A new street stage in an exclusive area of Porto, called Foz do Douro, near the Atlantic coast where the mighty Douro River enters the ocean. Spectators were not permitted on this occasion. Three laps of a 1.1km special on cobbles.
Car 1. OGIER/INGRASSIA
A stall in the stage. “Tomorrow is important. A difficult day for us.”
Car 33. EVANS/MARTIN
“It feels pretty good. I’m shocked that Dani has gone so strong in there. The stages
tomorrow are really nice, fast and technical.”
Car 18. KATSUTA/BARRITT
“I am happy to be honest. It was a tough day. I am here and this is the main thing. A bit of
work for team guys tonight. I hope they are happy to repair this..”
Car 16. FOURMAUX/JAMOUL
“It’s really nice on the edge of the sea and we can see the view sometimes. Maybe it
would be interesting to have more spectators. I would say it was a good learning to open
the road but we have lost a lot of time.”
Car 44. GREENSMITH/PATTERSON
Running in road mode for some of the stage because of the throttle issues and dropped
behind Fourmaux into sixth place. “I was trying to minimize the time loss. Extremely
disappointing but what can I do. We will try and get the time back tomorrow.”
Car 6. SORDO/ROZADA
Starter motor issue before the stage. “I did not want to stall the engine because I have
some problems. But I had a good feeling in the stage. It was a bit like the go-kart track.”
Car 22. LAPPI/FERM
“Tricky one. It’s so many doughnuts. It’s five years since I did doughnuts with this car. If
you make a mistake you hit concrete. You have to bear that in mind.”
Car 24. SUNINEN/MARKKULA
“It’s been a great day. We get a puncture (SS14) and it was tricky to manage the end of
the loop.”
Car 30. SOLBERG/JOHNSTON
“I think it has been a positive afternoon. Now I think the drop link is broken on the rear. It
is collapsing on the rear.”