The 19.33km of the Góis stage was next on the agenda and hanging dust was again prevalent as temperatures began to climb. Dust was also infiltrating the cockpits of the Ford Pumas and Craig Breen, Sebastien Loeb and Gus Greensmith complained of visibility issues, while Pierre-Louis Loubet overshot a junction and dropped 13.4 seconds to the stage winner.
Elfyn Evans claimed the quickest time of 13min 12.7sec, the Welshman pipping Ott Tänak to the stage win by a mere one-tenth of a second to extend his lead to five seconds. Ogier held third overall and Teemu Suninen continued to top the standings in WRC2.
A mere 1.7 seconds separated the top seven Rally1 cars on the stage.
Car 69. ROVANPERÄ/HALTTUNEN
“It feels quite tough on the tyres. It feels like they are quite done already. The grip was higher than we
expected. I don’t know. Let’s see what the others do.”
Car 11. NEUVILLE/WYDAEGHE
“A lot in the car (dust) and a little outside. It’s manageable. We did not lose too much to it. Conditions
were a bit rougher than we expected. We are going to try and survive the next stage without losing too
much. Soft tyres was the only choice...”
Car 42. BREEN/NAGLE
“Ask the boys (dust)….all the stage when I turn right it’s billowing into the back here….! I couldn’t see a
thing.”
Car 19. LOEB/GALMICHE
“I was not able to close the door on the start. It was half open, We got a lot of dust in the car.”
Car 8. TÄNAK/JÄRVEOJA
“It was really dusty and generally I am not happy with the balance, it was quite tricky to drive. We
tried our best but it's not fully enjoyable at the moment."
Car 18. KATSUTA/JOHNSTON
One-tenth slower than Tänak. “It is okay but it felt a bit strange. At the top of the mountain I didn’t have
much power.”
Car 44. GREENSMITH/ANDERSSON
Dropped 10.1 seconds. “I can’t see anything…The car is full of dust. I said this yesterday...“
Car 1. OGIER/VEILLAS
“It’s all okay but we don’t manage to go fast at the moment, so it’s not so good.”
Car 33. EVANS/MARTIN
Fastest by 0.1 seconds and increased his overall lead to five seconds. “It always seems to be the same
in here. The last part is soft and doesn’t seem to affect cleaning in the same way.”
Car 16. FOURMAUX/CORIA
Tied on the same time as Loubet. “It was hard for the tyres. I was enjoying this stage.”
Car 7. LOUBET/LANDAIS
“I missed a junction….(lost 11 seconds). I missed the brakes.”
Car 6. SORDO/CARRERA
Sixth fastest and climbed two places to ninth overall. “It was better. I take the feeling of the car and the
hard tyres were working better in here. I am quite happy. I enjoyed the stage. The times will come.”
Car 21. SUNINEN/MARKKULA
Snatched the WRC2 lead in SS2 with the fastest time.