The Rally of Portugal, the fourth round of the WRC 2022, opened this morning with the Shakedown on the 4.55 kilometer course called “Paredes”. To get the best time of the test stage, therefore not valid for the purposes of the general classification of the event, was Elfyn Evans.
The Toyota driver covered the 4.55 kilometers of the test in 2’56 “1, which is the most competitive time of the morning at the wheel of his hybrid GR Yaris Rally 1. Evans set the best time in the third of three laps performed as most of its rivals.
Behind the Welshman here is the first Ford Puma EcoBoost Rally1 hybrid, that of Craig Breen and Paul Nagle. The Northern Irishman from the M-Sport team was 2 tenths slower than Evans, but 3 tenths faster than his former team-mate Ott Tanak.
The Estonian was the fastest driver of the three lined up this weekend by Hyundai Motorsport, but by just one tenth against Thierry Neuville, also sailed by Martijn Wydaeghe. The time obtained in the first lap by the Belgian crew is interesting, because it is very competitive like that of Kalle Rovanpera – eighth at the end of the Shakedown – who from tonight will be forced to open all the tests of the first stage being the leader of the Drivers’ World Championship.
Excellent fifth time for Pierre-Louis Loubet, second driver of the M-Sport team. The Frenchman was one of the few to obtain his reference time in the second of the three passes (3 tenths of a second from Neuville). The returning Dani Sordo signed the sixth time ahead of Sébastien Ogier, who was also sailed in this event by Benjamin Veillas.
Said of the eighth time in Rovanpera, to complete the Top 10 we find the Ford Puma Rally1 of Gus Greensmith and Sébastien Loeb, while out, in 11th and 12th position there are Takamoto Katsuta with the last GR Yaris Rally 1 and Adrien Fourmaux with the fifth Ford Puma Rally1.
#WRC #Portugal #Shakedown #Evans #front #Breen