MEDIA INFORMATION
For immediate release
Friday May 20th, 2022
EVANS STAYS CLEAR OF TROUBLE TO LEAD IN PORTUGAL
MATOSINHOS (PORTUGAL): Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT’s Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin avoided punctures and technical issues to edge into a lead of 13.6 seconds after a further eight demanding special stages of the 55th Vodafone Rally of Portugal on Friday.
With tyre wear causing chaos on the second loop of gravel stages during the afternoon, and both multiple World Champions Sëbastien Ogier and Sëbastien Loeb retiring, Evans took advantage and four stage wins enabled the Welshman to seize the initiative.
“Pretty happy to be here, quite extreme conditions,” said Evans. “Everyone trying to pick their way through. It was a bit of a lottery to be honest. You can always say you could have gone faster, but it’s difficult to know.”
His championship-leading team-mate Kalle Rovanperä had carried out road sweeping duties all day, from his position as first on the road, but the championship leader drove cleanly and preserved his tyres to give Toyota a 1-2 at the night halt.
Dani Sordo was making his first appearance of the season for the Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT and the Spaniard gradually began to climb up the leader board and avoided the on-stage carnage to snatch third place in his i20 N Rally1. Takamoto Katsuta also drove cleanly and an afternoon spin was the only blot on the Japanese’s copybook; he held fourth place in a third Toyota GR Yaris.
Gus Greensmith was the best-placed of the five Ford Puma Rally1 drivers in fifth, despite his own tyre and dust issues, while team-mate Pierre-Louis Loubet rounded off the top six after a spin into a banking in the eighth stage cost him a potential top four finish.
Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville held second overall for much of the day but the Belgian lost drive to a wheel on the road section and, despite managing his tyre wear perfectly, the drive shaft issue pushed him down to seventh at the night halt.
“We could have been in the fight for the rally,” said Neuville. “But we had this issue. We’re missing the points at the end of the year and mainly due to small technical issues. I cannot do more than this to be honest. It is frustrating.”
Craig Breen was also hovering around the podium until dust issues cost him time and a spin in the dust in Mortágua pushed the Irishman down to eighth in the third of the Pumas. Adrien Fourmaux suffered tyre issues and erred on the side of caution to hold ninth, while Ott Tänak dropped back when he was forced to stop and change a tyre during the afternoon and also suffered a transmission scare.
Ogier opted to take one spare tyre for the afternoon loop and it was a costly choice by the eight-time World Champion. He sustained two punctures in subsequent stages and was forced to pull over in Arganil 2 and retire for the day,
Loeb led after stage four, but an uncharacteristic mistake by the Frenchman on the next stage saw his day end prematurely with wheel damage after an impact with a stone wall.
Mikkelsen snatches WRC2 advantage
A shredded rear tyre ruined Teemu Suninen’s day-long advantage in the WRC2 category and the Finn’s hard-earned lead disappeared on stage seven. Norway’s 11th-placed Andreas Mikkelsen duly inherited the lead and the Škoda Fabia driver completed the Lousada super special with an advantage of 37 seconds, despite a misfiring down-on-power engine. Yohan Rossel was classified in third.
Jean-Michel Raoux (Volkswagen) topped the standings in the new WRC2 Masters section, the Frenchman leading fellow countrymen Fréderic Rosati (Hyundai) and Laurent Battut (Hyundai) heading to Lousada.
Finland’s Sami Pajari and Lauri Joona were classified as the first two Juniors running in the WRC3 category heading to the Lousada super special stage. Jon Armstrong had been leading the Junior category by over a minute heading to Arganil 2, but the Briton hit trouble and slipped out of contention.
Friday – as it happened
Friday’s early action began in Lousā (12.03km), south of Porto, and Rovanperä was given stage opening duties. Light fog patches and hanging dust under the trees hampered visibility for some drivers and Evans set the fastest time by 6.1 seconds from Greensmith, as the British duo moved into first and second overall. Suninen moved ahead of his rivals in WRC2.
The 19.33km of the Góis stage was next on the agenda and hanging dust was again prevalent as temperatures began to climb. Dust was also infiltrating the cockpits of the Ford Pumas and Breen, Loeb and Greensmith complained of visibility issues, while Loubet overshot a junction and dropped 13.4 seconds to the stage winner.
Evans claimed the quickest time of 13min 12.7sec, the Welshman pipping Tänak to the stage win by a mere one-tenth of a second to extend his lead to five. Ogier held third overall and Suninen topped the times in WRC2. A mere 1.7 seconds separated the top seven Rally1 cars on the stage.
An 18.72km version of the legendary Arganil completed the loop. Breen continued to suffer dust issues inside the cockpit of the Ford, as Loeb set the early benchmark time of 11min 48.0sec.
The veteran Frenchman admitted that he’d pushed hard and that effort actually gave him the stage win and saw him displace Evans at the top of the leader board heading into the tyre fitting zone in Arganil. The pair were separated by a mere 0.5 seconds after the loop, with Neuville, Tänak and Rovanperä rounding off the top five.
With fresh tyres fitted and temperatures rising further, teams tackled a re-run of Lousā, but the stage surface was much rougher than expected after the rest of the field had completed their first runs during the morning.
Neuville set the benchmark of 8min 59.4sec, but drama was unfolding 20 metres from the start line when Loeb clouted the rear of the Ford Puma on a wall and tore the wheel and suspension off the car, the impact spelling instant retirement from the day’s action for the Frenchman.
Ogier managed to beat Neuville by 0.7 seconds and moved up to third overall, with Evans regaining an outright lead of 2.1 seconds with the fourth quickest time. Fourmaux completed the stage with the front-left tyre off the rim.
Tänak and Ogier stopped to change flat tyres near the start of the second pass through Góis, where Breen also punctured on the boulder-strewn surface and continued to drive on the rim. Katsuta spun on a right-hander shortly after the start. Evans avoided the carnage around him to set the fastest time and extend his lead to 5.8 seconds, while Loubet stayed out of trouble to card the second quickest run.
The second pass through Arganil was all about the conservation of worn tyres for several drivers, although Breen lost his hybrid battery power for the entire special.
Tänak and Greensmith completed the stage with rear punctures, but another flat for Ogier forced the Frenchman to pull over and retire without a second spare available in the Toyota.
Despite being first on the road, Rovanperä set the fastest time on a stage where Evans was second and increased his overall advantage to seven seconds. Tyre issues cost Suninen his WRC2 lead and series leader Mikkelsen hit the front for the first time.
Mortágua (18.15km) was the last traditional gravel stage of the day before action concluded with a spectacular side-by-side run through a 3.36km super special stage at the Lousada rallycross track.
Rovanperä completed his road sweeping duties with the fastest time, but Neuville had lost drive to a wheel on the road section before the stage and then continued with an ongoing drive shaft issue. The delay cost the Belgian over 1min 28sec to his Finnish title rival – his verbal frustration was understandable at the stage finish.
Breen spun on a left-hander near the end and lost additional time in his own dust and Loubet clouted a banking and then lost further time by clipping the banking on the opposite side of the stage. He slipped from fourth to sixth as Evans headed to Lousada with a lead of 10.7 seconds.
Cars tackled the super special in pairs in front of a massive crowd. Neuville continued with his drive shaft issues, as Greensmith collected a puncture and Katsuta set the early target time of 2min 38.5sec. Evans was fastest again and headed into the night halt with a 13.6-second lead.
Saturday
The longest day of the rally features 164.98 competitive kilometres and begins with two stages in the Cabreira mountains, before crews tackle the gruelling Amarante special (37.24km).
The three are repeated after a return to service at Exponor and the day’s action concludes with a blast across a street stage near the mouth of the Douro river.
2022 Vodafone Rally of Portugal – Positions after SS9:
1. Elfyn Evans (GBR)/Scott Martin (GBR) Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 1hr 25min 43.3sec
2. Kalle Rovanperä (FIN)/Jonne Halttunen (FIN) Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 1hr 25min 56.9sec
3. Dani Sordo (ESP)/Candido Carrera (ESP) Hyundai i20 N Rally1 1hr 26min 27.7sec
4. Takamoto Katsuta (JPN)/Aaron Johnston (IRL) Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 1hr 26min 32.9sec
5. Gus Greensmith (GBR)/Jonas Andersson (SWE) Ford Puma Rally1 1hr 26min 44.0sec
6. Pierre Louis Loubet (FRA)/Vincent Landais (FRA) Ford Puma Rally1 1hr 26min 58.9sec
7. Thierry Neuville (BEL)/Martijn Wydaeghe (BEL) Hyundai i20 N Rally1 1hr 27min 29.7sec
8. Craig Breen (IRL)/Paul Nagle (IRL) Ford Puma Rally1 1hr 27min 32.6sec
9. Adrien Fourmaux (FRA)/Alexandre Coria (FRA) Ford Puma Rally1 1hr 27min 46.9sec
10. Ott Tänak (EST)/Martin Järveoja (EST) Hyundai i20 N Rally1 1hr 29min 21.7sec
11. Andreas Mikkelsen (NOR)/Torstein Eriksen (NOR) Škoda Fabia evo (WRC2) 1hr 30min 12.5sec
12. Teemu Suninen (FIN)/Mikko Markkula (FIN) Hyundai i20 N (WRC2) 1hr 30min 49.5sec
Ends
¬
¬