SS15: Evans leads overnight, Sordo fastest

The 3.30km street stage was a new innovation and took place in an exclusive area of Porto called Foz do Douro, near the Atlantic coast where the mighty Douro River enters the ocean. Three laps of the short stage were on the agenda.  

Sordo was reported to have a starter motor issue as Fourmaux embarked upon the short and varied special on the cobbles and posted the target time of 3min 09.4sec. Greensmith drove part of the stage in ‘road mode’ after his throttle issues and haemorrhaged enough time to lose fifth place to his French team-mate. 

Ogier had a stall and a spin but managed to stay ahead of Katsuta and a flying Sordo completed the stage without stalling the Hyundai and kept hold of second place with an impressive run of 3min 04.1sec. The Spaniard’s run was actually so impressive he reduced a stunned Evans’s lead to 10.7 seconds. 

Lappi confirmed a 40.4 second overnight lead over Suninen in WRC2 with the fourth fastest time.