Rovanperä leads after Porto street stage
The stage near the mouth of the Douro river attracted a large crowd, despite initial wet conditions. The top cars slithered over the cobbles and overnight leader Rovanperä topped the Rally1 times with a run of 3min 28.7sec. A stunning run by Sordo trimmed Katsuta’s grasp on the final podium place to 5.9 seconds.
Four-minute intervals
Car 69. ROVANPERÄ/HALTTUNEN
“It was tricky to know whether we get rain on this stage or not. It was difficult. We had all hard tyres and it was slippery with them but the time was okay.”
Car 11. NEUVILLE/WYDAEGHE
“It was like driving on ice and we have two hard tyres. It was slow, so you cannot do anything wrong. I enjoyed this one. A frustrating weekend so far. Maybe there is still a chance of taking a podium.”
Car 42. BREEN/NAGLE
“It was incredibly difficult. We managed to get through…”
Car 8. TÄNAK/JÄRVEOJA
“Slippery, slippery. It was terrible, slow. We arrived. It’s all okay.”
Car 18. KATSUTA/JOHNSTON
“We did a pretty okay job today. We were under the pressure, Dani is an experienced driver and very fast. We were able to manage the car and the tyres. This stage was very slippery and not so enjoyable.”
Car 33. EVANS/MARTIN
“For sure, we could have done a bit more in places. That’s how it is. Kalle has driven really well. We have to keep the pressure on and see what is possible.”
Car 16. FOURMAUX/CORIA
“I think it’s the slowest stage that I have ever done. It was so slippery and very slow. With more cars it will remove the mud and will be better.”
Car 7. LOUBET/LANDAIS
“I locked the fronts. We did a mistake. We put the hards on the rear.”
Car 6. SORDO/CARRERA
Beat Katsuta by 8.9 seconds and reduced the gap to 5.7 seconds on a drying surface. “I did a good stage. I tried to be clean. I made a few mistakes but I need to understand how to drive the car. I struggle a little bit how to drive (the power).”
Car 21. SUNINEN/MARKKULA
Overnight leader of WRC2 by 30.5 seconds “That’s quite a good way. I was a bit careful because I saw how slippery it was.”