Kalle Rovanperä has made major inroads into Elfyn Evans’ lead on Cabeceiras de Basto, winning the stage by 6.6s to reduce his time deficit to a single digit.
As was the case on the Saturday morning pass of the same stage, Rovanperä was the quicker Toyota. This time around his gain was much bigger, the size of his stage win enough to reduce the lead deficit to 9.9s.
But a major test is on the horizon for the championship leader: Amarante, the next stage, was dominated by Evans on its first running earlier in the day.
M-Sport has lost another runner on Rally Portugal, as Gus Greensmith retired before the Cabeceiras de Basto stage even began.
Greensmith had struck a small but solid bank exiting a left-hander on Vieira do Minho, with the first signs of trouble being a broken rim and deflated tire.
But there were more serious consequences for his mistake – that impact had damaged his suspension.
Unable to effect repairs at the roadside, Greensmith retired on the road section, losing his eighth place.
Takamoto Katsuta’s battle for the final podium place with Hyundai’s Dani Sordo remains finely poised.
Toyota’s junior driver extended his advantage by another 2.4s on Cabeceiras de Basto, building his advantage up to 6.5s.
Thierry Neuville remains in no man’s land, almost a minute behind his team-mate Sordo and in turn almost a minute up on Pierre-Louis Loubet.
Ott Tänak has inherited eighth place with Greensmith’s demise, with Adrien Fourmaux likewise elevated to ninth ahead of WRC2 leader Teemu Suninen.
SS14 Results
- Kalle Rovanperä/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota) 13m28.6s
- Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota) +6.6s
- Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota) +14.7s
- Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai) +15.0s
- Dani Sordo/Cándido Carrera (Hyundai) +17.1s
- Pierre-Louis Loubet/Landais (M-Sport Ford) +17.3s
- Craig Breen/Paul Nagle (M-Sport Ford) +18.1s
- Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (Hyundai) +21.0s
- Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (M-Sport Ford) +24.4s
- Teemu Suninen/Mikko Markkula (Hyundai) +44.5s
Leading Positions after SS14
- Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota) 2h45m09.00s
- Kalle Rovanperä/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota) +9.9s
- Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota) +1m34.00s
- Dani Sordo/Cándido Carrera (Hyundai) +1m40.5s
- Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai) +2m34.2s
- Pierre-Louis Loubet/Landais (M-Sport Ford) +3m23.5s
- Craig Breen/Paul Nagle (M-Sport Ford) +3m30.4s
- Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (Hyundai) +4m27.3s
- Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (M-Sport Ford)) +6m35.3s
- Teemu Suninen/Mikko Markkula (Hyundai) +9m07.5s
