The Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT’s Ott Tanak and Martin Jarveoja led from the first stage of the morning to edge into a lead of seven seconds after 11 special stages of the 58th Vodafone Rally of Portugal on Friday.
The Estonian duo won four stages on one of the most demanding days in the WRC for many years but were pushed hard throughout the morning by team-mates Adrien Fourmaux and Alexcndre Coria.
Fourmaux was quickest on the fourth and fifth stages and closed to within two-tenths of a second of the outright lead before spinning his Hyundai out of contention on the second pass through Arganil. The impact damaged the i20’s suspension and sidelined the Frenchman for the remainder of the day.
Tanak’s fastest time on the final stage marked the 400th of his WRC career. He said: “It’s been demanding, especially on the second loop We couldn’t find the sweet spot but we had clean runs on the last two stages.”
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT team-mates Sebastien Ogier and Tamamoto Katsuta became embroiled in their own battle behind Tanak and Ogier, the eight-time World Champion, eventually reached the night halt in Matosinhos with an advantage of 20.1 seconds.
Double World Champion Kalle Rovanpera managed to keep Thierry Neuville at bay over the closing kilometres to retain fourth place, but the current WRC leader Elfyn Evans struggled with his road position all day and was marooned in sixth. The Welshman’s ‘punishment’ for leading the Drivers’ Championship was road-opening duties and it cost him valuable time against his title rivals.
Evans said: “It has been tough. We hoped to be a bit better than this. It was a bit of a frustrating day. We are here at the end of it. Hopefully, it will be better tomorrow.”
Toyota’s Sami Pajari managed to stay ahead of the Ford Pumas of Gregoire Munster and Josh McErlean to hold seventh.
M-Sport Ford’s Martins Sesks stopped 3.8km into the opening stage to change a front-left wheel after he clipped a rock and sustained a puncture. The delay cost the Latvian three and a half minutes and any chance of a top result on the day.
Tenth-placed Oliver Solberg put a sixth-stage spin, where he struggled to select reverse gear, to the back of his mind and increased his lead to 53.5 seconds at the end of the day in his Printsport Toyota GR Yaris. A last-stage puncture for Yohan Rossel (Citroen C3) enabled Gus Greensmith to slip into second place in his Skoda Fabia RS.
Nikolay Gryazin was not registered for the WRC2 on this occasion but he was second of the Rally2 runners, 43.6 seconds behind Solberg.
Finn Roope Korhonen was the leader of the FIA WRC2 Challenger section after Estonia’s Robert Virves stopped in the 10th stage.
Australia’s Taylor Gill led the way from Turk Kerem Kazaz and Irishman Eamonn Kelly after eight special stages in the battle for FIA Junior WRC honours. Gill also led the WRC3 category.
In the Portuguese National Championship battle, early pace-setter Kris Meeke dropped a minute in SS6 and rival Dani Sordo stopped near the stage finish and retired. But Meeke recovered well to hold the advantage heading into the final stage.
Portugal’s Pedro Meireles was the pace-setter in the FIA WRC Master Cup for Drivers after stage 10.
Saturday’s itinerary includes two loops of the Vieira do Minho (17.69km), Cabeceiras de Basto (19.91km) and Amarante (22.10km) stages and the now traditional visit to the Lousada rallycross track to entertain the vast crowds in the evening.
58th Vodafone Rally of Portugal – positions after SS11 (unofficial):
- Ott Tanak (EST)/Martin Jarveoja (EST) Hyundai i20 N Rally1 1hr 41min 26.2sec
- Sebastien Ogier (FRA)/Vincent Landais (FRA) Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 1hr 41min 33.2sec
- Takamoto Katsuta (JPN)/Aaron Johnston (IRL) Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 1hr 41min 53.3sec
- Kalle Rovanpera (FIN)/Jonne Halttunen (FIN) Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 1hr 41min 54.5sec
- Thierry Neuville (BEL)/Martijn Wydaeghe (BEL) Hyundai i20 N Rally1 1hr 41min 58.9sec
- Elfyn Evans (GBR)/Scott Martin (GBR) Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 1hr 42min 35.2sec
- Sami Pajari (FIN)/Marko Salminen (FIN) Toyota GR Yaris Rally 1hr 42min 27.6sec
- Gregoire Munster (LUX)/Louis Louka (BEL) Ford Puma Rally1 1hr 43min 16.4sec
- Joshua McErlean (IRL)/Eoin Treacy (IRL) Ford Puma Rally1 1hr 43min 20.5sec
- Oliver Solberg (SWE)/Elliott Edmondson (GBR) Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 1hr 45min 05.4sec
- Nikolay Gryazin (BUL)/Konstantin Aleksandrov (KGZ) Skoda Fabia RS 1hr 45min 48.0sec
- Gus Greensmith (GBR)/Jonas Andersson (SWE) Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 1hr 45min 57.9sec
- Yohan Rossel (FRA)/Arnaud Dunand (FRA) Citroen C3 Rally2 1hr 46min 00.1sec
Rally leaders
SS1 Elfyn Evans
SS2-11 Ott Tanak
Stage winners
SS1 Elfyn Evans
SS2 Ott Tanak
SS3 Ott Tanak
SS4 Adrien Fourmaux
SS5 Adrien Fourmaux
SS6 Sebastien Ogier
SS7 Takamoto Katsuta
SS8 Thierry Neuville
SS9 Ott Tanak
SS10 Sebastien Ogier
SS11 Ott Tanak
