The final day of this year’s Vodafone Rally de Portugal saw last minute drama in the WRC2, WRC3 and DDFT categories on a day when the action is generally expected to settle down.
In the WRC2 category, Pontus Tidemand continued to dominate the class, starting the day with a lead over Nicolas Fuchs of 32 seconds. Fuchs in turn was more than two minutes in front of Marius Aasen in his first event in the Fiesta R5.
However, it was Scott Pedder who was on a mission, the Australian just 10 seconds behind Aasen at the day’s start. On the first of the four stages, Pedder passed Aasen and claimed the final podium position as the crews headed for the first of the two runs over the Fafe stage. He continued to post faster stage times than Aasen, to arrive at the start of the final stage with a margin of 17.6 seconds.
However, fate would deal him a cruel blow, when he made a mistake braking into a downhill hairpin and spun. He dropped enough time to fall back behind Aasen, eventually finishing fourth by just 0.2seconds.
There was also drama in the WRC3 category. Martin Koci began the day as leader, with a 30.8-second margin over Simone Tempestini in second. However, on the first stage, he broke his suspension, suffering a gradual oil leak, which eventually affected both sides of the car. As a result he lost time continually to Tempestini, seeing his advantage turn into a disadvantage on the second stage of the day, when Tempestini passed him.
Sensing a possible second place, Terry Folb upped his pace in an effort to pass Koci but was unable to do so in the limited stage distance left. He was happy to settle for third place, just 10.2 seconds behind Koci by the time they arrived at the end of the final stage.
The first round of the Drive DMACK Fiesta Trophy was dominated by local hero Bernardo Sousa, who enjoyed an initial battle with British driver Gus Greensmith. However, when the Brit retired on the seventh stage, Sousa took the lead until the beginning of the final stage of the rally, despite constant pressure from Welshman Osian Pryce. But fate would also intervene here.
One kilometre into the final stage, Sousa out-braked himself and rolled, retiring from the rally almost in sight of the finish line. This promoted Pryce to the win on his first event in the DDFT.