Tag: Rally Portugal

Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier (above) is closing in on a record-breaking sixth WRC Rally Portugal win — providing he can maintain his lead over Hyundai rival Ott Tanak on Sunday’s final leg. 

A dramatic and at times chaotic Saturday on the 2024 FIA World Rally Championship’s fifth round wreaked havoc among the leading drivers, reshuffling the overall places and leaving Ogier with an 11.9s overnight lead.

The eight-time WRC champ’s Toyota Gazoo Racing team began the penultimate leg in a position of dominance, locking out the podium after Friday’s near-perfect opening leg. However, its fortunes took a dive early on Saturday morning when Kalle Rovanpera and Takamoto Katsuta both faltered on the brutal gravel roads.

Overnight leader Rovanpera looked poised to tighten his grip on the top spot after blitzing the morning’s Felgueiras opener, but the two-time and reigning WRC champ misjudged a right-hand turn in Montim shortly afterward and rolled out of contention. Katsuta’s exit was less dramatic, but equally devastating: a rear impact shattered the suspension of his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 as the Japanese driver battled to hold onto third overall. 

Toyota’s hopes now rested on Ogier who, like Rovanpera, is running only a part-time WRC program this season. The Frenchman dueled for the lead with Tanak, briefly relinquishing the position on Amarante 1, before going back in front when the Estonian lost valuable seconds with a deflated tire in the next stage.

Although Tanak maintained the pressure with fastest times over the first two stages of the repeated afternoon loop in his Hyundai i20 N Rally1, Ogier responded with a pair of stage wins to widen the gap.

Victory for Ogier on Sunday would put him in rarefied air at one of the WRC’s classic events. Currently, he shares a record-setting five Portuguese wins with Finnish legend Markku Alen, who dominated with Fiat and Lancia in the 1970s and ’80s.

“It’s been a good day,” said Ogier. “A tricky one, and we didn’t expect so many things happening today. Unfortunately, on Toyota’s side it was not a perfect day. For me it was good, but the team lost two cars. Now, we have to try and finish the job tomorrow now.”

The drama for the leading Toyotas was good news for Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville, the WRC points leader ending the day 59.5s behind teammate Tanak after climbing from sixth to third. With his main title rival, Toyota’s Elfyn Evans, languishing in sixth, Neuville is poised to extend his championship lead as his Saturday standing will earn him 13 points — that’s providing he completes Super Sunday.

Neuville passed teammate Dani Sordo on the overall leaderboard after the first stage of the day, but the Spanish part-timer kept in touch, ending the day 14.2s further back to make it three Hyundais in the top four.

Lagging Sordo by only 7.3s was M-Sport Ford’s fifth-placed Adrien Fourmaux, who held a comfortable buffer in his Puma Rally1 of almost two minutes to Evans. Evans shas truggled to get into a rhythm with his GR Yaris, and an early spin exacerbated his challenges.

In WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, Jan Solans is on the verge of securing his maiden victory in the class following a Saturday that echoed the dramas at the front of the field and allowed the Spaniard to jump from fourth to first.

Several of WRC2’s big names ran into trouble on this penultimate leg. Overnight leader Oliver Solberg was the first casualty. A momentary lapse of concentration while passing Kalle Rovanpera’s stricken Toyota GR Yaris caused him to veer wide, rolling his Skoda Fabia RS into retirement. He will not restart on Sunday.

Solberg’s exit propelled Yohan Rossel, who arrived in Portugal tied in the WRC2 points battle with the Swede, to the forefront. However, the Frenchman’s time at the top didn’t last long as he had to stop to change a wheel on his Citroen C3 in Paredes 1, losing more than 1m30s.

Gus Greensmith became the third leader of the day, but just when it seemed that no more drama was possible, the Briton ran wide on a low-speed right-hand turn during the afternoon’s opening stage and beached his Skoda on an embankment.

At day’s end, Solans led Ireland’s Josh McErlean by just 8.0s, with Rossel just 3.0s further back and everything still to play for.

Sunday’s final leg consists of four stages, with Cabeceiras de Basto and Fafe each running twice to make up a short, sharp 38.64 competitive miles. The second 6.95-mile blast through the twists and iconic jumps of Fafe is the rally-closing, bonus points-paying Wolf Power Stage.    

WRC Rally Portugal, positions after Leg Two, SS18
1 Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) 3h01m55.8s
2 Ott Tanak/Martin Jarveoja (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +11.9s
3 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +1m11.4s
4 Dani Sordo/Candido Carrera (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +1m25.6s
5 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Ford Puma Rally1) +1m32.9s
6 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +3m23.8s
7 Nikolay Gryazin/Konstantin Aleksandrov (Citroen C3 – WRC2, non-points) +9m25.5s
8 Jan Solans/Rodrigo Sanjuan (Toyota GR Yaris – WRC2 leader) +9m35.2s
9 Josh McErlean/James Fulton (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +9m43.2s
10 Yohan RosselArnaud Dunand (Citroen C3 – WRC2) +9m46.8s

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Toyota’s Kalle Rovanpera made the most of a favorable Friday starting spot to head a frenetic to-and-fro battle for the WRC Rally Portugal’s overnight lead. 

Rovanpera (above) ended the day a mere 1.0s ahead of Toyota Gazoo Racing teammate Sebastien Ogier after an intense fight that saw five different winners from the nine stages making up the 80.68-mile Leg One, and a top four separated by just 5.4s. 

Rovanpera is the two-time and reigning FIA World Rally Champion, but the 23-year-old Finn’s decision to run only a limited schedule in 2024 meant he’d start fifth on the road in Portugal, based on his current championship position. The four drivers above him in WRC points would start ahead of him on the road, effectively sweeping the dusty, rock-strewn stages for Rovanpera’s GR Yaris Rally1.

Initially, he didn’t make the most of it, languishing in fifth overall after a lackluster opener to the morning loop. But after that wakeup call, he earned top-three times in all the remaining stages, relentlessly climbing the leader board despite reporting excessive understeer in his GR Yaris.

He seized the lead after besting teammate and early pacesetter Takamoto Katsuta on the afternoon’s second test at Lousa, then went fastest on the penultimate stage at Arganil. But the blistering pace of eight-time WRC champ Ogier — another of Toyota’s 2024 part-time aces — through the Mortagua finale narrowed the gap and intensified the pressure.

“It has been a great battle the whole day,” said Rovanpera. “I could not do much more [in the last stage] because my tires were in such bad condition at the rear and it was just about surviving.

“[The battle] is only fun if you are winning, so let’s see!”

Tire management played a crucial role. Pirelli’s soft-compound rubber was favored for the morning’s sandy surfaces, while hard tires came into play in the afternoon when the repeated loop of stages was rougher and temperatures higher.

Ogier’s late surge boosted him from fourth to second overall. And the winner of last month’s Croatia Rally could have potentially led overnight were it not for an intercom failure during the morning’s final stage and a loss of hybrid power on the afternoon’s penultimate test.

Katsuta lived up to his promise to push hard from the outset, winning the Mortagua 1 stage as well as setting top-three times on both runs of Arganil. He was relatively content to bring up the rear of an overnight Toyota 1-2-3, despite falling 3.7s behind Ogier. 

Completing a super-close quartet, Ott Tanak ended the leg just 0.7s further back from Rovanpera and fastest of the factory Hyundais, despite admitting to a “not nice” feeling behind the wheel of his i20 N Rally1.

Although Toyota dominated the top spots on the leaderboard, it wasn’t all good news: misfortune befell its leading driver in the current WRC standings, Elfyn Evans, whose co-driver Scott Martin resorted to using his cell phone to access a digital copy of their pace notes after misplacing his actual notebook before the afternoon’s second stage. Their frustrations were compounded by a tire being pushed off the wheel rim in the same stage, costing the British pair almost a minute.

That turn of events was a boon for championship leader Thierry Neuville, who headed Evans by six points before starting Portugal’s fifth round of the 13-event WRC season.

Despite facing the challenge of opening the road and sweeping a line for those running behind in his Hyundai, Neuville managed to stay in touch with the leaders and ended 0.2s behind his teamate Dani Sordo in sixth. Sordo, starting his first WRC round of 2024, lost hybrid power for the morning’s final stage, but still managed to win three of the day’s tests — not a bad return to WRC competition…

M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 driver Adrien Fourmaux headed Evans on his return to the Matosinhos service park, while Puma teammate Gregoire Munster finished the leg ninth and last of the Rally1 entries. 

In WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, Oliver Solberg showed his fighting spirit, shrugging off an engine issue in his Skoda Fabia RS to take a 7.3s overnight lead.

Entering Portugal tied for the WRC2 points lead with Citroen C3 rival Yohan Rossel, Solberg trailed the Frenchman after Thursday’s super special stage at Figueira da Foz. However, once the gravel road stages kicked off on Friday morning, the 22-year-old Swede wasted no time in asserting his dominance.

Solberg stormed into the lead on Friday’s opener, and despite being briefly overtaken by his Toksport teammate Gus Greensmith at Gois 1, he swiftly regained control with his run through the iconic Arganil stage before midday.

With soaring temperatures and the stages growing increasingly rocky and rutted, preserving tires was crucial during the afternoon loop. Solberg found himself grappling with a mysterious misfire which left his car’s engine running on three cylinders and even cutting out, but some committed driving meant he was able to limit the time loss and hold onto the lead.

Saturday hosts the longest leg of the rally, with 90.1 miles of action packed into two loops of four stages before the Lousada super special stage concludes the day.    

WRC Rally Portugal, positions after Leg One, SS9
1 Kalle Rovanpera/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) 1h25m00.4s
2 Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +1.0s
3 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +4.7s
4 Ott Tanak/Martin Jarveoja (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +5.4s
5 Dani Sordo/Candido Carrera (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +17.9s
6 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +18.1s
7 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Ford Puma Rally1) +31.8s
8 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +1m43.2s
9 Gregoire Munster/Louis Louka (Ford Puma Rally1) +2m27.3s
10 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Skoada Fabia RS – WRC2 leader) +3m42.1s

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Toyota’s Kalle Rovanpera mastered a brutal opening leg on WRC Rally Portugal to head Hyundai rival Dani Sordo overnight.

A thrilling fight in the morning became a matter of survival in the afternoon as heat, dust and punishing rock-strewn roads took a heavy toll in the fifth round of the FIA World Rally Championship.

While several of his rivals faltered, reigning WRC champ Rovanpera won three of the eight special stages in his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 (above) to head Sordo’s Hyundai i20 N Rally1 by 10.7s after more than 75 miles of action during which three different drivers led.

Rovanpera was plagued by excessive understeer in the opening two stages, but setup adjustments later in the morning transformed his car.

The 22-year-old Finn eased ahead of Sordo, who’d inherited the top spot when Ott Tanak’s Ford Puma Rally1 sustained wheel damage, in the fourth of the day’s special stages, Lousa 2, and extended his advantage further when the Spaniard overshot a junction in the penultimate stage.

“It has been a really good day,” said Rovanpera. “Lots of cleaning (of the road surface by the early-starting cars), but still we did a steady day. We were fast, but we also took care of the car and the tires.”

Sordo’s Hyundai teammate Thierry Neuville finished the day third, 15.2s behind. The Belgian reclaimed the final podium spot in the leg-ending Figueira da Foz super special, leapfrogging Esapekka Lappi in the third of the Hyundais and M-Sport Ford youngster Pierre-Louis Loubet in the process. Just 1.3s blanketed the three drivers at the end of the day, with Loubet edging Lappi in the super special to take fourth overall by a scant 0.4s.

Fourth was well deserved for Loubet. After winning the day’s opening stage, the Frenchman then looked on the verge of retirement when his car caught fire on the stop line of the morning’s third test, Arganil 1. He and co-driver Nicolas Gilsoul were able to continue after extinguishing the flames, later tracing the cause to their Puma’s exhaust.

“The car started to have fire, one kilometer (0.6 miles) before the end of the stage,” Loubet said. “We don’t have any luck this year, it’s crazy.”

Tanak recovered to end the day sixth overall, but Elfyn Evans, who came to Portugal as the WRC points leader, retired after crashing his Toyota on the penultimate test. His teammate, Takamoto Katsuta, had bowed out earlier in the day with alternator failure.

In WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, Oliver Solberg finds himself leading by over a minute after the opening leg decimated the field.

Survival was the name of the game as the rough gravel terrain in the Portuguese hills claimed several front-running contenders. Solberg, driving a Skoda Fabia RS, avoided trouble to build a 50.2s advantage over Gus Greensmith’s similar car at the end of the leg.

The Swede had moved into the class lead when early pacesetter Adrien Fourmaux pulled over to change a wheel on his Ford Fiesta in the day’s second stage, Gois 1, and his buffer was extended further when closest challenger Teemu Suninen ran into identical trouble in his Hyundai i20 N.

“It’s been a very good day, but also very difficult,” Solberg admitted. “So rough with so many rocks and things going on. We’ve had a clean day — fast as well — but as least no problems.”

Greensmith, winner of the previous gravel round in Mexico, headed third-placed Yohan Rossel’s Citroen C3 by 10.0s at the end of the leg. The Frenchman faced issues of his own, however, as a technical problem led to him receiving a 40-second time penalty for arriving late to the penultimate stage.

“My wheel was completely broken,” said Rossel, winner of WRC2 on the previous round in Croatia. “I don’t know why. Maybe because the stage before it was really rough? It’s like that — it was my first technical issue in one year, so no problem.”

Championship returnee and former WRC2 champ Andreas Mikkelsen brought his Skoda to the overnight halt in fourth overall, despite also carrying out a wheel change.

If Friday was tough, Saturday is just as daunting. More than 90 miles of action is packed into two loops of three special stages. Crews have the respite of mid-leg service, and a short super special stage at Lousada rounds out the day’s action.

WRC Rally Portugal, leading positions after Day One, SS8
1 Kalle Rovanpera/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) 1h22m27.7s
2 Dani Sordo/Candido Carrera (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +10.8s
3 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +26.0s
4 Pierre-Louis Loubet/Nicola Gilsoul (M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1) +26.9s
5 Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +27.3s
6 Ott Tanak/Martin Jarveoja (M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1) +1m04.7s
7 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2 leader) +3m48.2s
8 Gus Greensmith/Jonas Andersson (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +4m38.4s
9 Yohan Rossel/Arnaud Dunand (Citroen C3 – WRC2) +4m48.4s
10 Andreas Mikkelsen/Torstein Eriksen (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +5m29.3s

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