SS10 – Day three begins, Meeke continues to dominate

After the previous day’s dramas, the third day of the 2016 FIA World Rally Championship Vodafone Rally de Portugal has started at an impressive pace. Initially M-Sport World Rally Team’s Eric Camilli set the fastest pace, completing 4.5s faster than first-on-stage, Sebastien Ogier.

However, his lead was short-lived as Abu Dhabi Total World Rally Team’s Kirs Meeke maintained yesterday’s form, dominating the stage with a winning time of 11:35.4, some 11.2s faster than Sebastien Ogier.

It wasn’t all bad news for Volkswagen Motorsport. Andreas Mikkelsen pushed hard and finished second fastest, 6 seconds behind Meeke, despite the difficult, dusty conditions.

Camilli didn’t lose out completely. His determined pace was rewarded with third position over the stage.

In WRC2 Skoda Motorsport’s Pontus Tidemand set a blistering time of 12:08.4, but it wasn’t enough to keep Elvyn Evans at bay. The M-Sport World Rally Driver brought his Fiesta RS WRC over the finish line 2.4s faster than Tidemand, though the Skoda driver still leads WRC2.

Third fastest in WRC2 was Nicolas Fuchs, who completed the stage in 12:15.8 in his Skoda Fabia R5.