Reigning world rally champion Sebastien Ogier ended Friday leading Rally Portugal after a wild off inflicted a double puncture for Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux.
Ogier had started Friday’s leg struggling to extract the desired pace from his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1, but changes made during the midday remote service sparked an afternoon resurgence.
The nine-time world rally champion headed to the service park with a 3.6s lead over Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville, with Toyota’s Sami Pajari in third, 15.2s back.
After fighting his car through the morning stages to sit third behind Toyota team-mate Sami Pajari and rally leader Fourmaux, Ogier quickly climbed to second after winning stage seven [Arganil 2] by 2.7s from Neuville.
The test was red-flagged after the Rally1 crews had passed through on safety grounds, but the exact details for the stoppage remain unclear. However, Elfyn Evans, who was first on the road, did come across a tow truck that had entered the stage towards the end of the pass. The truck exited the stage promptly but Evans lost time in the hanging dust.
Ogier emerged in the rally lead after drama struck Fourmaux in stage eight – the first pass through Gois. A rough section of bedrock fired his i20 N out of the line and off the road. Fourmaux managed to wrestle the car back onto the stage, but he picked up front- and rear-right punctures, and dropped 29.3s in the process.
It meant Fourmaux surrendered the lead he had held since stage four after enjoying an impressive run through Friday morning’s stages.
Adrien Fourmaux, Alexandre Coria, Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Photo by: Philip Fitzpatrick / Sportsfile via Getty Images
Ogier inherited a 4.2s lead from Hyundai’s Neuville, who had been fighting oversteer and understeer all through the day. Ogier then managed to extend the advantage to 5.0s after beating Neuville by 0.8s to win stage nine.
However, Neuville ended the day strongly by picking up his second stage win of the day, adding to his stage six triumph, as the 2024 world champion took 1.3s out of Ogier to close the lead gap to 3.6s heading into Saturday, when rain is expected to add even more spice.
Toyota duo Pajari and Oliver Solberg kept the pressure on the top two, ending the day in third and fourth respectively.
Pajari had been the star of the morning, winning two of three stages to move into second overall, but the Finn lost ground across the afternoon.
Solberg held the rally lead heading into Friday’s leg but struggled to find the feeling behind the wheel to maintain his strong start across the morning. The Monte Carlo winner lost more time when he went off in the same spot as Fourmaux in stage eight, but he only lost 8.7s and he avoided any punctures.
Fourmaux’s off proved much more costly as the Frenchman had to settle for sixth overall. The Hyundai driver finished behind championship leader Evans, who was handed back 4.4s after being held up by a tow truck in stage seven. Fifth was a reasonable result for Evans given he had the disadvantage of opening the road as championship leader.
Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photo by: Toyota Racing
Takamoto Katsuta cut a frustrated figure for much of the day after struggling to cope with the cleaning effect from starting second on the road. The Japanese driver held seventh ahead of Hyundai’s Dani Sordo, who lost time to a tyre choice mix-up for the morning stages. Sordo was also lucky to survive a wild moment in stage eight.
It proved to be a challenging day for M-Sport-Ford as Jon Armstrong, Josh McErlean and Martins Sesks all hit trouble. Armstrong was forced to undergo a herculean effort to complete Friday’s afternoon stages without power steering.
McErlean ended the day in ninth overall but picked up a 50s penalty for being five minutes late out of the midday remote service when his Puma failed to start.
Sesks had struggled for speed in his first start since February but found his rhythm in the afternoon, posting top-four stage times. However, in the final stage of the day he picked up a double-front puncture in the same place he had to change a wheel last year.
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– The Autosport.com Team
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