Sebastien Ogier and Vincent Landais had their eighth Rally de Portugal victory all but wrapped up heading into the penultimate stage with a 17.3 second lead over Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe with Toyota’s Sami Pajari and Marko Salminen on their way to a fifth consecutive podium.
The rally gods had other ideas as both Toyotas suffered a puncture in the penultimate test dropping to sixth and seventh respectively. Neuville sailed through the stage an emerged with a lead of 14.8 seconds with one stage remaining.
Neuville rocketed through the Wolf Power Stage to claim the second fastest time as well as his 23rd career win and the first for Hyundai since Saudi Arabia last year.
“It’s a very special one, especially after what happened in Croatia and the struggles we had. Not just for Martijn and me, but also for the whole team. Always on a good rhythm, nothing was really perfect, but we just got through. I’m sure we’re going to have a good night. Also, I want to say happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there, but especially to my wife and my mother.”
Oliver Solberg and Elliot Edmondson took second overall with Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin coming home in third which boosted their Championship lead to 12 points over Toyota teammates Takamoto Katsuta and Aaron Johnston, who ended in fifth place overall.
Solberg was relieved to recover from his two consecutive DNFs: “I think we all had our punctures, big ping pong results all weekend. Back on the podium with some good points, so relieved. Thanks to the team for believing in me here and fixing the car. I was a bit careful in here just to bring it home.”
Adrien Fourmaux and Alex Coria were the meat in a Toyota sandwich in fourth place setting an unbeatable time and won the power stage bonus points. “I have seen the rain on the start line, so I knew I needed to take my chance and try to get some points. I gave it everything, made one mistake on the last section and lost some time. It’s been a tough rally with the lead and losing it on Friday. It was a very exhausting rally.”
Neuville, Evans, Solberg and Ogier scooped up the rest of the power stage points.
Solberg took the Super Sunday honours from Evans, Fourmaux, Katsuta and Neuville.
Teemu Suninen triumphed in WRC2 from Roope Korhonen and Andreas Mikkelsen.
In the Manufacturers’ standings, Toyota Gazoo Racing still leads the way with a slightly reduced margin of 93 points.
Read Motorsport Monday tomorrow for the full Rally de Portugal report.
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