasant surprises for many drivers.
Drivers do not have all day parking, the slightest mistake will be paid in cash!
Portugal Rally
SS5 – Lusa 2, 12.03 km
The second clip in this especially since the morning, Rovanpera is the first to leave a mark, the Finn did not feel comfortable in the car. The Neuville will perform 5″ 4 better than the Toyota Driver. Radical change when Loeb takes off, immediately hits a wall on the rear right of the Puma and rips the wheel, the leader retires!!!
Brin relegated to 4.8 from Nouvelle, but the driver resolved vision problems with dust! Tanak is not much faster, but the Estonian does not know where the problem is coming from. Eventually the scratch will return to Ogier for 0.6 before Loubet who still makes a good impression, the two French are ahead of Nouvel! Overall, Evans became the leader for the dash again with a 2.1 over Neuville and 4.8 over Ogier. Fourmaux’s bad adventure on a Puma that has been punctured in the left front.
SS6 – Góis 2, 19.33 km
Rovanpera opens the way again and is not satisfied with his performance, Neuville will improve the latter’s time by 5.1. Brin will also suffer a loss of 28.9 after a hole in the left front! And then Katsuta will spin, for sure…! Loubet made his way with fun by finishing fourth in the overall standings after starting the event in 10th!
Ogier had a puncture, and the Toyota driver lost 1’57 in the crash. It was Ott Tanak’s turn to suffer a holeshot, and the Estonian would lose 1’30. In the end, Evans achieves the scratch in front of Pierre-Louis Loubet! The Toyota driver is the leader with a difference of 5.8 over Novell and 18.7 over the Rovanpera!
Adrien Fourmaux (FRA) Alexandre Coria (FRA) © Jaanus Ree / Red Bull Content Pool
SS7 – Arganel 2, 18.72 km
Kalle Rovnaperä skipped the pitfalls in this special, Neuville conceded a 5.8 in the latter but that was the Belgian’s strategy. Breen is running this special without a spare wheel, so the Irishman from M-Sport is taking no risks! The second hole is in two stages, of course, and here’s another one who lost 1’30, luckily there were two spare wheels! Wait, did we add more drama? Sebastien Ogier retired, second puncture, ran out of spare wheel, Gapençais stopped there for the day!
Greensmith ends with this stage, with…we give it a thousand: puncture, left rear tire off the rim! In the end, Rovanpera netted against Evans and Katsota, a Toyota hat-trick! Overall, Evans is the leader for 7′ on Neuville, gap is growing, Rovanperä at 14″1, Loubet ranked fourth at 34″ 9!
SS8 – Mortagua, 18.15 km
Rovanpera continues to open the road, while Neuville is already very slow, I lost 1 second per kilometer … The left front of his Hyundai is torn, on arrival the Belgian explains that he lost a wheel on the connecting road he fixed but the shaft is damaged. Neuville lost 1’28 and no chance of getting on the podium!
Who will get in trouble? Around Bryn, the Irishman slipped and crashed into a bridge! Ott Tanak, making a carefree special (finally), Greensmith mischosen his rubber, dropping the 18″! Frenchman of M-Sport.
Fourmaux made sure to avoid holes. Rovanperä performs scratching for 3″ 4 on Evans and 6″ 5 on Katsuta! Overall, Evans is still up by 10.7 at Rovanpera now, and Neuville is down to seventh by over 1’32! It’s Sordo who holds the provisional podium at 42.5, Katsuta is back in fourth, and Lopete slipped back to sixth!
© Hyundai Motorsport – Thierry Nouvel
SS9 – Losada, 3.36 km
Very special that fans appreciate and closes the first day. Two cars are racing side by side on the mixed-surface Rallycross Losada circuit. Two towers provide great entertainment for the masses.
Evans would set the best time on Katsuta for 0″ 8, Tänak is 0″ 9 Just like the Fourmaux, the gaps are pretty obvious and don’t rock the hierarchy much. Overall, Evans is the leader on Friday night ahead of Rovanpera by 13″ 6, 44″ 4 over Sordo and 49″ 6 ahead of Katsuta! Greensmith is fifth at 1’00” 7, Lovett is sixth at 1’15” 6, Neuville is seventh with 1’46” 4 behind.
