Kalle Rovanperä leads after a thrilling first day of Rally Portugal as part of the World Rally Championship (WRC).
After the eighth special stage, the Toyota driver has a 10.8-second lead in the standings. There were four different leaders on day one, but current leader Elfyn Evans struggled. The Welshman crashed badly on the seventh special stage, he and his co-driver Scott Martin escaped uninjured.
Evans was sixth at that point, 46.6 seconds behind current WRC champion Rovanperä, who was leading the rally ahead of Dani Sordo. The Toyota driver went off the track and crashed into a tree. The Yaris Rally1 was completely destroyed, but both pilots were able to leave the wreck under their own steam. Previously, as the leader, Evans not only had the difficult task of opening the stages, but also struggling with the balance of his car.
Rovanperä defended his lead on Friday’s final stage and after stage eight is 10.8 seconds ahead of Sordo in the Hyundai i20, who finished second four times on Friday, won the last spectator stage and took part on the gravel tracks around Matosinhos in the Porto metropolitan area convinced of his consistency.
World Champion Rovanperä won three of the eight special stages, although he always had to start second behind Evans and therefore did not have an optimal starting position. At the beginning of Friday, Evans and Rovanperä also had to deal with heavy tire wear, which is why both Toyota drivers complained about massive understeer. “It was a tough day and afternoon,” says Rovanperä. “It wasn’t easy with bad tires.”
Loubet won first special stage
Thierry Neuville finished third behind Sordo, who missed a corner on SS7 and lost twelve seconds as a result. The Hyundai driver spoke of his Hyundai’s solid pace, but the Belgian, who retired on SS7 last year, played it safe. “It didn’t go as planned, sometimes the balance wasn’t there, but it was okay,” said the Belgian, who made up two positions on the last stage. “I tried, but it wasn’t possible, otherwise we would have gone off the track for sure.”
Toyota driver Pierre-Louis Loubet from France surprisingly won the first special stage and, despite a small fire in the cockpit of his M-Sport-Ford, finished fourth in the day’s classification. According to the Frenchman, the team was able to quickly fix the defect. At the end of the day, Loubet even promised his mechanic “free beer” on Sunday, as the team reacted in a flash so that the Frenchman can still fight for victory.
Esapekka Lappi in the Hyundai i20 N, who won special stages four and seven, follows in fifth place. Overall, the Finn was 27.3 seconds behind the leading Toyota driver at the end of the first day. The last special stage of the day took place on a narrow track marked out with concrete walls for the spectators. “It was a good show for the audience,” he says. “But that’s not my forte because I’m too scared of hitting the concrete walls.”
Ott Tänak won stage two in the M-Sport Ford Puma but struggled on Friday. The Estonian was even leading the rally when a puncture threw him back on SS 4. In the end he was 1:04.7 minutes short of the top. “It was a demanding afternoon,” explains the Estonian. “We had problems in the morning and we’re happy to still be here. We weren’t sure if we’d make it through the afternoon, but we’re here now.”