Rovanperä up to second; Neuville and Loubet slip back
Mortágua (18.15km) was the last gravel stage of the day before action concluded with a spectacular side-by-side run through a 3.36km super special stage at the Lousada rallycross track.
Rovanperä completed his road sweeping duties with the fastest time, but Neuville had lost a wheel on the road section before the stage and then damaged a drive shaft. The delay cost the Belgian over 1min 28sec to his Finnish title rival – his verbal frustration was understandable at the stage finish.
Breen spun on a left-hander near the end and lost additional time in his own dust and Loubet did clouted a banking and then lost further time by clipping the banking on the opposite side of the stage. He slipped from fourth to sixth as Evans headed to Lousada with a lead of 10.7 seconds.
Car 69. ROVANPERÄ/HALTTUNEN
“It was slippery as expected. I don’t know how much it will clean for the guys behind. Otherwise we did quite a good job, The second passes on the previous stages was not so easy to open the road.”
Car 11. NEUVILLE/WYDAEGHE
Lost 1min 28sec to title rival Rovanperä in the stage. Damage to the front left wing. “I lost a wheel on the road section and I had a damaged drive shaft.
Car 42. BREEN/NAGLE
Spun on a left-hander near the finish and lost time (53 seconds) regaining the track in his own dust.
Car 8. TÄNAK/JÄRVEOJA
“I was just driving through and getting it through.”
Car 18. KATSUTA/JOHNSTON
“Hard work. The car is bouncing a lot. Not so fun to drive but I am here. I am happy.”
Car 44. GREENSMITH/ANDERSSON
“For me the softs (coupled with the two hards) made the car impossible to drive. It was really disappointing.”
Car 33. EVANS/MARTIN
Maintained a lead of 10.7 seconds after Neuville’s issues. “It was not nice in there to be honest. Thick sand was dodgy in places and zero grip. A bit conservative. But we are here,”
Car 16. FOURMAUX/CORIA
“I was really enjoying in these stages but my tyres were quite worn and the grip was changing a lot. It was a clean stage for me, even with quite used tyres. It was quite frustrating with a puncture on the first stage this afternoon.”
Car 7. LOUBET/LANDAIS
Lost out on a potential third overall when we clipped a banking on one side of the track and hit the bank on the other side with reduced visibility in his own dust. “I miss a junction again. I have no spare tyre so I cannot push.”
Car 6. SORDO/CARRERA
“It was good. I was driving a bit faster in some places. Candido was doing a great job in this stage. I say thank you.”
Car 20. MIKKELSEN/ERIKSEN
Misfiring engine. “On the last stage, at the end, I started losing power. I don’t know. We drove quite clever this afternoon. Our opponents had trouble. We will find out in service.”
Car 21. SUNINEN/MARKKULA
A shredded rear tyre was the cause of the Finn losing his WRC2 lead in Arganil 2. He reduced Mikkelsen’s advantage to 38.3 seconds in this stage. “That as an okay stage. Before, we had a puncture. We drove 10-15km/h in a hairpin and we had a puncture (SS7).
Car 22. GRYAZIN/ALEKSANDROV
Stopped in SS6.
Car 23. SOLBERG/EDMONDSON
“A long day tough day I tell you. I had this dust since the second stage today. Elliott is doing a great job of managing to breath, Double slow puncture today. I hope we can continue. It’s okay and the most important is that we are here.”