The series of twists that is changing the face of the general classification of the Rally of Portugal, the fourth round of WRC 2022, continues without interruption.
This time the unfortunate protagonist who has probably seen the chance of winning the event vanish entirely is Thierry Neuville. During the transfer from PS7 to PS8, the Belgian – according to what he himself told at the end of the test – lost a wheel. At that point he was forced to stop to try to remedy the fault, but found a problem with the steering.
Neuville nevertheless took part in Special Stage 8, the Mortagua of 18.15 kilometers, but lost 1’28 “4 to the winner of the special, Kalle Rovanpera. Due to this failure the Hyundai Motorsport driver collapsed from second to seventh place, in a race in which he was really pulling the rabbit out of the hat for the performance offered despite a very disadvantageous starting position.
For what happened in the PS8 he would like to thank Toyota, who now has Elfyn Evans leading the event with a 10 “7 advantage over teammate and World Championship leader Kalle Rovanpera. Fourth position for Takamoto Katsuta, kept off the podium only by Dani Deaf that precedes it by 6 “3.
Loses positions and Pierre-Louis Loubet slips to sixth place. The Frenchman, author of an excellent day up to now, would have had the opportunity to climb to third place but he went off the road twice. In both cases he ended up in fesh-fesh, collecting so much sand that it even entered the cockpit of his Ford Puma Rally1.
As for the WRC2, Andreas Mikkelsen and Torstein Eriksen are firmly in command of the TokSport team’s Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo. The Norwegian crew is 38 “3 ahead of the first pursuers, namely Teemu Suninen and Mikko Markkula at the wheel of the first Hyundai i20 N Rally2. Third place for Yohan Rossel in a Citroen C3 Rally2.
Rally of Portugal – Ranking after PS8
Pos. | Pilot / navigator | Car | Time / posting |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Evans / Martin | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 | 1h23’05 “6 |
2 | Rovanpera / Halttunen | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 | +10 “7 |
3 | Sordo / Carrera | Hyundai i20 N Rally1 | +42 “5 |
4 | Katsuta / Johnston | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 | +48 “8 |
5 | Greensmith / Andersson | Ford Puma Rally1 | +56 “9 |
6 | Loubet / Landais | Ford Puma Rally1 | + 1’08 “4 |
7 | Neuville / Wydaeghe | Hyundai i20 N Rally1 | + 1’32 “0 |
8 | Breen / Nagle | Ford Puma Rally1 | + 1’46 “3 |
9 | Fourmaux / Coria | Ford Puma Rally1 | + 2’02 “7 |
10 | Tanak / Jarveoja | Hyundai i20 N Rally1 | + 3’37 “5 |
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