After the unique events that kickstart the season, it’s long been said that Rally Portugal is the first true indicator of everyone’s form, and potential, in the World Rally Championship.
So with that in mind, what did we learn from this year’s event?
Ogier’s guile more important than ever
There’s little doubt about it: Ott Tänak was the fastest driver last weekend. But in rallying, it’s not always the fastest driver who wins.
Sometimes it’s the cleverest, and there’s equally little doubt that Sébastien Ogier was smarter than them all in Portugal.
Ogier has always had an innate ability to make good decisions in combat. He’d told his engineer after SS16 of 24 that with the speed he and Tänak were both going at, anything could happen. And it did for Tänak.
But Ogier had the skill to keep himself in exactly the right place. He recognized he could not match Tänak’s raw speed, but kept himself close enough to force the Estonian’s hand.
Tänak deserved better from his weekend where he was incredibly fast and took everything in his stride, but nobody is as cunning as Ogier. Right now it seems as if that’s his strongest trait. The last two events in Canarias and Portugal have perhaps revealed Ogier’s age may slowly be becoming a factor, but with age comes wisdom and he’s only getting wiser.
Sesks fails to prove much
There’s plenty of hype wherever Mãrtiņş Sesks goes at the moment, thanks to the explosive way he entered the World Rally Championship’s top brass last summer.
So even when the Latvian talked about the priority being experience, not a result, in Portugal, it got lost somewhere in the music. It didn’t help of course that the M-Sport man went fastest on shakedown!
But an unavoidable puncture – caused by running over a rock in the road that threw him into an adjacent bank – immediately took the sting out of Sesks’ rally, which got more complicated when he clocked a three-minute time penalty for starting a stage late when he couldn’t loosen his seatbelts.
Unfortunately because he was then in a high road position, it was very hard to really guage Sesks’ pace and progress. But he did at least gain the experience he set out to.
Hyundai reverses its troubles
Ogier was under no illusions: Tänak was faster than him in Portugal.
Twelve stage wins from 24 (quick math: 50%) proved as much. But what was more intriguing was the difference between the two cars. Hyundai won 15 stages in Portugal, Toyota just nine.
That’s the first time it has been quicker than Toyota at a rally this season, and quite the contrast to Canarias three weeks ago where the only scratch time Hyundai scored was shared with Ogier and a Rally2 car around a go-kart track.
But as Ogier shrewdly said at the end of the powerstage: “In rallying it’s not only about being quicker, it’s about bringing it home and we’ve done that this weekend.”
Toyota unquestionably had the better reliability (along with M-Sport), with Hyundai losing Fourmaux on Friday due to a suspension problem and Tänak losing the win due to broken power-steering meant Toyota’s unbeaten start to 2025 continued.
Cyril Abiteboul described Portugal as “incredible momentum” for Sardinia in a few weeks, but with its championship deficit growing once more (now 55 points) nobody’s pretending Toyota isn’t still top dog.
Familiar Evans trend returns
Before Portugal, Elfyn Evans’ form was electric. Seven WRC events, seven podiums.
Portugal was always going to be a key test of his season given it’s the first time he’s had a clear disadvantage running first on the road, and the answer wasn’t overly convincing.
The championship leader knew he was going to struggle to win or be on the podium with 10 stages to clean on Friday, but quite simply wasn’t fast enough either. His words; not ours.
With a 43-point lead prior to the weekend, Evans was guaranteed to lead the championship still at the end of it. In that regard, a now 30-point buffer is no bad thing. But what will concern Evans is the potential trend this sets.
Portugal, Sardinia and Greece specifically weren’t strong events for him 12 months ago, and the first of those was not much better this time around.
Third time lucky for Solberg
Two years ago, he comfortably led Gus Greensmith until that one-minute penalty for donuts after the Lousada superspecial cost him dear.
He was again leading comfortably in 2024 before he crashed on Saturday morning, distracted by the sight of Kalle Rovanperä’s rolled Toyota.
In 2025, Oliver Solberg righted the wrongs with a classy performance.
A wild spin aside on Friday afternoon that wiped out the advantage he had constructed, the Swede was in a class of one – some achievement given the record-breaking WRC2 entry that lined up in Portugal.
Third time lucky in Portugal, and very possibly for the season too if Solberg keeps driving like that.
Sensational Salvi
Where Diogo Salvi finished last week was irrelevant. The goal was to simply enjoy the chance of a lifetime, hiring a Ford Puma Rally1 for his home round of the world championship.
And that’s absolutely what he did, but he shared that joy with the watching world with his infectious character and brutal honesty.
Any stage-end reel from the weekend isn’t worth watching if it didn’t include Salvi. His witty, self-deprecating comments brought a touch of joy rarely seen in the WRC which is filled with paid professional drivers doing their job.
But more than that, Salvi was a reminder of what the WRC is currently missing (privateers or guest entries) and precisely what the FIA is seeking to re-establish in 2027.
Rovanperä’s tire struggles won’t disappear
How many times have we seen Kalle Rovanperä beaten in a straight fight?
Tänak was in inspired form in Portugal, but after Rovanperä’s gobble out of Ogier’s lead on Sunday’s opener, the last thing we expected to see was the Finn be swallowed by the Hyundai behind instead.
However, in truth, we shouldn’t be surprised.
Canarias was an anomaly – he said as much just hours after winning it. Battling to get on top of Hankook’s rubber means Rovanperä is going to have to work an awful lot harder to find the same comfort he has in previous years.
“I don’t know if I will ever be happy with these,’ Rovanperä told DirtFish, “because like I’ve said many times, it’s just against how I naturally do it. It’s going to be probably tricky always, but at least now we have found quite an OK way to go.”
Considering he’s driving with a metaphorical hand tied behind his back though, third place and a 13-point swing in his favor was hardly a bad result.
