The Finnish duo of Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen edged into a narrow lead of just one second after a pulsating opening day at the 57th Vodafone Rally of Portugal.
The Toyota Yaris crew won just one of the eight challenging gravel stages in hot and sunny conditions where car preservation and tyre management were crucial factors during an enthralling day’s action in the hills and rural tracks around the Centro Region of Portugal. Rovanperä led for four stages, despite that tiny advantage never exceeding one second after a remarkable day’s rallying.
The leading Finn said: “It has been a great battle the whole day. I don’t think we are where we should be but my tyres are in bad condition on the rear axle. We were just surviving. Tomorrow is a different day. It is only fun if you are leading.”
A mere 5.4 seconds separate the leading four crews with eight-time World Champion Sébastien Ogier and his co-driver Vincent Landais reaching the night halt in Matosinhos in second place. Takamoto Katsuta and Aaron Johnston led for three stages and came home in third to complete a Toyota 1-2-3 at the end of the leg.
Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja delivered a series of consistent stage performances to hold fourth place in the first of the three Hyundai I20 N Rally1s. They trail Katsuta by just seven-tenths of a second.
Team-mates Dani Sordo and Candido Carrera are making their first WRC appearance of the season and the Spaniards claimed three stage wins on their way to fifth place.
WRC series leader Thierry Neuville and co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe were forced to open the road and carry out cleaning duties on the gravel stages during the morning. The Belgian delivered a strong performance under the circumstances and settled into sixth, albeit 18.1 seconds off the overall lead.
Adrien Fourmaux, partnered by Alexandre Coria, came into the weekend’s action in Portugal holding third in the Drivers’ Championship and he gambled on only taking one spare tyre for the morning’s loop of four stages. The Frenchman drove well to finish the day in seventh.
Elfyn Evans’s day went from bad to worse on the seventh stage. Clearly struggling to find a fast rhythm from a far from ideal starting position, co-driver Scott Martin realised that he had left his pace note book at end of the previous stage and he was forced to read the notes from a digital back-up on a mobile ‘phone. A flat front-right tyre then deepened Evans’s frustration, he dropped 47 seconds to his title rival Neuville and was forced to complete the loop using the digital pace notes. He held a frustrating eighth overall.
Evans said: “You couldn’t write the day really. Nothing is going our way. That’s the way it goes sometimes. He (Scott) managed very well. But, next time, it would be better if he remembered the book!”
Grégoire Munster was using the event to gain experience after a premature bath in Portugal last year and the second of the M-Sport Ford Puma drivers picked up his pace on the second loop to hold ninth overall.
WRC2 developed into a two-way tussle between Oliver Solberg and Yohan Rossel and a handful of seconds separated the duo during the day. Despite a slight misfire at low revs, Solberg finished the day 7.3 seconds ahead of the Frenchman.
Once Pierre-Louis Loubet retired at the start of the seventh stage, Briton’s Gus Greensmith settled into an untroubled third place and last year’s winner actually moved into second on the penultimate stage before a late spin dropped him back to third, 13.3 seconds behind Solberg.
Friday – as it happened
A demanding first day began with the first of two passes through the 18.15km of the Mortágua stage that bookended the day’s proceedings. The itinerary also included two passes through Lousã (12.28km), Góis (14.30km) and Arganil (18.72km) before a return to the Exponor service park in the evening.
Championship leader Neuville began his opening day’s road-sweeping duties strongly with a time of 11min 31.6sec. That was sufficient to beat title rival Evans by 2.7 seconds, Fourmaux by 4.5 and Tänak by 0.9 seconds. A surprised Katsuta ran 1.2 seconds quicker than the Belgian, who extended his overall lead to 0.8 seconds.
Solberg was the class of the early WRC2 runners on a stage where Georg Linnamaë stopped for two and a half minutes and Pepe López rolled near the finish and the Ford landed on its roof in the stage. Greensmith lost time as a result of the incident and that was later reinstated.
The first pass through Lousã was delayed by 14 minutes but Neuville safely negotiated the tricky and slippery test in a time of 9min 07.4sec. Evans shaved 2.6 seconds off the Belgian’s lead but Sordo benefited from a cleaning surface to claim the stage win in a time of 8min 59.4sec. Katsuta finished fourth and snatched the overall rally lead by 1.5 seconds from Tänak.
Sordo said: “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…!”
Solberg extended his lead over Rossel to 7.1 seconds in the unofficial WRC2 standings.
A shortened version of Góis was the third stage of the morning’s loop and Neuville again suffered with road cleaning and concerns over tyre wear on a more abrasive surface. The Belgian dropped time to his rivals running further down the order and Sordo eventually claimed the quickest time. Katsuta extended his lead over Tänak to 1.9 seconds.
After having the time he lost in SS2 reinstated, Greensmith had moved into fourth place in WRC2 and the Briton pushed hard to move ever closer to the tyre-saving Scandinavian and Rossel. Further down the field, Pierre-Louis Loubet was running in the top three after three stages.
Arganil was the final stage of the loop and tyre wear would be decisive. An upbeat Neuville completed his morning’s road opening duties with a solid stage time and that proved to be quicker than all his Rally1 rivals.
Ogier suffered intercom issues, as Katsuta completed the morning’s loop with a lead of 2.9 seconds over Neuville. Rovanperä held third and Tänak and Ogier rounded off the top five after Sordo lost hybrid power and slipped back to sixth. Solberg maintained a slender lead over Rossel, Loubet and Greensmith in WRC2 but Teemu Suninen crashed out of contention on the last stage of the loop.
The afternoon timetable was modified so that crews tackle a re-run of the Lousã stage first. Neuville was nine seconds quicker than he had been on the morning’s pass, although the stage was drier and more abrasive in the afternoon.
Ogier made the suspension slightly stiffer on the Yaris before the afternoon loop and the Frenchman ran quickest. The second fastest time enabled Rovanperä to move one-tenth of a second in front of Katsuta in the overall standings, although 3.9 seconds separated the top five. Solberg complained of an engine misfire and saw his WRC2 advantage reduced to 5.2 seconds by Rossel on a stage where Loubet was quickest.
Góis 2 was next on the agenda and there was drama for Evans and co-driver Scott Martin. The Briton was forced to read the pace notes from his mobile ‘phone, as title rival Neuville laid down the gauntlet with a time of 9min 08.0sec. The stage went from bad to worse for Evans: the Welshman finished on a flat front-right tyre and ceded 47.7 seconds to the Belgian.
Ogier’s afternoon charge continued and he closed to within 1.5 seconds of Katsuta with the fastest time. Rovanperä doubled his lead to 0.2 seconds, while Rossel reduced Solberg’s WRC2 lead to just 1.5 seconds. Loubet’s impressive WRC2 charge came to an end in the stage.
The penultimate test of the day was the legendary Arganil. Scott Martin’s pace notes had been left at the end of the previous stage and the Briton was forced to use the digital back-up copy again. Evans ceded another 8.1 seconds to Neuville on the loose surface, although the Belgian had no hybrid for the entire stage.
A flying Tänak set the second quickest time in a bid to claim a more favourable start position on Saturday and the Estonian climbed from fourth to third at the expense of Ogier, who lost hybrid power for part of the stage. Rovanperä won the stage and extended his lead over Katsuta to one second.
Rossel gambled on soft tyres and dropped just half a second to Solberg, who headed for the final stage of the day with a two-second cushion. Both Will Creighton and Marco Bulacia stopped in the stage.
Neuville was one second slower than his morning’s run but it was enough to beat Evans by 9.2 seconds. But Ogier was on a late afternoon charge with the hybrid reset and working again on the Yaris and the Frenchman moved ahead of Tänak and Katsuta. Rovanperä maintained his one-second lead but this time it was from Ogier. Sordo managed to fend of Neuville to keep hold of fifth place.
Despite an ongoing misfire issue that cost him time in the middle of the stage, Solberg beat Rossel by 5.3 seconds to lead WRC2 overnight by 7.3 seconds.
Saturday
Vital WRC points will be awarded after the day’s action under the new regulations. Competitors will tackle the longest leg of the event that comprises two loops of four stages, split by a midday service at Exponor, and then a final sprint through the Lousada super special.
Gravel action is centred around the Felgueiras, Montim, Amarante and Paredes specials with the mammoth Amarante stage running for 37.24km.
2024 Vodafone Rally of Portugal – positions after SS9 (top 10 only):
1. Kalle Rovanperä (FIN)/Jonne Halttunen (FIN) Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid 1hr 25min 00.4sec
3. Sébastien Ogier (FRA)/Vincent Landais (FRA) Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid 1hr 25min 01.4sec
3. Takamoto Katsuta (JPN)/Aaron Johnston (IRL) Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid 1hr 25min 05.1sec
4. Ott Tänak (EST)/Martin Järveoja (EST) Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid 1hr 25min 05.8sec
5. Dani Sordo (ESP)/Candido Carrera (ESP) Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid 1hr 25min 18.3sec
6. Thierry Neuville (BEL)/Martijn Wydaeghe (BEL) Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid 1hr 25min 18.5sec
7. Adrien Fourmaux (FRA)/Alexandre Coria (FRA) Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid 1hr 25min 32.2sec
8. Elfyn Evans (GBR)/Scott Martin (GBR) Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid 1hr 26min 43.6sec
9. Grégoire Munster (LUX)/Louis Louka (BEL) Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid 1hr 27min 27.7sec
10. Oliver Solberg (SWE)/Elliott Edmondson (GBR) Škoda Fabia RS 1hr 28min 42.5sec
Rally leaders
SS1-2 Thierry Neuville
SS3-5 Takamoto Katsuta
SS6-9 Kalle Rovanperä
Stage winners
SS1 Thierry Neuville
SS2 Thierry Neuville
SS3 Dani Sordo
SS4 Dani Sordo
SS5 Thierry Neuville
SS6 Sébastien Ogier
SS7 Dani Sordo
SS8 Kalle Rovanperä
SS9 Sébastien Ogier