WRC | Rally Portugal, SS9: Rovanpera finishes ahead of Ogier

The first stage of the Rally Portugal is over after 9 tough special tests, in which however none of the Rally1 cars, nor the main protagonists of the WRC2, suffered retirements or major damage.

Kalle Rovanpera was the fastest after almost an hour and a half of the race, but Sébastien Ogier was threatening behind him. The two Toyota Gazoo Racing drivers are perfectly exploiting their excellent starting position due to the fact that they are part-time drivers to have a surface with more grip than their rivals.

It is no coincidence that the two are the drivers most credited for the final success. Today Rovanpera and Ogier completed the day with just 1 second between them. Clear symptom of a struggle that will continue at least until tomorrow’s morning lap.

Ogier may complain about a hybrid malfunction during today’s penultimate test. Without that, he probably would have ended the day as leader. But now crying over spilled milk – or over raised dust – makes little sense. The race is long and tomorrow will be a tougher stage than today.

Takamoto Katsuta completes Toyota’s provisional trio after a day of two faces. What saw him as leader throughout the morning lap was splendid. Less brilliant, but still positive, was the afternoon one, which however saw him lose two positions to his teammates.

However, Katsuta finds himself 4″7 behind Rovanpera, therefore in full battle not only for the podium, but also for the victory. The same goes for Ott Tanak, up to now the most competitive driver of Hyundai Motorsport also thanks to a starting position very interesting.

The Estonian, despite a less than perfect feeling with his i20 N Rally1, still managed to end the day in fourth place, 5″4 behind despite having lost third place in today’s last test. Behind him he and his two teammates, Dani Sordo and Thierry Neuville.

The Spaniard threw away the excellent work done in some tests by losing many seconds on SS9, perhaps to try to give Neuville a starting position tomorrow. It’s a shame that the Spaniard ended the test with 2 tenths of an advantage over Neuville. In this way he maintained fifth position and tomorrow he will start after the Belgian.

Speaking of Neuville, the morning lap was amazing in which he first took advantage of the damp surface, then the excellent management of the tires to actually finish second overall. During the afternoon lap the surface changed drastically, so it was impossible to maintain second place and stay in contact with the leaders. However, sixth place, 18 seconds behind Rovanpera, should be seen as a very good result, considering that today he opened all 8 scheduled tests.

Furthermore, Neuville can breathe a sigh of relief over the troubles faced by his main title rival, Elfyn Evans. The Toyota driver started the day with a set-up far from his preferences, then Scott Martin forgot the notebook at the stewards’ desk at the end of SS6 to understand what was happening (a misunderstanding between the stewards and Martin Wydaeghe, navigator of Neuville, on the table to be handed in at the end of the test).

So Evans had to get the notes from PS7 to PS9 with Martin reading them from his cell phone. Furthermore, on SS7, Evans also broke the front right tire, losing over 50 seconds to the best. In short, an ordeal.

The M-Sport race was also difficult, with Adrien Fourmaux alternating excellent stages with tests in which starting third in the special proved to be more difficult than expected. Gregoire Munster, on the other hand, is learning the specials on a Rally1 and has never really been able to achieve competitive times.

As for WRC2, the day was characterized by an amazing fight between teammates, Oliver Solberg and Gus Greensmith. After a seamless exchange of positions, in the last special stage it was Solberg who made the loud statement, finishing at the top of the category standings. Greensmith also lost second place to Yohan Rossel, now second at the wheel of the first Citroen C3 Rally2.

The first stage of the Portugal Rally ends here. The event will resume tomorrow morning with Special Stage 10, the 8.81 kilometer Felgueiras 1. The first car, the Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid of Gregoire Munster and Louis Louka, will enter testing at 09:05 Italian time.

WRC 2024 – Rally Portugal – Ranking after SS9