Ott Tänak and Sébastien Ogier became embroiled in a titanic tussle on the re-run of Cabeceiras de Basto. They both survived what Ogier called ‘a cross-country stage’ but the Estonian claimed the win and extended his lead to 13.9 seconds.
Thierry Neuville was on a charge and a time of 13min 14.0sec enabled the Belgian to close to within 1.9 seconds of fourth-placed Takamoto Katsuta. Neuville set an identical stage time to third-placed Kalle Rovanperä, despite the rough and rutted surface.
Elfyn Evans managed to reduce his team-mate Sami Pajari’ grip on sixth place to 17.2 seconds.
Eighth-placed M-Sport Ford’s Josh McErlean extended his advantage over team-mate Grégoire Munster to 28.5 seconds. The Luxembourg driver had cracked his Puma’s windscreen on the bedrock surface.
Adrien Fourmaux was five seconds quicker than his morning’s pass but the stage-opening Frenchman admitted that there were rocks lying on the narrow, rutted lines on the track and warned there could be problems for his rivals running behind. Martinš Sesks continued to try different options and set improving stage times in his Ford Puma. He beat Fourmaux by 5.8 seconds.
WRC2 leader Oliver Solberg regained three seconds of his advantage over Gus Greensmith to lead by 48.5 seconds. Yohan Rossel retained third but Nikolay Gryazin slipped off the left-hand side of the stage after 10.5km and retired.
Finn Roope Korhonen had won the previous stage and was fourth quickest in this one.
Car 33. EVANS/MARTIN
“Very rough in here and difficult to see what is going on. It was not easy. The road is so cut up and rocks are being pulled out.”
Car 1. NEUVILLE/WYDAEGHE
“We are going to see. It was very rough. I had a nice stage. There is not more we can do at the moment. The fight is very intense.”
Car 8. TÄNAK/JÄRVEOJA
“Tough stage but still in one piece.”
Car 17. OGIER/LANDAIS
“Horrible stage. It is cross-country rallying now. It is so rough. The good news is we finished this one.”
Car 16. FOURMAUX/CORIA
“It’s already demanding. I imagine behind it will not be easy. The lines are so narrow, There was also some rocks in the ruts where you can get a puncture.”
Car 69. ROVANPERÄ/HALTTUNEN
“Really rough conditions. I don’t remember when we have seen this on stages in Portugal. The car is taking a big beating. I try to keep everything in one piece.”
Car 18. KATSUTA/JOHNSTON
“I need a better feeling in the car, so bad,”
Car 5. PAJARI/SALMINEN
“It was quite demanding, but ruts and I didn’t really know what to do for each corner. I was trying to be clever.”
Car 13. MUNSTER/LOUKA
“We drive quite soft so we don’t have much protection. I think bedrock crashing through (caused a broken windscreen).”
Car 22. SESKS/FRANCIS
“So far, it’s not that bad. This one was hot and rough.”
Car 55. MCERLEAN/TREACY
“It’s quite a demanding stage on the car. The last bit I didn’t expect it to be so rough – another one done.
Let’s stay focused.”
Car 2. SALVI/CORONADO
“One of the worst stages of my life. First gear at least for me. The guys who want to go flat here, I wish
them luck.”
Car 39. GRYAZIN/ALEKSANDROV
Slid off the left-hand side of the track 10.5km into the stage.