Elfyn Evans bumped out – Kalle Rovanperä was worried about his teammate

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The special exam is still in progress, but by Elfyn Evans as far as it is concerned, it has ended in a run out.

Evans and the map reader Scott Martin had to go off the road when they had covered the route for a distance of 13.8 kilometers. The Mortágua section is a brisk 18 kilometers in total.

The first person to cross the finish line was the one who headed the trail and was leading the race Kalle Rovanperä.

– We had really bad tires, so it was not easy to open the way after Elfyn had to go out. It’s a great shame for him. I hope he’s fine, the Finn stated about his teammate in the finish line interview.

According to the WRC website, Evans and Martin have gotten out of the car and are fine.

The story is updated.

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Arganil’s classic clip, driven once, was not allowed From Kalle Rovanperä praise.

– It is really difficult. Pätkä is in much worse shape than I could imagine. Both the car and the tires are now taking a really hard hit.

– Let’s hope they last.

However, the Finn came like Walter Röhrl 1980 with his old Fiat. Differential Dani Sordo at the top of the race increased by 2.1 seconds.

Esapekka Lappi was 5.8 seconds behind Rovanperä’s quote, but the value of the performance is increased by the fact that the Hyundai driver drove more than half of the clip with a broken tire.

– I had a flat tire. There are so many rocks. I don’t even know what I hit. We got through.

An even more dramatic misfortune was experienced by those who drove well in the WRC2 class Teemu Suninenwho had to stop due to a flat tire.

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Kalle Rovanperä came like a gust of wind through the Góis 2 clip.

– We’ll see how the others come, because that piece will be cleaned anyway. I tried to avoid the stones so I wouldn’t have a flat tire, Rovanperä said.

The second fastest time of the day already put the Toyota driver at the top of the overall competition. The difference to the second driver Dani Sordo is now 0.8 seconds in favor of the Finn.

The Spaniard is also the best Hyundai driver of the day. Teammates Thierry Neuville and Esapekka Lappi are running their own seconds battle behind him.

– The road surface is really hard and demanding on the tires. In pretty rough shape. We must have run out of those tires, Lappi thinks.

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Lousã’s special test was now pulled through for the second time.

Ott Tänak suffered a flat tire right at the beginning of the clip. The Estonian stubbornly drove the 12 kilometer stretch to the finish line, but lost Kalle Rovanperä 50 seconds.

– Weak product, Tänak pointed to the broken tire.

At the same time, the Estonian also lost his first place in the race To Dani Sordo. Rovanperä is only 0.4 seconds away from the Spaniard.

– Just a good feeling. It felt like there wasn’t a terribly wide track. It felt like we opened up that career quite a lot. Let’s see how much the road speeds up, Rovanperä said.

It sped up at least enough to Esapekka Lappi knocked on ek with the first base time of the day three seconds apart from Sordo.

– I like this direction. A good, clean clip. I didn’t spare the tires, so I don’t know if I peed on my own ankle, Lappi said.

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Kalle Rovanperä ended the morning run with a strong Argenil classic.

The Finn clocked the bottom time of the special test, and narrowed it down Ott Tänak too the lead to just three seconds.

– It went better now. It was to be expected that we would have to adjust the car because we did not test at all in Portugal. Now it seemed to work, Rovanperä estimated.

– The afternoon can be difficult, because we switch to hard tires.

Toyota team mate Takamoto Katsuta didn’t make it at all. The Japanese had to throw in the towel due to technical problems.

The story continues after the picture

Esapekka Lappi instead, he fought to the finish line of the special stage, but the watch did not like the Finn’s ride at all.

– I really do not know. I’m surprised. I thought it went well, Lappi was amazed at the loss of 16.8 seconds to Rovanpera.

– The choice of tires was not good.

by Pierre-Louis Loubet The Ford caught fire just after the finish line. The Frenchman threw his driving gloves on the ground in frustration when a rally that had started well threatened to end in suspension already on the opening day.

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Kalle Rovanperä struggled with Toyota. The car bumped in the corners and did not want to turn according to the rally route on the 19-kilometer special test in Góis.

– The car understeers so much, and it kills the front tires, Rovanperä was tight at the finish line.

The gap to the top increased to 5.8 seconds.

It was an even worse ride Esapekka in Lapland. Pieksamäkeläinen couldn’t get the rhythm right at any point.

– Sometimes it feels better and sometimes worse. Fifty-sixty, Lappi quoted Matti from Nykä.

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Ford has a strong stake. Ott Tänak came out on top of the race, and in the opening stretch he set the bottom time Pierre-Louis Loubet now continues the race in third place.

The Frenchman has been a bit overshadowed by his more successful compatriots, but you have to remember that his Yves-his father conquered a total of four World Championship podium places.

Three of them came from the home island of Corsica and one from Portugal in 1988, when Yves Loubet completed the Lancia Delta triple win Miki Biassioni and Alessandro Fiorion in the butt.

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The 12-kilometer Lousã 1 stage opened the World Rally Championship in Portugal.

Elfyn Evans was the first to go on the route in his Toyota to clean the dust from the road surface. Kalle Rovanperä dashed four minutes after the Welshman, but even the extended interval between the drivers was not enough to dispel all the clouds of dust.

– It felt good. Of course, there was still some dust hanging in the forest, and it wasn’t easy to press there. However, we got a clean special test, Rovanperä judged at the finish.

Those who started last in the hot group Pierre-Louis Loubet and Dani Sordo enjoy a clean road surface. The watch also liked it, and the two were exactly on their own seconds.

Esapekka Lappi took no risks. He wanted to get through the stage cleanly, so the gap with Loubet increased to four seconds.

– Everything is fine, I drove through wisely. You can lose a lot here, Lappi estimates.