Saturday’s action kicked off with the first run through Felgueiras in warm and hazy conditions, although there was a slight chance of thunderstorms for the repeat pass during the afternoon.
Road-cleaning duties were given to Grégoire Munster and Elfyn Evans on a stage where Thierry Neuville benefitted from a slightly better road position and moved into fifth at the expense of Dani Sordo. Ott Tänak also displaced Takamoto Katsuta and moved into third overall but Kalle Rovanperä carded the quickest time and increased his lead over Sébastien Ogier to 6.7 seconds.
Oliver Solberg increased his advantage over Yohan Rossel to 10.2 seconds in WRC2.
Three-minute intervals this morning for Rally1 cars.
Car 11. NEUVILLE/WYDAEGHE
“We have a bit better road position but it is not good enough.”
Car 33. EVANS/MARTIN
“Some places, quite a lot of sands around. It was okay.”
Car 16. FOURMAUX/CORIA
“We are going to try and stay as close to the others as we can in case something happens. We have some nice stages today. It is going to interesting.”
Car 8. TÄNAK/JÄRVEOJA
“Trying hard, for sure. Let’s see how it works out. We try all we can.”
Car 69. ROVANPERÄ/HALTTUNEN
“I just drive faster than the others. Let’s see. It’s only one stage. When the car and the set-up is better
for me, it is much easier.”
Car 18. KATSUTA/JOHNSTON
“Going to be a big day, for sure. I expected quite slippery but it was actually quite good grip. I just need to focus on each stage and push as much as I can.”
Car 17. OGIER/LANDAIS
“It’s very narrow. Starting the day here is not easy. I was a little bit too careful and need to ramp it up. When you are in this kind of fight, there is no time for sleeping..”
Car 13. MUNSTER/LOUKA
“I expected it to be more damp. It wasn’t that much. It’s a tricky one. It’s not my favourite one. You have to be careful downhill, you can put one tyre in the rut and it’s sliding away.”
Car 6. SORDO/CARRERA
“It was a difficult stage for me.”
Car 20. SOLBERG/EDMONDSON
“It was a clean run. I pushed a little bit more towards the end. It is quite slippery and quite loose and there is no clean line to follow. At least the car is working today. We have some power.”
Car 21. ROSSEL/DANAND
“I think it’s okay. I try to push. The grip is not the same to yesterday. I am here and the plan is to continue like that.”
Car 22. GREENSMITH/ANDERSSON
“Not bad stage, for sure. Not much room to make a mistake. Being clean is quick through there.”