One swallow does not make a summer, just as the best time in the Shakedown says little or nothing about the chances of a crew and a manufacturer being able to take home the victory in a rally with world championship validity. Yet Hyundai Motorsport completed the test stage of the Rally Portugal with three cars ahead of everyone.
Dani Sordo signed the best time on the 4.61 kilometers of the Shakedown called Baltar, obtaining it in the second of the three passes made in 2’51″2.
For Sordo this is the best way to start the weekend which sees him busy as Hyundai’s third driver. Meanwhile, behind him are his teammates, with Ott Tanak who was slower by half a second and Thierry Neuville by 9 tenths.
All three Hyundai drivers, as well as most of their colleagues behind the wheel of a Rally1, achieved the best time on the second pass. In the first, however, it is worth mentioning an unfortunate and involuntary maneuver by Thierry Neuville in which a dog was the worst.
The Belgian, who entered the test first, found a dog in his path while he was on the floor in a fast area of the test. Unfortunately the impact was inevitable although the Belgian had moved all the way to the right of the road to try to avoid the animal, but this got the worst of it.
Fourth position for Sébastien Ogier, first driver of Toyota Gazoo Racing, just one tenth behind Neuville. Closing the Top 5 is the first Ford Puma Rally1, that of Adrien Fourmaux, who is also one tenth behind Ogier. The Frenchman from M-Sport Ford was the only driver in the top 10 to achieve the best time on the fourth lap made.
Just outside the Top 5 are all the other official Toyota GR Yaris Rally1s. The first of these belongs to Takamoto Katsuta, who this weekend will not be eligible to take points dedicated to the Constructors’ World Championship. Behind him are his teammates Kalle Rovanpera and Elfyn Evans, both setting the same time (1″5 from the reference time).
Rovanpera set his best time on the first lap and, considering all the times of the first lap, he was the fastest. In the following two laps he was overtaken by 6 riders and was no longer able to improve. Closing the Rally1 ranking is the Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid of Gregoire Munster, who set a time much closer to the Rally2 than to the hybrid cars.
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