Would the second pass through Amarante be decisive in the gargantuan duel between Sébastien Ogier and Ott Tänak?
Grégoire Munster complained of a misfire again and ceded nearly a minute to sixth-placed Elfyn Evans and 69 seconds to Adrien Fourmaux in fifth. Dani Sordo closed to within 1.5 seconds of team-mate Thierry Neuville, although there was no way the Spaniard would be able to pass the Belgian with vital WRC points at stake at the end of the leg.
Tänak complained that his Hyundai was overrunning when he tried to lift off. That hesitancy and a furious pace by Ogier in the baking heat enabled the Frenchman to claim the stage win and extend his advantage to 11.9 seconds.
The choice of soft tyres was a costly one for Yohan Rossel and the Frenchman ceded time to his WRC2 rivals. He dropped 2.5 seconds to Nikolay Gryazin and 7.1 to Solans.
The Spaniard benefitted from a cross-pattern tyre strategy, beat Josh Mcerlean by eight seconds and reduced the Irishman’s grip on the WRC2 lead to just 1.3 seconds. Gryazin remained in front of the duo but was not registered for points in Portugal.
Car 11. NEUVILLE/WYDAEGHE
“It’s far too hot for those tyres. We were expecting rain but there is no sign of any rain. Thinking of the next stage coming as well, I was trying to keep them.”
Car 33. EVANS/MARTIN
“Pretty sandy for this stage. A lot of trepidation with the rock face coming through. It’s very difficult to tell. It didn’t really feel high grip.”
Car 16. FOURMAUX/CORIA
“I just wanted to push and let him (Dani) know we are here. I had an interesting stage. We definitely needed four hards for that stage.”
Car 8. TÄNAK/JÄRVEOJA
Finished the stage with worn soft tyres on the front. “For some reason the engine was pushing so hard this stage. It was not an easy stage. I lift off but the engine still wanted to go. It seems it was more interested than I am..!”
Car 17. OGIER/LANDAIS
“It’s very hot.” When asked about the time gained…”sounds good, thank you..”
Car 13. MUNSTER/LOUKA
“Actually, the heat builds up. Again, problem like this morning. At least, we had time to see Portugal! When you are going so slow it seems much rougher than when you are going full speed.”
Car 6. SORDO/CARRERA
“I just go well. I did not want to puncture any tyres. It is difficult for the weather guys as well. It’s a job as well.”
Car 21. ROSSEL/DANAND
“I want to make my tyres. It’s too soft for this one. I have six soft and it’s completely crazy.”
Car 25. GRYAZIN/ALEKSANDROV
“We change every time something. For this stage I was expecting a better feeling. But the road changed so much from the first pass and I was trying to survive. The road was too damaged. I made a mistake and could not find a good driving pace.”
Car 28. SOLANS/SANJUAN
“It looks like the strategy is looking good now. We crossed two hard tyres. I thank my engineer. We talked about this together. Thank you guys. We will need to keep pushing.”