MEDIA INFORMATION
For immediate release
Saturday, May 22nd, 2021
EVANS LEADS AFTER LATE DRAMA FOR TÄNAK
MATOSINHOS (PORTUGAL): Welshman Elfyn Evans was the somewhat surprising leader of the 54th Vodafone Rally of Portugal after a further seven thrilling special stages on Saturday.
Ott Tänak had been the dominant force for much of the day, the Estonian pedalling his Hyundai i20 Coupé to a string of four victories on five gravel stages. But the 2019 World Champion damaged his rear suspension on the second run through Amarante and was forced to throw in the towel several kilometres from the stage finish.
Evans had been applying pressure on his rival all day and followed up a fastest time on the 12th stage with a second success on the special where Tänak was sidelined to open up a cushion of 10.7 seconds over Dani Sordo at the night halt. It could have been even more had the Spaniard not delivered a stunning performance in the Porto super special to claw back 5.7 seconds.
What promised to be such a terrific weekend for the Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team after their performances on Friday quickly evaporated as Saturday progressed. Thierry Neuville withdrew before the afternoon loop to enable team technicians to repair his car for a full assault at Sunday’s Power Stage and then Tänak’s retirement stunned team management.
Hyundai’s consolation was Sordo’s firm grip on second position at the night halt, although seven-time World Champion Sébastien Ogier had somehow managed to climb on to the podium at the end of the leg and was ominously placed to make a late challenge with soft compound tyres at his disposal on the final day. Ogier trailed Sordo by 53.5 seconds. Takamoto Katsuta had pushed the Frenchman hard during the afternoon and was a very close fourth in his Toyota Yaris.
The M-Sport Ford Fiestas of Adrien Fourmaux and Gus Greensmith moved up to fifth and sixth when Kalle Rovanperä was sidelined with technical issues on the road section to SS14, the Blue Oval pair swapping positions on the final stage when Greensmith was delayed with ongoing throttle issues.
Esapekka Lappi was the class of the WRC2 field throughout the day in his Movisport Volkswagen Polo and will take a 40.4-second cushion into the final leg over fellow Finn, Teemu Suninen. Turbo issues for Nikolay Gryazin and a costly spin for Oliver Solberg moved Mads Østberg up to third, the Norwegian even setting the second quickest time overall in SS15.
Citroën driver Yohan Rossel overhauled Poland’s Kajetan Kajetanowicz in WRC3 after the second Amarante stage where the Škoda driver dropped 25 seconds. The duo were separated by just 2.1 seconds after SS14, with Chris Ingram (Škoda) and Nicolas Ciamin (Citroën) holding third and fourth.
Latvia’s Martin Sesks was a clear leader in JWRC heading to the final spectator stage in Porto. Sami Pajari was second after Czech driver Martin Koči lost out on second place in SS12 and Jon Armstrong stopped in SS14.
Saturday – as it happened
Pierre Louis Loubet was the only leading retirement on Friday who failed to restart on Saturday morning.
Seven special stages were on offer on day two, starting with the 20.64km of Vieira da Minho to the north-east of Porto, and the dubious honour of running first on the road and sweeping the stage surfaces was given to Neuville, Fourmaux and Greensmith.
Neuville opted to run four hard compound tyres to conserve his softs for an attack at Sunday’s Wolf Power Stage and he posted a modest target time of 13min 21.1sec. A sticking throttle cost Fourmaux at least 15 seconds but a flying Greensmith posted 12min 53.6sec in his quest for a maiden fastest stage time on a WRC rally.
Ogier pipped the Briton by four-tenths of a second and moved in front of Katsuta to take fourth place.
Sordo lost his way in the pace notes, but still maintained third place, as a flying Tänak set the fastest time by 7.5 seconds to extend his lead over Evans to 13.5. “I had a good feeling in the stage,” said the Estonian. “I am much more happy with the car today. It felt much more natural.”
Lappi increased his advantage over Gryazin to 18.1 seconds in WRC2 after a disappointing time for the Russian (turbo and tyre issues). Suninen also moved ahead of the troubled Gryazin and into second.
The first pass through Cabeceiras de Basto (22.37km) was next on the agenda. Several drivers stated before the event that this was, perhaps, the roughest stage of the entire rally.
Greensmith carded the target time of 13min 56.7sec. That was eclipsed by Rovanperä and Ogier, who half-spun his Yaris near the stage start and slipped back behind a flying Katsuta and into fifth place.
Sordo regretted his tyre choice decision, strengthened his hold on third place regardless, but dropped 1/10th of a second to Evans. There was no stopping Tänak, however, and the Estonian set a blistering pace through the closing kilometres to extend his lead to 18.3 seconds after a fifth stage win of the weekend.
Lappi continued to pull well clear of a struggling Gryazin in WRC2. The Russian’s turbo issues had already pushed him behind Suninen, who was 14.5 seconds adrift of his fellow Finn. Kajetanowicz managed to overtake Rossel and snatch the WRC3 lead.
The longest stage of the rally, Amarante (37.92km), was next on the agenda. Drivers with tyre and technical issues, like Sordo and Gryazin, were entering worrying and unchartered territory on the mixed surface speed test. Neuville should have opened the road but started the stage after Katsuta. Hyundai team tactics, perhaps?
Greensmith survived an early half-spin and throttle issues and went on to stop the clocks in 24min 38.1sec, as he continued to chip away at Rovanperä’s hold on sixth.
Ogier reduced Katsuta’s grasp on fourth to just half a second but Sordo stormed through to beat the Frenchman by 5.4 seconds, as Evans strengthened his grip on second by beating the Spaniard again.
A relentless Tänak carved out a third fastest time of the morning and saw his lead rise to 19.2 seconds. “The first loop has been quite okay,” said the 2019 World Champion. “I tried to be very smooth to keep the tyres alive.”
Lappi increased his lead over Suninen in WRC2 to 14 seconds and Solberg began to reel in a struggling Gryazin in the battle for third place and closed to within 2.1 seconds. “This car will not get a sweet after this race,” said a disgruntled Gryazin.
After a return to service at Exponor, Saturday morning’s three gravel stages were repeated during the afternoon.
Hyundai management opted to withdraw Neuville from the afternoon’s action to give team technicians more time to ensure that the i20 Coupé was fully functional before Sunday’s Wolf Power Stage and its subsequent trip to the next event in Sardinia.
Therefore, the M-Sport Fords of Fourmaux and Greensmith were again given road-sweeping duties in Vieira do Minho. Greensmith shaved seven seconds off his morning’s pass to set the target of 12min 46.6sec in his quest for a stage win on soft compound tyres. But Rovanperä moved 4.2 seconds further away from the Briton and Ogier then beat the Finn by 0.8 seconds and moved in front of Katsuta again and into fourth overall.
Sordo was unable to make in-roads into Evans’s hold on second and the Spaniard ceded another 4.3 seconds to the Toyota driver. The Welshman actually beat Tänak as well to claim his first quickest time of the weekend and reduce the Estonian’s overall lead to 18.6 seconds. “The stages are a bit rough,” said Ott. “This will keep us awake. It was a clean run. That is all what we need at the moment.”
Suninen fractionally got the better of Finnish rival Lappi in WRC2 and reduced the latter’s lead to 13.9 seconds, although Solberg set the fastest time in the category and moved ahead of Gryazin and into third place after the Russian incurred time penalties repairing his turbo issue and ceded additional time in the stage.
The re-run of Cabeceiras de Basto was the 13th stage of the rally. Would it be unlucky 13 for one of the front-runners?
Fourmaux completed in 13min 58.8sec but an intermittent throttle issue came back to haunt Greensmith midway through and the Briton dropped 26.6 seconds to his team-mate and 47.1 to Rovanperä.
Katsuta was not prepared to let Ogier get too far away and the Japanese reduced the World Champion’s hold on fourth place to just four-tenths of a second with a storming run. Evans pipped Sordo by 0.9 seconds in the frantic battle for second place, as a seventh fastest stage time of the weekend enabled leader Tänak to pull a further 3.8 seconds clear of Evans. The feat also marked his 250th career WRC stage win.
The Finnish tussle for WRC2 supremacy again swung in Lappi’s favour and the Volkswagen Polo GTi driver gained 2.3 seconds on Suninen to lead by 16.2.
The repeat run through Amarante would be a severe examination of tyre wear, but the niggling throttle issue returned to haunt Greensmith early in the rally’s longest speed test.
As the Briton struggled to coax the Ford Fiesta through the twists and turns of the demanding special, Rovanperä missed his initial stage start time and was stranded on the road section. A technical issue with the Yaris had come to light and the dejected Finn was instructed by his team to return to the service park and retire for the day.
Evans eventually claimed the quickest time, as Greensmith dropped 68 seconds to team-mate Fourmaux but remained 7.7 seconds in front in his quest to maintain sixth. “We know what the problem is,” said the Briton. “There is nothing we can do about it. When it comes on, stop, when it goes off, go again…”
Katsuta swiped a tree with the rear of his Toyota in a bid to overhaul Ogier and ended up dropping another 2.1 seconds to the World Champion. But drama was unfolding on the stage behind: Tänak damaged his rear-right suspension and eventually ground to a halt after 31.4km of the stage, his shock woes handing Evans an outright lead of 16.4 seconds over Sordo.
Suninen lost time with a puncture and that delay gave Lappi a useful WRC2 advantage of 35.6 seconds to take to the final stage. Solberg spun, became wedged on a banking, dropped around 55 seconds and gifted third place to Østberg.
The 3.30km street stage was a new innovation and took place in an exclusive area of Porto called Foz do Douro, near the Atlantic coast where the mighty Douro River enters the ocean. Three laps of the short stage were on the agenda.
Sordo was reported to have a starter motor issue as Fourmaux embarked upon the short and varied special on the cobbles and posted the target time of 3min 09.4sec. Greensmith drove part of the stage in ‘road mode’ after his throttle woes and haemorrhaged enough time to lose fifth place to his French team-mate.
Ogier had a stall and a spin but managed to stay ahead of Katsuta, while a flying Sordo completed the stage without stalling the Hyundai and kept hold of second place with an impressive run of 3min 04.1sec. The Spaniard’s run was actually so impressive he reduced a stunned Evans’s lead to 10.7 seconds.
Lappi confirmed a 40.4 second overnight lead over Suninen in WRC2 with the fourth fastest time.
Sunday
Five short special stages will determine the outcome of the 54th Rally of Portugal. An earlier start sees the 9.18km of Felgueiras take centre stage from 07.08hrs and a pass through Montim follows from 07.53hrs.
Teams tackle the Fafe (11.18km) special with its legendary jump for the first time from 08.38hrs and then a second pass through Felgueiras from 10.04hrs. All eyes then focus on the Wolf Power Stage and the second high-speed run through Fafe from 12.18hrs.
2021 Vodafone Rally of Portugal – positions after SS15:
1. Elfyn Evans (GBR)/Scott Martin (GBR) Toyota Yaris WRC 3hr 07min 09.1sec
2. Dani Sordo (ESP)/Borja Rozada (ESP) Hyundai i20 Coupé WRC 3hr 07min 19.8sec
3. Sébastien Ogier (FRA)/Julien Ingrassia (FRA) Toyota Yaris WRC 3hr 08min 13.3sec
4. Takamoto Katsuta (JPN)/Daniel Barritt (GBR) Toyota Yaris WRC 3hr 08min 14.8sec
5. Adrien Fourmaux (FRA)/Renaud Jamoul (FRA) Ford Fiesta WRC 3hr 11min 30.9sec
6. Gus Greensmith (GBR)/Chris Patterson (GBR) Ford Fiesta WRC 3hr 11min 37.3sec
7. Esapekka Lappi (FIN)/Janne Ferm (FIN) Volkswagen Polo GTi (WRC2) 3hr 15min 30.3sec
8. Teemu Suninen (FIN)/Mikko Markkula (FIN) Ford Fiesta MkII (WRC2) 3hr 16min 10.7sec
9. Mads Østberg (NOR)/Torstein Eriksen (NOR) Citroën C3 (WRC2) 3hr 17min 55.7sec
10. Nikolay Gryazin (RAF)/Konstantin Alexsandrov (RAF) Volkswagen Polo GTi (WRC2) 3hr 18min 10.2sec
11. Oliver Solberg (SWE)/Aaron Johnston (IRL) Hyundai NG i20 (WRC2) 3hr 18min 13.3sec
Ends
For further media information:
Miguel Fonseca, National Rally Press Officer, email: press.motorsport@acp.pt and Lluisa Torras, International Media Relations, email: lluisa.torras@acp.pt, Mobile: +34 629 924073.
www.wrc.com
www.rallydeportugal.pt