Rovanperä leads; wiper drama for Loubet
Tänak set the target of 25min 03.2sec, the Estonian beating his morning run by 3.7 seconds on the cleaning track surface. Breen collected a puncture close to the finish and overhauled Loubet, who drove in the drizzle without windscreen wipers. A flying Neuville beat the benchmark time by 21 seconds and closed in on Sordo to reduce the Spaniard’s grip on fourth to 15.2 seconds.
The leading quartet were running with hard compound tyres, as the rain intensified, and no-one could catch stage winner Neuville. But a determined run by Rovanperä was rewarded with the rally lead for the first time. He headed to the cobbles of the Porto-Foz street stage with a four-second lead.
Car 69. ROVANPERÄ/HALTTUNEN
“Really tricky with the hard tyres, The stage was getting wet in the middle part. A problem free day and
we can be happy.”
Car 11. NEUVILLE/WYDAEGHE
“The rain and the dust was hanging. I had a very smooth clean drive. I did some changes before to get
rid of the harshness. I always stayed in a clean line and it paid in the end.”
Car 42. BREEN/NAGLE
Finished the stage with tyre damage. “About three or four kilometres from the end, I tried to manage it
As best I could. I had really bad dust in places as well. Not sure if the others did.”
Car 8. TÄNAK/JÄRVEOJA
“Now it is cleaning. The hard base is coming out.”
Car 18. KATSUTA/JOHNSTON
“It was very challenging. In the beginning we have no rain and then we get soft surface and a lot of rain
and then a tarmac section full of rain. There is a smell in the car, something melting. It does not smell
very nice.”
Car 33. EVANS/MARTIN
“For sure, he has been strong. I think we had the worst of it in here, I had a big moment in the trees
near the start and that was not so nice.”
Car 16. FOURMAUX/CORIA
“The rain was okay for me. It’s a long stage and nice to drive but it’s difficult for the body and the car.”
Car 7. LOUBET/LANDAIS
Windscreen wipers were not working on the stage and he lost a place to Breen. “It was without the
wiper, very demanding. Happy to be at the end. It was very difficult.”
Car 6. SORDO/CARRERA
“It’s raining a lot. I tried to change my style of driving for this car but it looks like it is not working.”
Car 27. INGRAM/DREW
Stopped in the stage.
Car 45. MARCZYK/GOSPODARCZYK
Stopped in the stage.