The final stage of the second day of competition at this year’s Vodafone Rally de Portugal saw Jari-Matti Latvala take his second stage win of the day, to extend his lead at the head of the field to 7.4 seconds over Kris Meeke. Championship leader Sebastien Ogier was second-fastest, admitting he was looking after his tyres as so many drivers around him suffered punctures on the unexpectedly rough conditions.
His pace was better on the second run through the stages though, as he was no longer sweeping the road clean for following cars and he managed to climb a position to sixth, 26 seconds behind the leader.
Ott Tanak was third fastest and ends the day fourth overall, a tantalising 1.8 seconds behind Andreas Mikkelsen in third, despite the Norwegian only finishing the final stage of the day fifth.
There was also plenty of talk about tyres, with almost all drivers taking at least a mix of hard and soft, if not all softs and the stages being hotter and more abrasive than expected. More than one reached the stop line with tyres more reminiscent of racing slicks and Lorenzo Bertelli was unable to reach the service park after the stage, as he had two punctured tyres and could not continue.
In WRC2, Nasser Al-Attiyah took the win on the last stage with Karl Kruuda second, despite catching a slower car ahead. Al-Attiyah ends the first day of the rally leading the class, 13.5 seconds ahead of Yazeed Al Rajhi with Pontus Tidemund an excellent third place on the debut for the Skoda Fabia R5.