Ott Tanak called, but Sébastien Ogier responded more than present. The 8-time world champion, after having managed the tires well in the first two stages of today’s afternoon lap at the Rally Portugal, put in a great performance in Special Stage 16, the 37.24 kilometer Amarante, clearly fending off the attacks from the only rival for the success of the Iberian event.
A great performance, that of Ogier, so much so that he signed the new test record in 24’09″6, i.e. two seconds faster than the previous record held by Ott Tanak since 2021.
Ogier made the difference especially in the second part of the test. Well done for choosing to mount the Hard tires at the front and the Soft tires at the rear (Tanak did the opposite, arriving with rather worn front tires) and attacking right where he knew he could make the difference.
The strategy adopted this afternoon paid off, but at the end of the lap there are still 2 stages to go. So Tanak will certainly try to put more pressure on the Gap champion because we know, in rallies like the Portuguese one, nothing is ever finished until the arrival of the Power Stage.
Behind the two contenders for the victory, an excellent performance by Adrien Fourmaux, who certainly pushed harder than Thierry Neuville and Dani Sordo who precede him in the general classification. The end result is that the M-Sport driver managed to reduce the gap to the two i20 N Rally1s, but not enough to launch an attack. Sordo, fourth, still precedes him by 20 seconds straight.
Neuville and Sordo themselves admitted to having used the wrong tires due to incorrect weather information which predicted rain. Not only did this never arrive, but the sky also leaves little room for doubt: it is clear and the clouds on the horizon promise anything but precipitation.
Among the Rally2s, Nikolay Gryazin managed to repel Josh McErlean’s attacks and maintain first position with a 4″2 advantage over the Irishman, who leads the WRC2 classification. Jan Solans, however, showed off a great performance, taking himself to 1 “3 from McErlean and 5″5 from Gryazin, the Spaniard, at the wheel of the first Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, could mix things up at the end of the day and become the favorite for tomorrow.
WRC 2024 – Rally Portugal – Ranking after SS16
| Pos. | Pilot/navigator | Car | Time/detachment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ogier/Landais | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 | 2h47’47”1 |
| 2 | Tanak/Jarveoja | Hyundai i20 N Rally1 | +11″9 |
| 3 | Neuville/Wydaeghe | Hyundai i20 N Rally1 | +1’12″3 |
| 4 | Sordo/Carrera | Hyundai i20 N Rally1 | +1’13″8 |
| 5 | Fourmaux/Coria | Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid | +1’33″8 |
| 6 | Evans/Martin | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 | +3’12″2 |
| 7 | Gryazin/Aleksandrov | Citroen C3 Rally2 | +8’55″2 |
| 8 | McErlean/Fulton | Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 | +8’59″4 |
| 9 | Solans/Sanjuan | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 | +9’00″7 |
| 10 | Rossel/Dunand | Citroen C3 Rally2 | +9’21″0 |
#WRC #Rally #Portugal #SS16 #punctual #response #Ogier
