The first full day of action followed three stages run on Thursday evening. After those three stages Oliver held the lead from Adrien and Seb, whilst Elfyn was close to the leaders and holding fifth overall.

 

Into the action then with SS4 Mortágua 1 and Sami set the pace from Adrien and Seb. Adrien moved into the lead from Seb and Elfyn who’d driven well despite the fact he was opening the road whilst former leader Oliver fell to fourth position.

 

Next up came the middle morning stage, SS5 Arganil 1 and Sami was again the fastest driver from Adrien and Thierry. Elfyn lost a bit of time in this one as the road sweeper and was sixth fastest and fell to sixth overall as Sami gained three positions and moved into second overall, Oliver moved past Seb and into third overall and Thierry also gained one position moving into fifth place.

 

Onto the final morning stage then, SS6 Lousã 1 and Thierry was setting the pace from Seb and rally leader Adrien. The Belgian passed Oliver for fourth overall, now just over eight seconds from his teammate.

 

After the remote service came SS7 Arganil 2 and whilst it was normal for everyone else Elfyn and Scott had a crazy moment near the end of the stage, as they came across dust hanging in the air. Given that they were the first car into the stage courtesy of being the championship leaders who could possibly be ahead on the road. Well, the vehicle turned off the stage and it was clearly a recovery vehicle. What a shocking situation and this will require investigations by the organisers and the FIA. Elfyn was given back the time he lost. In terms of the stage though Seb was fastest from Thierry and Oliver. The young Swede passed Sami for fourth overall. Meanwhile Jon struggled through the stage after his powersteering failed and lost a minute and forty seconds.

 

Into the single run stage, SS8 Góis and it was an interesting stage as Elfyn’s time remained the benchmark for quite a while. His time was beaten in the end by Seb, Sami, Thierry and Martins, but there was drama for both Adrien and Oliver near the end of the stage as they came down from the top of the stage, first to go off was the Swede and he managed to get back onto the road and finish the stage, albeit losing almost nine seconds. It was worse for the Frenchman though who went off at the same place but lost almost thirty seconds and fall from the lead to sixth overall. He crossed the line with two punctures on the right-hand side of his car. Seb moved into the lead with Thierry now second overall and Sami was now third.

 

Time then for the final stage, SS10 Mortágua 2 and Thierry was fastest from Oliver and Seb. This meant that the Belgian closed a little more to Seb, bringing his lead down to just under four seconds. Meanwhile Jon made it to the end of the day despite the problem with the lack of powersteering and his teammate Josh was holding ninth overall. Their teammate Martins suffered a double puncture and fell nine positions to eighteenth position.

Let’s hear from the drivers and take a look at the top ten.

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sébastien Ogier

“I’m happy to be leading at the end of the day. It had been a difficult start to the rally for us. Like yesterday, I was struggling with the balance this morning and couldn’t really drive as I wanted, but we managed to change the setup during the remote service, making some adjustments with the suspension, and that helped us find better pace. We can be happy with that but it’s only a small lead and from tomorrow the weather can change and become trickier, so there are still two big days ahead of us.”

Sami Pajari

“It has been quite a nice day for us. I’m especially happy with how the morning went. The feeling in the car was much better than yesterday, the driving felt more natural, and the times were good. Conditions were drier on the second pass so there was more cleaning, and a couple of incidents lost us a few seconds. Still, we are in the fight with two days to go and only 15s from the lead, so we can be happy for the moment.”

Oliver Solberg

“Today has been a tricky day. It wasn’t easy to find the right feeling with the car. When the road was slippery I struggled to find confidence, but when there was more grip it was better. We also made a small mistake that led to quite a big moment: the front of the car bottomed out on some bedrock and that launched us off the road. We could have been closer to the lead without that, but we just need to keep going.”

Elfyn Evans

“It’s been an OK day today. We weren’t especially fast, but that was to be expected with our road position. The order had more of an effect in some stages than others. This morning it wasn’t so bad, but it was a bit worse this afternoon as some places dried out more. Still, we had a clean drive with no mistakes and let’s see what the weather’s like tomorrow. There’s a chance of rain which could help keep things open, but our road position should also be better even if it’s dry.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“This morning I was still struggling with the feeling. Of course, our road position was not ideal but Elfyn was able to do a good job in front of us and we couldn’t match his pace. We tried to change what we could on the car setup in the remote service and the afternoon was better, and I know how we can improve things further for tomorrow. The weather conditions could be tricky, but I’m hoping that can help us too.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“It’s been a while since we were last in this position, fighting for the lead of the rally with good speed in the car, and it feels great. It was a good day, although not easy, but the performance was there, and we were quite consistent. We were able to increase our speed throughout the day, so we’re working in a good direction, and we can be happy. Tomorrow, we expect new conditions, with a mix of sandy and abrasive stages. It’s hard to make any predictions, but I hope we will be able to be up to speed like today, and maybe a little more comfortable in the car.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“It was a very good two days until SS8, but I am very pleased with my pace and how we managed the tyres across yesterday and today. A mistake on SS8 meant I struggled with the brakes, and then we had to battle to the end with a double puncture. While we lost a lot of time, this rally is very long, and I won’t give up – the finish line is on Sunday. I really like the stages we will tackle tomorrow, which will be very different set-up wise, especially if it rains; it’s tricky to know whether our road position will be advantageous, but we will hope for a little luck.”

Dani Sordo

“Today has been pretty complicated. We really pushed to be in the fight, but we weren’t on the pace. We lost time this morning with the tyre choice, but in the afternoon loop we weren’t as fast as we expected – we couldn’t do any more. I was driving more carefully on the final stage because there was a lot of ruts. But let’s see, tomorrow is a new day. It looks like the weather will get a little bit more difficult, but our early road position could mean it is a little bit better than for others.”

Classification after Day Two

1	S. Ogier	V. Landais	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	01:28:25.1
2	T. Neuville	M. Wydaeghe	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+3.7
3	S. Pajari	M. Salminen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+15.2
4	O. Solberg	E. Edmondson	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+16.4
5	E. Evans	S. Martin	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+28.1
6	A. Fourmaux	A. Coria	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+34.3
7	T. Katsuta	A. Johnston	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+50.1
8	D. Sordo	C. Carrera	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+1:23.3
9	J. McErlean	E. Treacy	Ford Puma Rally1	+2:20.7
10	N. Gryazin	K. Aleksandrov	Lancia Ypsilon HF	+4:34.8

 

Saturday

There are almost 146 kilometres of action on the second full day of the rally over nine stages and the weather is set to change with predictions of rain. Where and when it will arrive is unknown and this will make things interesting for sure.