Mārtiņš Sesks had started Rally Portugal as the fastest M-Sport driver, topping shakedown and finishing the opening superspecial as the only Ford Puma in the top 10 overall.
But any hopes of a headline result have almost immediately been dashed by a puncture on Friday’s opening test, Mortágua.
Early in the stage Sesks clipped a rock, which dragged him off the road and punctured the front-left wheel of his Puma.
Though he initially tried to solider on he gave up further into the stage, having already lost 11s by the second split.
“On the exit [of a corner] there was a big rock, we jumped on it and it pulled us on the side of the road,” explained Sesks. “There was something on the side, some rock. Very unfortunate.”
Ott Tänak has taken the rally lead for Hyundai, the first time a non-Toyota has led a WRC event since stage eight of Safari Rally Kenya in mid-March.
Something is wrong. Setup is not good. I went too soft.Sébastien Ogier
He won the Mortágua test to establish a 1.3s advantage over Kalle Rovanperä, though championship leader Elfyn Evans put in an admirable effort from first on the road to go third-fastest.
Tänak had been almost a second up on the splits early in the stage but fell back towards the finish, indicating stage characteristics were affecting his i20 N Rally1 in different ways.
“The beginning is more damp and grip is high but at the end where it’s more loose, the car isn’t working so good,” said Tänak.
There was similar feedback from Adrien Fourmaux, who slotted into fourth place behind Evans. His compatriot Sébastien Ogier was frustrated to only be fifth, shaking his head as he crossed the finish line.
Ogier’s setup choices proved to be wide of the mark – not helped by his pre-event test being fully wet while the rally itself was mostly dry to slightly damp at best.
The shoe is on the other foot: after the three Hyundais were all at sea chasing setup on Islas Canarias, Tänak leads the way while Ogier lost time hand over fist with the wrong settings on his Yaris
“Something is wrong,” said Ogier, having gone 6.1s off the pace. “Setup is not good. I went too soft.”
Behind the two Toyotas not scoring manufacturer points for the main team – Takamoto Katsuta and Sami Pajari – reigning world champion Thierry Neuville was a distant eighth, 12.3s off the pace.
Neuville clipped a bank and sent his i20 into a half spin, ceding several seconds. But he indicated that, given he was in a tree-lined section when making the mistake, letting the car spin out was the safer option.
“I lost the rear,” said Neuville. “Maybe I could have done [something to avoid it] but there were trees so I stopped and went again.”
M-Sport duo Grégoire Munster and Josh McErlean complete the top 10.
McErlean was briefly stuck in Sesks’ dust when his part-time teammate initially resumed after changing his puncture: “Probably more distraction than actual time loss,” said McErlean of the incident with his M-Sport teammate. “We followed him for one kilometer, he must have got a puncture.”
