WRC2 leader Oliver Solberg was handed a one-minute time penalty overnight for entertaining the crowds with doughnuts in his Toksport Škoda Fabia at the end of the Lousada special stage on Saturday evening. The time penalty was imposed by the Stewards on the grounds that the driver breached Art. 12.21 of the Supplementary Regulations in conjunction with Art. 34.1.3 of the FIA’s 2023 Sporting Regulations.
It meant the Swede slipped behind Gus Greensmith before the leading cars headed to the first stage of the morning.
Road-opening duties again fell to eventual stage winner Takamoto Katsuta and Pierre-Louis Loubet drove cautiously to conserve his tyres for a final Power Stage push for additional points.
Ott Tänak struggled with a hybrid issue, Esapekka Lappi was in tyre-saving mode but Thierry Neuville was in the wars with a serious technical issue. The Belgian had entered the media zone last night with smoke coming from the i20 and the issue appears to have persisted: he dropped 1min 26sec on the opening stage and plummeted to fifth behind Tänak. Kalle Rovanperä was second quickest and held a 58-second lead.
Neuville stopped on the road section after the stage to try and make emergency repairs to the Hyundai.
Car 11. NEUVILLE/WYDAEGHE
“It’s over. Something after yesterday evening. We have to find out.”
Car 69. ROVANPERÄ/HALTTUNEN
“It seems as though we are still too fast. I don’t know how slow we should drive. It feels so slow.”
Car 8. TÄNAK/JÄRVEOJA
“It seems like the hybrid did not like it. It seems this car has not woken up yet.”
Car 6. SORDO/CARRERA
“I’m so sad for Thierry. I hope they can sort it out before the next stage. We need to try and keep what
we have and try to finish the rally.”
Car 4. LAPPI/FERM
“All I can do today is to save the tyres and try to get a few points from the last one.”
Car 18. KATSUTA/JOHNSTON
“Organisers did a good job to repair the roads after Shakedown. This road was used as well. Not so bad
grip and I just enjoy.”
Car 7. LOUBET/LANDAIS
“Just driving slowly to save the tyres. We have nothing more to do after yesterday. We will just try and do
a good Power Stage if possible. Fafe is something a bit special for everybody.”
Car 21. SOLBERG/EDMONDSON
Managed to beat Greensmith by 2.5 seconds and reduced the WRC2 deficit to 22.1 seconds.