Sebastien Ogier took another win on the second running of the longest stage of this year’s Vodafone Rally de Portugal. As a result, he stretches his lead overall to 20s ahead of Mikko Hirvonen.
The story of the second run was that of tyres; drivers on hard tyres were not able to get enough heat into them to make them work too well and, combined with wet and muddy conditions remaining, struggled to get grip. Drivers on soft tyres, on the other hand, found their tyres badly worn by the end of the stage.
Ogier was on soft tyres and admitted to managing his tyres on the earlier, drier part of the stage to allow him to be able to push on the second part, taking the win by 11 seconds.
Mikko Hirvonen was second, admitting he was unable to do anything to get close to Ogier’s pace. Third fastest was Jari-Matti Latvala with Elfyn Evans putting in an excellent fourth-fastest time.
The stage was not without its drama though, with Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville hitting something within the stage and breaking his rear suspension.