Solberg stuns in the rain to jump from fourth to first

Oliver Solberg snatched the lead at Rally Portugal after delivering a stunning time in wet conditions on the final stage of the morning loop, to climb from fourth to first. 

Solberg faced an 18.6s margin to rally leader Sebastien Ogier heading into stage 14, which was hit by rain. The Toyota driver produced an incredible effort in the treacherous conditions that appeared to worsen as the stage progressed.

The effort was enough to win the stage by 7.2s from Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans, while longtime rally leader Ogier dropped 19.1s in the test.    

As a result, Solberg grabbed the rally lead by 0.5s from a stunned Ogier. 

“Unbelievable. I had the feeling I tried my best, I just had no grip. It’s not only about risk, I have no idea how [Solberg’s time] is possible, to be honest,” said Ogier.

Crews had expected wet stages but the rain failed to arrive until late into the morning, meaning the majority of crews had suboptimal set-ups on their cars for most of the loop.

Overnight leader Ogier came under pressure from Neuville in the opening stage of the day as the Hyundai driver took time out of the nine-time world champion to the tune of two seconds. It was enough to cut Ogier’s rally lead to 1.7s. 

Third-placed Sami Pajari won the Felgueiras 1 test to haul himself right into the fight, only 10.7s from the lead.

Ogier was unperturbed by Neuville’s pressure and duly restored this advantage and extended his lead out to 5.0s in the next test (stage 12 – Cabeceiras de Basto). The final section of the stage became heavily rutted, meaning the conditions were worse for the later runners. 

However, Ogier was able to produce a time that was only 0.5s slower than the stage-winning time set by Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux.

Light rain started to fall by the time Ogier and Neuville tackled the 26.24km Amarante stage. It didn’t prove too much of a distraction as Ogier again was only 0.5s of the outright pace that was this time set by Solberg. Neuville dropped 3.1s to Ogier, which meant the gap to the lead increased to 8.1s.

However, the rain intensified for the final stage of the loop where Solberg produced a moment of magic to shake up the leaderboard.

Neuville dropped to third, 2.6s adrift of Solberg, with Pajari falling to fourth, 8.1s shy of the lead. 

Championship leader Elfyn Evans remained involved in a hard-fought battle for fifth with Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux. Evans started the day with a 6.2s margin over the Frenchman, who led the rally until an off in stage eight on Friday.

Fourmaux closed the gap to 5.8s after winning stage 12 but Evans was able to respond to maintain fifth spot by 11.7s.

Takamoto Katsuta headed to midday service in seventh, having been unable to make any inroads in catching Fourmaux ahead. The Japanese driver did find a better feeling in the car and benefitted from a call for advice from 2019 world champion Ott Tanak.  

Hyundai’s Dani Sordo continued to struggle for confidence and reported plenty of sliding from his i20 that was struggling for grip on soft tyres. The Spaniard ended the loop in eighth overall. 

Josh McErlean continued to lead the M-Sport-Ford trio in ninth overall. Jon Armstrong, now running with working power steering after Friday’s heroics, held off team-mate Martins Sesks to sit in 10th position. Armstrong was third-fastest in the wet stage 14 and appeared on course for a maiden stage win before Evans and Solberg came through.     

The crews will repeat the stages this afternoon before a short blast through the Lousada super special stage, which will conclude a huge 145km leg. 

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– The Autosport.com Team