Dani Sordo’s first World Rally Championship appearance in five months has gotten off to a flying start, as Hyundai’s third driver for Rally Portugal topped the shakedown times.
Of all the Rally1 competitors this weekend, Sordo is arguably the best prepared. He took part in Rali Terras d’Aboboreira in an i20 N Rally1 last month, which uses roads in the same region as Rally Portugal – though he was required to skip the Amarante test that features in both events.
Sordo also starts last of the Rally1 crews on Friday, a potential road-sweeping advantage in dry conditions that are widely expected.
Hyundai achieved a 1-2-3 on the Baltar shakedown test, with Ott Tänak half a second off Sordo’s pace and championship leader Thierry Neuville a further 0.4s behind.
Neuville suffered an unfortunate incident on his first run: a dog had run into the middle of the stage and despite his best efforts to take avoiding action at high speed, Neuville was unable to avoid running it over.
Sébastien Ogier was the best-placed Toyota in fourth, only a tenth of a second slower than Neuville.
Sébastien Ogier is hoping to make amends for a dismal Rally Portugal two years ago
The eight-time world champion’s road position also puts him in a solid position to compete for victory but, as he pointed out, he had the same advantage in 2022 and couldn’t take advantage of it. Ogier retired after suffering two punctures on the first day, then crashed on the second after returning under super rally rules.
“Two years ago I had also a good start position here but it was quite a disastrous rally, with a lot of trouble, punctures and event a small off,” said Ogier. “I want to try and correct that this weekend, I want to do it better. I always had a good connection with Portugal, amazing crowds, so I’m happy to be here. The plan is to correct what I did wrong two years ago.”
Adrien Fourmaux was the only Rally1 driver to make a fourth pass of shakedown and made it count, improving on his previous best by 1.5s on his final run to put his Ford Puma Rally1 fifth on the leaderboard.
The three remaining Toyotas were led in sequence by Takamoto Katsuta, 1.2s off Sordo’s benchmark time. He was followed by Elfyn Evans and Kalle Rovanperä, who’d suffered a hybrid issue aboard his GR Yaris Rally1.
“Shakedown didn’t start the best way for us,” said Rovanperä. “The car is not 100%. But it’s nice to be back and see all the fans. I’m sure the guys will get [the car] ready for the rally, so no issues.”
The second M-Sport Ford, piloted by Grégoire Munster, was exactly five seconds from the leading pace.
Gus Greensmith was the fastest WRC2 contender, 0.3s up on fellow former M-Sport driver Pierre-Louis Loubet.
Joint WRC2 championship leaders Oliver Solberg and Yohan Rossel had contrasting fortunes on shakedown: Solberg was third-fastest, 0.8s behind his Toksport team-mate Greensmith, while Rossel’s Citroën C3 Rally2 was only 12th-fastest of the Rally2 machines, 3.8s off the pace.
