Oliver Solberg will take a 3.4-second lead into Rally Portugal’s first full day with Adrien Fourmaux as his closest challenger.Unlike most rounds of the World Rally Championship,
Portugal offered crews three stages and 23 competitive miles on Thursday, providing some early clues into round six’s competitive picture.
Hyundai driver Fourmaux set the pace on the opening Águeda / Sever test, with the top three (completed by Elfyn Evans and Solberg) split by a meagre two tenths of a second.But Solberg made his mark on the longer Sever / Albergaria stage, stopping the clocks 3.6s faster than Fourmaux (who was fourth quickest) to establish a 3.4s lead.
The Swede then maintained that advantage through the Figueira da Foz superspecial as he and Fourmaux set an identical time on SS3.
“It’s been an OK start, nothing special,” Solberg surmised. “It’s a long way to go with many, many days of rallying and every day is so different. Tomorrow is going to be a tough day for tires and let’s say what the weather is on Saturday and Sunday.
“Fourmaux confessed he was “quite happy with my day,” especially considering he never drove Thursday’s gravel stages last year after retiring.
Hyundai's speed has been a source of encouragement
“I’m really looking forward to tomorrow because it’s brand-new stages and it’s all about pacenotes,” he added, “so let’s go for it.”
Sébastien Ogier was an uncharacteristic seventh fastest on SS1 as he struggled with the balance of his Toyota. Some tweaks on the road section helped him improve to third fastest, and fourth overall, on SS2 before he climbed onto the final podium position after SS3 with a joint stage win with Evans.
“We really struggled on this first stage, managed to change a bit the car and feel better on the second one, but we were fighting a bit this afternoon,” Ogier said. “It’s obviously only the start, but we need to have a better day tomorrow.”
Neuville lies just 0.2s shy of the podium after Thursday, and only 0.1s ahead of fifth-placed Evans, following an encouraging day for Hyundai. He’s 7.4s off the rally lead.”It’s nice when you are at least in some fight, especially at the front as that’s what we are all here for,” he said.
“Unfortunately we had a half-spin at a hairpin on SS1 but generally a good start to the rally.”
Evans set a strong time on the opener to be just a tenth off the lead despite the handicap of running first on the road, but a steeper road cleaning effect on stage two dropped him to fifth by the end of the leg – just 7.5s off Solberg’s lead.
“It’s been moderately OK,” Evans said, “but still a long way to go in this rally.”
It was a less encouraging start for Evans’ team-mate directly behind him on the road, however: Takamoto Katsuta.
The Japanese driver ended Thursday in eighth overall and 15.9s off the lead, hoping to find a “better feeling” for the remainder of the rally.
Sami Pajari and Dani Sordo split the top-two in the championship in sixth and seventh places; Sordo running as high as fourth after SS1 and praising his Hyundai team “because the car is feeling really good”.
But the Spaniard struggled with the harder compound Hankooks on SS2 to fall to seventh overall, ending the leg one second shy of Pajari’s GR Yaris. Pajari meanwhile is 3.2s behind Evans and 10.7s off the lead.
Josh McErlean ended Thursday as the highest-placed M-Sport driver, but only by 1.4s over Jon Armstrong
McErlean was eighth fastest on SS1, ahead of Neuville’s Hyundai, before he dropped behind Armstrong who glanced an Armco barrier towards the end of SS2 after an impact on the inside of a left-hander.
The Irishman then repassed his team-mate on the superspecial after setting the fifth-fastest time.
The returning Mãrtiņš Sesks felt he was “rusty” on SS1 as he dropped 15.4s to the fastest time. But the Latvian found his flow to set the seventh-best time on SS2, ending the first day in 11th and just 0.1s shy of Armstrong.
That means just 1.5s covers the three Ford Puma Rally1s overall.
“The first stage I was kind of rusty, and that happens when you’re a few months out the car,” Sesks explained. “But I think some good signs from stage two and I’m looking forward to tomorrow, it’s going to be quite a challenge.”
Teemu Suninen won the opening stage but Jan Solans (Škoda) emerged as the overnight WRC2 leader ahead of Alejandro Cachón (Toyota) and Lancia driver Yohan Rossel.
