Sébastien Ogier was now up to third following Kris Meeke’s mistake, and had just blitzed the powerstage to claim all five bonus points. So far.
But rather than celebrate an unexpected podium, the then six-time champion looked nervous.
“Good and bad news,” he said, “because then there’s a good chance I open the road in Sardinia.”
Ott Tänak could’ve spared him if he wanted to. At the final split on the stage, his Yaris was a tenth ahead of Ogier’s C3. But the Estonian had done the math, too.
Win the powerstage and Tänak would take the championship lead along with his Rally Portugal win. But why accept the poisoned chalice when he didn’t need to?
Flying towards the flying finish, the nose of Tänak’s Toyota suddenly dove as he slammed on the brakes. He dropped 1.6 seconds, claimed third on the powerstage, and headed to Italy two points adrift of Ogier.
Tänak deliberately, and cheekily, slowed down on the Portugal powerstage in 2019 in order to not lead the championship
“We had to hit the brakes before the finish-line to make sure Séb will open the road,” he said, complete with a sly grin creeping across his face.
Tänak ended the season as world champion.
With the precedent laid out, there’d be valid reason to mimic the tactic seven years later. Oliver Solberg’s retirement from second place gave Elfyn Evans that very opportunity.
As it stood ahead of the powerstage (disregarding Super Sunday points), he was one point adrift of Takamoto Katsuta in the championship with the gravel of Portugal up next.
But instead of back off, Evans won both the Super Sunday classification and the powerstage to scoop all 10 bonus points (three more than Katsuta) and jump into the series lead by two.
His outlook was the complete opposite of Tänak’s back in 2019.
“You have to take the points when you can,” Evans told DirtFish. “You can’t not score points to not start first on the road.
Evans was never going to do what Tänak did in 2019 and back off to avoid leading the championship
“So in the end, we know it’s going to be a tough task [in Portugal] but anything can happen in this sport. We just keep going. It might rain, probably won’t… but let’s wait and see.”
Intriguingly, Katsuta was pleased to have given up the points lead – describing that as a “big positive” from his Rally Islas Canarias.
“I’m really not much looking about points and things, but obviously after Japan there is not any Tarmac at rallies anymore, which is a really crazy schedule, let’s say, of the season. But anyway, you have to do a good job in every single rally and need to focus on each rally, so I’m quite happy to start second in Portugal, for sure,” he mused.
“I’m happy to be not opening the road, but still, long Thursday and Friday this year. The itinerary of Portugal is quite specific and it’s a very, very long, opening [leg with the] same starting order of the championship, so it’s going to be very, very tough.”
In reality, both Evans and Katsuta are likely to struggle as the first two cars on the road – especially as some heavy hitters like Sébastien Ogier, Thierry Neuville and Dani Sordo start sixth, seventh and 10th respectively.
Their nearest rival, Sami Pajari, is 29 points adrift, so it’s easy to understand why banking the extra points was Evans’ strategy of choice.
