Sébastien Ogier lost the lead of Rally Portugal on the penultimate stage after stopping to change a tire.
Thierry Neuville had been 17.3 seconds behind Ogier in second place prior to SS22 of 23, but the Belgian now leads the event by 14.8s from Oliver Solberg as Ogier dropped two minutes and to sixth place.
Elfyn Evans completes the top three as Sami Pajari also stopped to change a wheel, falling from third to seventh.
Ogier explaiend: “It was very rutted so there were some rocks in the line, no idea. There are a bit rocks everywhere in the beginning.”
Neuville now has the opportunity to deliver Hyundai’s first victory of 2026, and to atone for the heartbreak of Croatia where he retired on the final stage while leading by over a minute.
“Nothing is done yet,” said Neuville. “What should I say? So far we have done the job, now just one to finish. We know how not to do it, so now we should do it.”
Adrien Fourmaux is now fourth overall ahead of Takamoto Katsuta, with Solberg leading Super Sunday by 4.3s over Evans with Fourmaux 6.4s adrift.
M-Sport’s Josh McErlean almost won his first stage in Rally1 on the first pass of Fafe, only for Robert Virves to storm through 8.8s quicker in his Rally2 Škoda Fabia. It was the Estonian’s first ever WRC stage win.
