The first pass through Lousã was delayed by 14 minutes but Thierry Neuville safely negotiated the tricky and slippery test in a time of 9min 07.4sec. Elfyn Evans shaved 2.6 seconds off the Belgian’s lead but an inspired Dani Sordo benefited from a cleaning surface to claim the stage win in a time of 8min 59.4sec. Takamoto Katsuta finished fourth and snatched the overall rally lead by 1.5 seconds from Ott Tänak.
Oliver Solberg beat Yohan Rossel by 1.4 seconds to extend his unofficial WRC2 category lead to 7.1 seconds.
Car 11. NEUVILLE/WYDAEGHE
“It’s a lot of cleaning, especially on the uphill. I was struggling in there with the surface but the car was
working well. It’s a different profile of the stage. For the conditions we had, it was a really good stage.”
Car 33. EVANS/MARTIN
“It’s more in here (cleaning), so let’s see.”
Car 16. FOURMAUX/CORIA
“I had a really good timing. Sometimes you think you are fast and you are slow. A lot of sweeping in there.
I had a good stage, so I am happy.”
Car 8. TÄNAK/JÄRVEOJA
“This one is definitely cleaning, so it’s a tough one.”
Car 69. ROVANPERÄ/HALTTUNEN
“It was a bit better. Let’s hope the rest of the loop is a bit better and let’s see what we can do.”
Car 18. KATSUTA/JOHNSTON
“At the very start of the stage I made a big mistake and lost a lot of time there. It’s all okay.”
Car 17. OGIER/LANDAIS
“The profile is different. We are not good enough yet. The first one is fast in the forest and this one is a
bit more technical.”
Car 13. MUNSTER/LOUKA
“I think we have the better pace. They know it so well and the gap in front will always be like this. I need
to be patient. One mistake and all the knowledge will be gone.”
Car 6. SORDO/CARRERA
“First stage was really bad for me. I never liked this stage. I had two options, come back or stay at home.
I came back...”