Welshman Elfyn Evans left it late to overhaul Ott Tänak and set the fastest time on the shakedown stage at the start of the 54th Vodafone Rally of Portugal on Thursday morning.
The Toyota driver carded a time of 3min 05.9sec on his fourth pass through the 4.8km mixed surface Paredes test that finished inside the Baltar karting circuit. Tänak had looked set to win the session with his third run of 3min 06.1sec.
Kalle Rovanperä recorded a time of 3min 06.2sec for third and Takamoto Katsuta was fourth (3min 06.7sec).
Sébastien Ogier was the first driver to record a stage time and posted a target of 3min 11.2sec but the Frenchman admitted at the stage finish that he is hoping for moisture and cloud cover to boost his chance of a competitive performance on Friday morning’s first loop of real stages. Nevertheless, he pipped Neuville on pass one by 0.1 seconds.
Elfyn Evans carded a 3min 08.7sec opening run. The Welshman said: “The goal is to win. That’s always the target. Quite low grip. It was a tricky opener.”
Katsuta edged in front of Evans to top the leader board after the first run with a 3min 08.3sec, as Adrien Fourmaux stalled on the start line and Gus Greensmith was prevented from taking the start on time because of technical issues. A returning Dani Sordo slotted into fifth with a time of 3min 10.0sec.
Both Ogier and Evans equalled Katsuta’s opening time on their second passes but Tänak hit the front with a 3min 07.1sec and Sordo moved up to second with a 3min 08.2sec run. Tänak then took the opportunity to go again and beat his previous time by one second and Sordo consolidated second place, only to be passed late on by Evans, Neuville, Rovanperä, Ogier, Katsuta and Greensmith as the session continued.
Greensmith did manage to take to the stage and recorded three times after his earlier issues with a best run of 3min 07.1sec. A mere 2.5 seconds separated the entire 10 World Rally Cars at 12.45hrs.
WRC2 entrants also tackled the stage during the opening 90 minutes of the session and flying Finn Esapekka Lappi topped the times with a single run of 3min 14.0sec after rival Teemu Suninen finished the stage with a flat tyre.
Fourth-placed Mads Østberg posted a best run of 3min 16.1sec. The Norwegian and former winner of the Rally of Portugal said: “The competition (WRC2) is very strong. It will be a very exciting weekend and the weather will be playing some games.”
2021 Vodafone Rally of Portugal – shakedown times (WRC @ 12.45hrs):
1. Elfyn Evans (GBR)/Scott Martin (GBR) Toyota Yaris WRC 3min 05.9sec
2. Ott Tänak (EST)/Martin Järveoja (EST) Hyundai i20 Coupé WRC 3min 06.1sec
3. Kalle Rovanperä (FIN)/Jonne Halttunen (FIN) Toyota Yaris WRC 3min 06.2sec
4. Takamoto Katsuta (JPN)/Daniel Barritt (GBR) Toyota Yaris WRC 3min 06.7sec
5. Sébastien Ogier (FRA)/Julien Ingrassia (FRA) Toyota Yaris WRC 3min 06.8sec
7. Thierry Neuville (BEL)/Martin Wydaeghe (BEL) Hyundai i20 Coupé WRC 3min 07.4sec
8. Dani Sordo (ESP)/Borja Rozada (ESP) Hyundai i20 Coupé WRC 3min 07.6sec
9. Pierre Louis Loubet (FRA)/Vincent Landais (FRA) Hyundai i20 Coupé WRC 3min 08.3sec
10. Adrien Fourmaux (FRA)/Renaud Jamoul (FRA) Ford Fiesta WRC 3min 08.4sec