Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo has claimed his second ever pole position in Formula One, setting a new lap record around the circuit where he incidentally also claimed his first.
Red Bull were always expected to fly around Monaco and it has certainly been an extremely impressive weekend so far for the team – and Ricciardo in particular – save for Max Verstappen’s crash in FP3. Ricciardo was fastest in every single practice session and every segment of qualifying, breaking the lap record numerous times before ultimately taking pole with a 1:10.810, in doing so becoming the only driver to break into the 1:10s.
The Australian’s nearest competitor was Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel. In the dying moments of the session Vettel managed to improve and close the gap to P1, but he was still over two tenths away from Ricciardo, with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton another two tenths back in P3.
Kimi Raikkonen will perhaps have been hoping for more than P4; he starts ahead of fellow Finn Valtteri Bottas and best-of-the-rest Esteban Ocon, who put in a great performance in the Force India to go P6. McLaren will no doubt be glad to have gotten at least one car into the top ten – Fernando Alonso will start tomorrow’s race in P7 ahead of Sainz, Perez, Gasly and Hulkenberg – because it looked for a while in the early stages of the weekend as though they may be out-performed by Toro Rosso and their Honda engine. The other McLaren of Stoffel Vandoorne, however, failed to make it through to Q3 and starts P12.
Image courtesy of the Red Bull content pool.
Sergey Sirotkin’s performance mustn’t be underplayed as well. He may be starting P13, but he qualified a huge eight tenths ahead of his team-mate Lance Stroll, who has been struggling all weekend and complained of a loose head-rest and a general lack of traction in Q1. He starts down in P18.
Home favourite Charles Leclerc qualified P14 ahead of an out-of-sorts Romain Grosjean, who qualified P15 but carries a three-place grid penalty because of the crash he caused in Spain.
Brendon Hartley was my surprise of qualifying, and unfortunately not in a good way. The Kiwi had initially shown very strong pace in free practice – he was P7 in FP3 – and seemed to be on par with team-mate Pierre Gasly, but for some reason he failed to convert that in qualifying and ultimately ended up P16 ahead of Marcus Ericsson.
Rounding out the grid are a frustrated Kevin Magnussen in P19 – another surprise given that he finished sixth last time out in Spain – and Max Verstappen, who didn’t even take part in qualifying because of his FP3 crash and will be receiving a somewhat redundant five-place grid penalty because of a change of gearbox.
It is hard to look past anyone but Daniel Ricciardo for the win tomorrow. It’s one of the great cliches of Formula One that it’s impossible to overtake around Monaco but, at the same time, I’m sure there will be some interesting battles further down the order that will be worth keeping an eye on.
Michael Van der Mark stunned the field to claim his first victory in the World Superbike Championship as series leader, Jonathan Rea, strengthened his title challenge.
Under gloomy skies, but thankfully dry conditions, the Dutchman left it late to secure the top honours for Race 1 of the UK round. Although being competitive during the practice sessions, the true race pace of the Yamaha R1 was not expected to be at the very front alongside the green machines of the Kawasaki Racing Team (KRT).
With no rider having completed a full race simulation, Van der Mark produced a perfect display of tenacity and tactical awareness – ‘race craft’ to use the cliche – across the 23-lap race duration. Having seen off his Pata Yamaha teammate, Alex Lowes, by the halfway point of the race, ‘Magic Mike’ began to close down the KRT duo of Rea and Tom Sykes.
Any uncertainty over tyre wear was put to rest by the ultra smooth riding style of the Yamaha man, who squeezed his way past Sykes at the Melbourne hairpin, as the Yorkshireman struggled for grip late in the race. Just a couple of laps later, he completed the same move on Rea. Such was his good work at preserving the life in his tyres, that he was able to pull clear of the triple world champion to ensure an historic victory. Van der Mark took his maiden World Superbike win, and also became the first rider from the Netherlands to do so. It was also the first win for any Yamaha team in the championship since Portugal, 2011. The celebrations may well run into the middle of next week.
The KRT riders both finished upon the podium, as to be expected at Donington, although this may well seem an anti-climax for the team, following their record breaking performance earlier in the day in qualifying with Tom Sykes. The 32-year old took the record for most pole positions (44 and counting) from Australian legend Troy Corser. He did it in style, smashing a new pole lap record: 1″26’663. Tyre wear was undoubtedly a problem in the closing stages of today’s race, not helped by the ferocious scrap between himself and Rea during the opening laps.
The defending champion seemed more relieved to have got through the race as well as he did. Speaking post-qualifying he revealed he had only completed short runs in practice, and had no idea how the bike would behave by the end of the race. The second place podium finish means he extends his championship lead to 59 points. Its a healthy advantage but there is no doubt he’s having to fight every step of the way this year.
Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha) finished fourth today after an early race scrap with his teammate. When the leading trio began to pull away, the British rider settled into his rhythm and brought home a valuable total of points for the team. After such a difficult weekend last time out at Imola, this result was very much needed. Any feelings of disappointment today will be tempered by the fact that he does have a bike capable of beating the Kawasaki machines, and that he starts Race 2 tomorrow from pole position.
Milwaukee Aprilia had a very solid race, finishing not far behind Lowes in P5 (Lorenzo Savadori) and P6 (Eugene Laverty). Savadori spent the first half of the race in the leading group on the track, before eventually the relentless pace was too much for the RSV4-RF. Starting tomorrow’s race from the middle of the front row increases the teams chances of being able to fight for a podium finish – not beyond the realms of possibility. Laverty still continued to impress as he is still recovering from serious injuries sustained in Thailand back in March. Although never able to directly challenge his teammate today, the Irishman fought off a resurgent Loris Baz (Althea BMW) who had qualified on the front row, earlier in the day.
Questions will be being asked very loudly, and long into the night, in the Aruba.it Ducati garages. The weekend so far has been nothing short of a disaster for the Italian outfit. Chaz Davies could only manage to finish in P8 whilst his teammate, Marco Melandri, failed to finish following a fast lowside crash at Goddards. Their junior rider, Michael Ruben Rinaldi, could only manage P12. All three of the riders’ bikes have been suffering from lack of stability upon both corner entry and exit, costing them dearly in terms of lap times. It will be a lengthy night for the team as they try and make the bikes competitive for Race 2 tomorrow.
As its the UK round of the series, there were a number of wildcards entering from the British Superbike Championship – five in total. Leon Haslam (Pucetti Kawasaki) was once again competitive around his home circuit. The Derbyshire man hounded his teammate, Toprak Razgatlioglu, across the duration and inherited P8 when the Turkish star unfortunately crashed out on the final lap.
Bradley Ray, racing his BSB-spec Buildbase Suzuki machine managed to bring home points with his finish in P14. Unlike the World Superbike machines, contenders for the British series are not allowed to run electronic aids such as traction control and anti-wheelie systems. As a consequence, the Suzuki was at a disadvantage to the rest of the field.
Luke Mossey (Pedercini Kawasaki) finished in P17, ahead of Gino Rea (OMG Racing Suzuki) in P23. Unfortunately for Mason Law (WD40 Kawasaki), a technical problem with the bike saw him pushed off the grid just prior to the warm up lap, and he never made the start.
It’s that time of year again, the Month of May has nearly run its course and there is just one crucial event left in it, race day. Practice and qualifying entailed enough dramas of their own so, if they’re anything to go by, the race should be another thrilling showdown.
We had a surprisingly low amount of wrecks in practice and qualifying with just the one for James Davison but that didn’t mean that we were short of commotion. This was chiefly caused by the re-introduction of bumping, a long-standing Indy 500 tradition. Proper bumping hasn’t been present for a few years so here’s a quick run-down: the grid is traditionally only made up of 33 cars but 35 entered this year so two had to be removed from running before the race. This was done on the Saturday of qualifying where, after all drivers had completed their guaranteed runs, the track was opened for the free-for-all that is ‘Happy Hour’ following which the slowest two drivers would be eliminated.
Throughout the build up to qualifying, there had been the general feeling that bumping was going to throw up a surprise or two with someone who didn’t really deserve to be bumped ending up without a seat when the music stopped. This was, unfortunately, James Hinchcliffe who hasn’t exactly had the best of times at this track over the years. From nearly being killed in practice in 2015, to pole the year later and now this, Hinchcliffe’s pretty much had it all at this track. After a few days of speculation, Schmidt Peterson released a statement saying that they would not be trying to purchase an already qualified ride and that barring ‘unforeseen circumstances’, Hinchcliffe would not be racing. It’s a season-wrecker from a championship point of view but Hinchcliffe has proved his class and has only gained fans through his dealing of the bumping.
With all the Hinchcliffe talk, the other bumpee, Pippa Mann, was rather overshadowed, as was day two of qualifying. Over all the noise, it was Ed Carpenter, an Indy 500 expert, who took a surprising pole from Penske’s Simon Pagenaud and Will Power. Row two will be made up of championship leader Josef Newgarden, Sebastien Bourdais, who made an impressive return after his monster crash last year, and Spencer Pigot. IndyCar returnee Helio Castroneves was in the lead after day one but he couldn’t quite deliver when the Fast Nine came around, eventually ending in eighth, just behind Danica Patrick in her last race but ahead of Scott Dixon who was last in the Fast Nine. No rookies made it into the Fast Nine but it was Matheus Leist who took the top rookie spot in eleventh after very nearly beating teammate Tony Kanaan to tenth.
Other than Hinchcliffe, the next biggest shock of qualifying would have to be 2016 winner Alexander Rossi who had a puncture on his fast run, almost crashed and ended up way down in thirty-second, only ahead of the ill-fated Conor Daly. Despite this, Rossi has remained resilient, stating the well-known point of you only have to be in the Indy 500 to stand a chance of winning it.
Indycar 2017 Round Six: Indianapolis 500, Indiana . Image courtesy of hondanews.eu
Speaking of winning, it was Takuma Sato who took that glory following a thrilling duel with Castroneves in the closing laps. Rookie Ed Jones took third and Max Chilton followed him home in fourth, a penny to anyone who could’ve predicted that! But that’s what the Indy 500 is, it always has been, and always will be, massively unpredictable due to its length and attritional nature. Last year, 17 of the 33 cars failed to make the 200th and final lap with most being taken out in wrecks.
The biggest question from last year’s running that has remained for this year is surrounding Honda’s reliability, or lack thereof. The biggest name blow-outs were Ryan Hunter-Reay and, rather ironically, Fernando Alonso who’d come from pitiful Honda reliability in F1. Honda themselves claimed that they’d found the problem not long after last year’s running and will hope beyond all hopes that their engines hold out for this year, if not, more questions will certainly be asked and some championships could take a massive hit.
Any of the 33 entrants could win this race, that could be said for any IndyCar race but it is never more true than at the Indy 500. The dice will inevitably be rolled strategy-wise by those with little to lose while wrecks and cautions could all play a massive part in deciding the winner. Ultimately, and as they always say, Indianapolis Motor Speedway choses the winner, try as you might, if IMS doesn’t want you to win, it isn’t going to happen.
Race starts at 5:05pm UK time so tune in to our Twitter channel for commentary as well as the BT Sport/ESPN channel to find out who will kiss the bricks on Sunday afternoon.
Ford Fiesta reece car – Photo courtesy of Phil Hall
Recce for Rally Portugal is particularly challenging, the stages are tight and twisty but also rough. Today we did 6 incredible stages, which will form the route for Friday and Sunday. A lot of KM covered and in the hot and dusty conditions you really have to focus.
Rally de Portugal reece day – Photo courtesy of Phil Hall
I get a few funny looks around the world when I turn up to Recce with a pillow ‘borrowed’ from the hotel. But on rough roads it makes all the difference to lean on as a shock absorber. Along with a lot of practice it means I can usually get all my notes down tidily on the first pass, with little touch up work later. It’s actually quite interesting to see which countries make the best Recce pillows. Keep an eye on my Twitter as I usually post the best ones.
Recce day Two (Wednesday 16th of May)
Similar to day 1, another challenging day of recce awaited us. Today we covered the Lousada super special as well as the monster that is Amarante. The surface in Portugal changes a lot so it is important to make sure your pacenotes take this into account.
Calm. Serene. Picturesque. Beautiful scenes during @rallydeportugal recce. But nothing like the dusty, sandy, rocky and rough barrage of stages that lie ahead over the next few days.#ReadyForItpic.twitter.com/7JF18G04Xk
Shakedown is a spectacular, if short, stage finishing in a huge arena full to the brim with fans. We had a good run, getting a good feeling for the car and the surface.
After a long drive to the ceremonial start, a great opportunity to meet the incredibly passionate Portuguese fans, we headed to the Super Special at Lousada. The sheer volume of rally fans crammed into this venue was a sight to behold.
Friday: (18th of May)
The rough northern stages bring their own challenges, we tried to keep it clean and were running comfortably inside the top ten despite a puncture. For a co-driver here in the heat and dust it is very important to keep focused. the tight twisty stages require a lot of information to be delivered often whilst the road is very rough.
Tom and Phil press on in their M-Sport built Fiesta R2
Saturday: (19th of May)
A new day and a new surface, and the iconic Amarante test. At 37km this is a big test for crews, and for us unfortunately where it all unravelled. Amarante hasn’t been kind to me, I rolled out of the Drive DMACK Fiesta Trophy event on this stage in 2016, and again today we had a small roll that put us into Rally 2.
Sunday: (20th of May)
Another tough day, and the attrition rate was high. A few stages were cancelled because of incidents and we focused on just being clean and getting to the finish. despite a couple of near misses, we did just that and got to the end. In fact, we managed to hold on to our top ten position, with 7th overall in the JWRC.
Things to take away about Rally Portugal:
– The Fans are incredible!
– The stages are a true test of physical and mental stamina
– Dust!
-Truly iconic roads
Many thanks again to Phil Hall for this great diary! Why not give him a follow on Twitter? @PhilHallRally
Snetterton in Norfolk plays host to rounds four and five of the 2018 British GT series as its near three-mile “300” layout welcomes over 65 drivers across 33 cars.
Snetterton will be the last of the hour long sprint races split between Pro and Am drivers.
Yelmer Buurman and Lee Mowle surprised everyone when taking their ERC Sport Mercedes to GT3 glory to claim their first British GT win last time out at Rockingham.
Despite starting last after an accident in qualifying, Mowle looked solid during his run in a low-key Am stint while Buurman performed multiple overtakes during the second stint as others fell by the wayside.
History favours the #33 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini, with Lamborghini having won three of the last four races at Snetterton, while Aston Martin have also performed well in Norfolk in recent times with Jonny Adam won there in 2015.
The other Aston Martin squad – TMF – have also shown pace this season despite only one podium apiece for Mark Farmer/Nicki Thiim and Derek Johnstone and Marco Sorenson. TMF finished 1-3 at Snetterton last year.
In GT4, the #55 Ginetta of Callum Pointon and Patrik Matthiesen won easily in the dry race at Rockingham having fell away during wet qualifying. Matthiesen had hounded the #4 Tolman McLaren of Charlie Fagg throughout the first hour of the race.
The McLarens quick fell behind after a strong Saturday but remain second in the standings, and crucially do not have the 10s success penalty that the Ginetta will have as a result of its leading of the GT4 standings.
Another team to watch for are the UltraTek Racing Team RJN Nissans, which took their best ever result with second and fourth for Stephen Johansen and Jesse Anttila, and Kelvin Fletcher and Martin Plowman.
Matt Nicoll-Jones and Will Moore were third last time out at Rockingham in their Academy Motorsport #62 Aston Martin, and the team will be sure to be a threat once again.
Sweden’s Linus Lundqvist goes into the third British F3 meeting of the season with a slender lead in the championship with rounds seven, eight and nine at Snetterton in Norfolk this weekend.
An ultra-consistent Lundqvist was on the podium in all three races last time out at Rockingham and heads the standings by 11 points from Nicolai Kjaergaard, with Tom Gamble and Kush Maini also in close attendance.
Following a last-ditch pole position (his first in car racing) in the wet it was Gamble who was the class of the field in race one on Saturday excelling in the cold, wind and rain typical of a British race weekend.
Kush Maini then recovered from midfield finish in race one to dominate in similar fashion to Gamble in the Sunday morning race, the Indian relieved at finally getting some dry running.
Lundqvist took top honours in a tight race three, the Swede having to fend off Kjaergaard and Maini throughout much of the race.
After his race two victory, Maini was confident that with more dry races over the coming rounds of the F3 championship that his Lanan Motorsports package would be the quickest while vowing to work on his starts and wet pace.
Kjaergaard came from way back on the grid in race two at Rockingham to finish second and has already won this season at Oulton Park.
Billy Monger returns for Carlin this weekend having endured a tough weekend in Northamptonshire last time out, the 19-year-old retiring from race three after colliding with Tom Gamble having previously managed only a seventh in the first two races. Monger had stepped on the podium at Oulton Park.
Maini had hoped to improve his wet pace and certainly got the chance to prove that as he took top spot in a sodden final test session on Thursday, while Lundqvist once again showed strength to claim the overall fastest time of the day ahead of the weekend’s racing.
We found out this afternoon that Kris and Paul have been dropped by Citroen. In their statement they say;
“Due to an excessively high number of crashes, some of which were particularly heavy and could have had serious consequences with regard to the crew’s safety and given that the risks involved were unjustified by the sporting stakes at play, Citroën Racing WRT has decided to terminate the participation of Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle in the 2018 WRC.
The decision becomes effective from the 2018 Rally Italia Sardegna and we will shortly be announcing the team’s line-up of crews for the remainder of the 2018 season. The entries of C3 WRCs for Craig Breen / Scott Martin and Mads Ostberg/Torstein Eriksen still stand for Sardinia.
Pierre Budar: “This wasn’t an easy decision to make because it effects a driver and a co-driver, but it is largely founded on safety issues which come under my preoccupations as Team Principal. We have consequently chosen to make this decision as a preventive measure.”
Already there has been a big reaction to this decision online, especially as it seems that Kris and Paul were not aware of it.
It’s certainly true that the C3 has been a tricky car to drive, and the team, including Kris had done a lot of work to make it friendlier to drive. When I spoke to the pairing at the start of the year, they talked about the change to the suspension and the latest change was the new rear axle that was brought to the car for Rally Argentina.
There have been a number of incidents which have led to this situation, but is it the correct decision? Kris took his first victory in Rally Argentina during the 2015 season. He then, during the part season that followed in 2016 won in Portugal and followed that up with an amazing win in Finland, the first ever British driver to do so.
In 2017 with the new C3, he took wins in Mexico and Spain, but missed Poland mid-season after the team rested him for that event, but he did lead in Corsica before the engine cried enough.
He’s definitely a driver that takes the car to the edge, like Colin. The crash that put Kris and Paul out on Saturday came after a puncture on Friday that led to the car running second on the road on the very loose gravel. Yet, earlier on Friday he’d taken some great stage victories and was running near the front.
Red Bull got their Monaco Grand Prix weekend off to a strong start by locking out the top two positions in both Thursday practice sessions.
Daniel Ricciardo finished marginally ahead of Max Verstappen in each session, and staked his claim as the driver to beat this weekend by lowering the circuit’s unofficial lap record to 1:11.841s in FP2.
Steve Etherington/Mercedes AMG
On lap times alone, neither Mercedes nor Ferrari seemed to have an answer to the RB14 on Thursday. Championship protagonists Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel were Red Bull’s closest challengers in FP1 and FP2 respectively, but despite their best efforts on the hypersoft tyres neither came any nearer to the pace than a 1:12.4s.
Last year’s Monaco poleman Kimi Räikkönen could get no higher than fifth fastest in either session, and at best was seven tenths off Ricciardo in FP2, while Valtteri Bottas was the slowest of the top teams’ drivers, finishing seventh in the morning and sixth in the afternoon.
Ferrari’s deficit to Red Bull was particularly surprising, given the Scuderia’s control of last year’s Monaco Grand Prix and the expectations that they would be in front again this weekend.
However, this does come with the caveat that Ferrari rarely shows its hand on the opening day of practice, and is likely to turn up the performance of the SF71H on Saturday.
Jerry Andre/Williams F1
Thursday’s running gave a confusing picture of how the midfield teams will line up this weekend.
Force India and Williams were surprising stars in the morning session, with Sergio Pérez and Sergey Sirotkin ending FP1 in eighth and tenth respectively, while Esteban Ocon was just bumped to eleventh in the closing stages.
But in the afternoon, despite all four of their drivers improving on their earlier times, the two Mercedes customer teams were kept out of the top ten by Renault and McLaren.
And although that restored some normality to the midfield order, one team was conspicuously absent from the best-of-the-rest battle: Haas.
Haas F1 Media
Apart from a late charge to ninth for Romain Grosjean in FP1, Haas spent most of Thursday struggling to get off the bottom of the timesheets—in FP2, they were indistinguishable from the Williams’ and Saubers.
In their absence, Toro Rosso quietly impressed. Brendon Hartley and Pierre Gasly were regular features in the top ten throughout the day—especially during the more representative second session—even if they did get bumped down to a best finish of eleventh by the end of play.
The STR12 also looked like one of the most comfortable cars around the Monte Carlo circuit, and its performance in the opening practice sessions should put Toro Rosso in a good position to pick up some more points if anyone else is caught out in front.
Unadulterated bravery is arguably the most critical aspect as Formula 1 heads for its sixth stop of the season; the iconic Circuit de Monaco.
A fixture on the championship schedule since 1955, not much has changed on the streets of Monte Carlo since – aside from some minor alterations to the entry of Rascasse over a decade ago.
The Monaco Grand Prix indeed is a race which provides some of the most exhilarating moments on the calendar, although if overtaking is your thing, you will not find much here.
With the tight streets of sea-abreast Monaco walled with Armco car-killers, aside from the tunnel – one of the few places on the track where drivers can put their foot down – or some serious Daniel Ricciardo-sized cojones, qualifying is arguably the best shot of securing maximum points.
In fact, in its 64 races, pole position has lost out only 10 times, highlighting that grid position is everything on the roads of Monte Carlo.
Speaking of the surface, the Circuit de Monaco provides the lowest wear on tyres on the calendar, which is partly due to the super-slow corners dotted around the track – including the Loews hairpin, which sees the cars drop their speed to around 30mph.
However, although there is no chance of cars hitting full tilt with downforce set to maximum across the paddock, we will finally be able to witness Pirelli’s hypersoft compound for the first time as it makes its debut on the world famous street circuit, which, in testing, has shown to be a full second faster than the supersoft.
“We’ve tested the hypersoft in Abu Dhabi and Barcelona: of those two, Abu Dhabi is a better comparison to Monaco and there we saw that the hypersoft was worth about a second per lap than the ultrasoft; so we could see some more records broken this weekend,” Mario Isola, Pirelli’s Head of Car Racing, told Formula 1’s official website.
“Nonetheless, the hypersoft is definitely a race tyre rather than a qualifying tyre, so it will be interesting to see how it adapts itself to the unique demands of Monaco, and what effect it has on strategy.
“Collecting as much data about it as possible in free practice will be particularly important. The drivers have all each nominated between eight and 11 sets of hypersoft, so we should see plenty of running on it throughout the weekend, if it stays dry of course.”
In my exclusive interview last week, Thierry said that he didn’t think he’d be able to win and was hoping instead for a podium finish. Here the story of an unlikely win on the roads of Portugal, which has lifted him into the championship lead. Elfyn and Teemu also had great events to round off the podium.
Ott Tanak took the early lead in the stage that kicked off this event on Thursday evening. Less than two seconds covered the top ten.
Friday morning dawned a beautiful day and the cars would go into the days eight stages in championship order – Ogier, Neuville, Tänak, Mikkelsen, Sordo, Meeke, Lappi, Latvala, Evans, Breen, Paddon, Ostberg, Suninen.
The first stage of the day – Viana Do Castelo, was won by Hayden, making his first start for Hyundai since February’s Rally Sweden. Evans and Meeke were second and third as well, whilst Seb could only manage eighth, 12 seconds slower. Thierry was ninth at this point. Sadly, for Toyota, Ott stopped in the stage after hitting some rocks. So far, Thierry’s predictions were so far true.
The next stage – Caminha, Kris won and this was enough to move him into the lead with Hayden dropping to second. Seb set a great time considering his road position and with those ahead not so fast jumped to positions into sixth, whilst Thierry also moved up to into eighth. Toyota also saw a second retirement, with Jari-Matti also stopping in the stage! Big drama for Tommi’s team.
The third stage of the day – Ponte De Lima, and the last before midday service saw another change in the lead, with Dani Sordo now winning the stage from his teammate Andreas and moving ahead of Kris by almost 5 seconds. Ogier also showed great pace again, setting the third fastest time and moving up to fourth, but Thierry was keeping close to the French champion in fifth overall.
The midday break was welcome for a few drivers, in particular, Mads Ostberg who was shown a few things by the Citroen team. He put these things to good use in the first afternoon stage.
Stage 5 – Viana Do Castelo 2, was won by Kris with Mads going second fastest, just eight tenths slower. There was drama in the M-Sport camp though with Seb going off and retiring from the rally! A big shock, but he was pushing very hard and when you’re first on the road, things can catch you out. With his stage victory, Kris had moved back into the lead, with Dani slipping back just one place to second. Further back, Elfyn had moved up to seventh. Andreas and Craig were also both on the move, passing Thierry who was now sixth.
Stage 6 – Caminha 2, and Kris got a puncture about 3km into the 18km stage, despite running the hard tyres. He lost 18 seconds and dropped to fifth but was still just 11 seconds from the leader who was once again Hayden. Craig and Thierry were both now ahead of Kris in third and fourth.
There was more drama in stage 7- Ponte De Lima 2, with Craig and Kris both getting punctures, Andreas retiring and Hayden going off and damaging his car too much to complete the stage. Thierry was now in the lead with Elfyn up to second.
The final two stages of the day were won by Thierry, with Dani and Craig also second and third in both.
Thierry had driven brilliantly and very consistently throughout the day letting the others make mistakes. Citroen had reasons to smile, but fortune was not smiling on them with punctures spoiling their efforts. Hayden also was showing pace and had led, only to suffer misfortune. Things were definitely looking better for Elfyn though! The welsh wizard had driven very well!
Classification after Day One
1
T. Neuville
N. Gilsoul
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
1:37:30.7
2
E. Evans
D. Barritt
Ford Fiesta WRC
+17.7
3
D. Sordo
C. del Barrio
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+24.3
4
T. Suninen
M. Markkula
Ford Fiesta WRC
+34.4
5
E. Lappi
J. Ferm
Toyota Yaris WRC
+45.8
6
M. Østberg
T. Eriksen
Citroën C3 WRC
+48.3
7
K. Meeke
P. Nagle
Citroën C3 WRC
+1:18.7
8
C. Breen
S. Martin
Citroën C3 WRC
+2:27.3
Anyway, lets here from all the drivers after Friday’s stages.
Thierry Neuville
“All in all, I am pretty happy with my day. We have made improvements to the car from one stage to the next, and we have been able to stay out of trouble. The afternoon loop proved decisive with a complicated tyre selection. We opted for six soft tyres, which – in hindsight – was perhaps not the best choice, but we were clever and made it work quite well in the end. Despite incredibly rough conditions, we felt comfortable and pushed as hard as possible. We took four stage wins in a row, and the performances in the Street Stage allowed us to build a decent lead. However, it’s still very early days in this rally, and we’ve seen today that we absolutely cannot be complacent.”
2018 FIA World Rally Championship Round 06, Rally de Portugal 17-20 May 2018 Action Photographer: Helena El Mokni Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Elfyn Evans
“It’s good to be in this position at the end of the day. I felt that our driving was pretty good on the whole, but there are still some things we can improve and we’ll be working on that tomorrow. We’ve just got to keep going and fight for the best result possible.”
Dani Sordo
“It has been a very tough day, so I am pleased to be inside the top-three overall and still in the close podium hunt. There is still a long way to go, but it has already been a rally with many incidents. We started the morning loop carefully but built up confidence in the first run through Ponte de Lima to win the stage. For the afternoon, we opted to run soft tyres, which in the end was not the ideal choice. The stages were rougher than expected and we had high wear which prevented us from pushing. We managed the situation reasonably well and had two good runs during the Porto Street Stage to end the day positively. I hope for a smoother Saturday!”
M-Sport Ford WRT
Teemu Suninen (4th)
“I was happy with my pace – especially on the second loop when I did some really good stage times. I was just a bit disappointed with SS4 where I was a bit too careful and lost a lot of time. That tells me that I need to go flat-out all the time, and that’s what we plan to do tomorrow.”
Sébastien Ogier (Rally 2)
“I went just a couple of centimetres too deep into a right-hand corner. There was a bank and I thought it would be okay to touch it a little, but unfortunately there was something there – a small root [or tree stump].
“It was a small, short impact on the suspension, but it was enough to break it. In the next corner nothing happened when I braked – I couldn’t turn and went straight into the trees. It was my mistake and I shouldn’t have touched the bank – those two or three centimetres have cost us a lot this weekend.”
Citroen Abu Dhabi Racing WRT
Kris Meeke (6th)
“It was a difficult day for us. It had all started so well, I felt so good in the car and we were leading the rally. But in the afternoon, I picked up two separate punctures – I’ve no idea where – and suddenly things were a lot more complicated. In order not to break the rules, which say that you can’t drive on the wheel rims during the road sections, we had to manage the two flat tyres as best we could. In running second on the road tomorrow on the stages that will clean the most this weekend, I’m going to suffer for sure, but you can count on me to fight all the way and give it everything.”
Craig Breen (7th)
“Obviously, it’s been a frustrating day for us. We had really got back into our stride again this afternoon. Without the puncture, we could potentially have been leading the rally tonight. I’ll be first on the road tomorrow, but I’ll be doing my utmost to limit the damage.”
Mads Østberg (8th)
“After an up and down morning where I made a few set-up mistakes, I really enjoyed it this afternoon. The car was really perfect to drive, after the team made changes in service. We stopped on the road where Paddon had his accident to see if we could help, so we didn’t contest the longest stage of the day, but that wasn’t the most important thing at the time. The conditions remind me of the Acropolis Rally, in Greece. It was so rough out there today, but we made it to the end of the leg and we’re going to try and do even better in the rest of the rally.”
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Esapekka Lappi (5th)
“The morning wasn’t the best for me as I struggled a bit with the confidence. The car itself was fine but I didn’t feel like we had much lateral grip, so I just couldn’t push as much as I wanted to. This afternoon the conditions were some of the roughest I have seen in my career, with so many rocks on the road. We changed a lot of things on the car during the mid-day service and that helped. The first stage this afternoon was immediately better. Then we had a small issue with the damper and we had to manage that until the end of the day, but the times were still not too bad. I think we are in a fighting position for tomorrow.”
Jari-Matti Latvala (Rally 2)
“On the first stage I was a bit too cautious, but on the second stage I started to push more. Then about five kilometres into the stage, in a left-right corner combination, there was a rock in the line, which was in my pace-notes. I went over the rock as intended but immediately the front-right suspension was damaged, and I had to stop. The team has worked hard to fix the car and we will be able to carry on tomorrow. I’m very motivated to continue. I really want to drive now, because I have a very good feeling with the car and I am enjoying driving it.”
Ott Tänak (DNF)
“It was very, very unfortunate what happened to us this morning. Quite early in the first stage we came across a place where the road was full of rocks: there were not just one or two rocks but four or five. We could not avoid them and they caused damage to our radiator. We had to stop soon afterwards with an engine issue, which it was not possible to repair here. We were in a strong position coming into this rally, and like the previous rally I had a really good feeling in the car. It’s a hit for our championship bid but it’s never over before it’s over, so I will still keep fighting. We will aim for a big fight-back in Sardinia: we know we have the performance.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Andreas Mikkelsen (Rally2)
“A day of two halves for us, unfortunately. The morning went reasonably and I felt like we were getting more comfortable with each stage. The car felt good and I was encouraged for the afternoon loop. In SS6, the second run through Caminha, we lost the power steering midway through and had to battle hard to make it to the end of the stage. We tried to fix the problem with the remote support of the team. Although we couldn’t manage to find a solution, we were still able to start SS7. Towards the end of the stage, the engine started to feel strange and I noticed oil on the windscreen, so we had no choice but to stop the car. The team will now assess the car to see if we are able to rejoin under Rally 2 on Saturday. I am very disappointed as we were going well and the car was perfect.”
Hayden Paddon (DNF)
“The day was going well, we were driving within ourselves and to our plan. It was a difficult day for everyone and hard to get the tyre choice right but it was, of course, good to be back on the pace right away. Near the start of SS7 there was a big rock on the inside of the corner, which was concealed. I had to steer out a little for the corner to avoid it, but then the speed was too great and the car ran wide. The problem then was a big culvert on the exit of the corner, which stopped the car instantly. I’m gutted for the team as a good result was possible but for a third year in a row, this stage bites us.”
Day two, Saturday would see the crews tackle six stages. Hayden and Seb wouldn’t restart the rally after the Kiwi was kept in hospital overnight. Seb and Jari-Matti would however be back out, looking to get some points come the end of Sunday’s stages. Kris Meeke’s car was also rebuilt on one side by the amazing Citroen team.
Jari-Matti made a great start to day two winning Vieira Do Minho from Neuville and Lappi who was holding fourth overall. Elfyn and Dan lost a little ground to Thierry but were holding their own near the top of the leaderboard.
Into stage 11 – Cabeceiras De Basto, and it was Elfyn’s turn to win a stage and with that he closed on Thierry by a few seconds. Dani and Jari-Matti were second and third fastest, and this showed just how competitive the WRC is at the moment with three different cars setting times that are very evenly matched.
The first run through the longest stage of the day, stage 12 -Amarante sadly saw Kris and Paul crash out. The car was wrecked and there would be no return sadly. At the front, Thierry took another stage win and with Elfyn 17.2 seconds slower the Belgian now had a lead of almost 30 seconds! Just behind him the remaining Toyota duo were showing the great pace of the Yaris with Lappi closing on Suninen for fourth place.
After the midday service break stage 13 – Vieira Do Minho 2 was won by Elfyn, with Seb second fastest and Teemu with the third fastest time – a M-Sport triple, and with Thierry only fifth fastest, the gap had reduced to a little over 23 seconds. Also, Teemu had now opened up the gap to Lappi. He was being allowed to push as he wanted, and that pace really showed.
The second run of Cabeceiras De Basto 2, stage 14 saw some surprising rain! Latvala, Thierry and Ogier were the top three, whilst further back Mads went off the road after sliding off in the rain! He still held onto sixth place though, as Craig was two minutes behind the Norwegian.
The final stage of the day -Amarante 2, and it was won by Seb with Thierry and Jari-Matti second and third. The lead that Thierry held now was almost 40 seconds over Elfyn with Dani in third. However, the battle for the final podium position was not over with just four seconds between Dani and Teemu.
Classification after Day Two
1
T. Neuville
N. Gilsoul
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
3:16:30.0
2
E. Evans
D. Barritt
Ford Fiesta WRC
+39.8
3
D. Sordo
C. del Barrio
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+57.2
4
T. Suninen
M. Markkula
Ford Fiesta WRC
+1:01.9
5
E. Lappi
J. Ferm
Toyota Yaris WRC
+1:13.0
6
M. Østberg
T. Eriksen
Citroën C3 WRC
+3:14.1
7
C. Breen
S. Martin
Citroën C3 WRC
+4:53.1
Let’s hear then from the crews!
Thierry Neuville
“We have had a very positive day and can be extremely satisfied with our position. That’s not to say we can relax because we have some tricky stages on Sunday, including the two runs through Fafe. Our focus today was to extend our lead overall but we knew we had to be clever with our strategy on both loops. We had to save the tyres in some places to maximise the performance on the longer Amarante stages. We knew we could make the difference here; it’s a stage I really enjoy and we could give it a really big push. There were a few wet patches at the end of the afternoon, but we made it through and could increase our margin. We will need to remain concentrated because there are still five stages to go – and we’ve seen just what can happen here.”
Elfyn Evans
“On the whole I think we can be pretty happy with our day. It’s not been perfect by all means and I was a bit disappointed with both runs through the Amarante stage (SS12 and SS15). But overall we can be pretty satisfied and we’re in a good position going into tomorrow.”
Elfyn Evans, Rally de Portugal 2018, Photo credit, M-Sport.
Dani Sordo
“In general, I am pleased with our day and to be in the battle for the podium. The gap to the guys behind is close so we need to keep pushing. The only downside to today’s running was the final stage, the repeat of Amarante, which started with a half-spin. I don’t know what happened; something felt a bit strange and I lost the rear, but we kept our focus. We quickly built up our confidence again and worked on reducing the time loss. The crowds at this rally have been incredible and it really gives us the motivation to fight for the podium on Sunday morning. That’s our target!”
M-Sport Ford WRT
Teemu Suninen (4th)
“It’s been a good day for us and I was really pleased to see that we were able to improve through the slower sections which is what we wanted to work on today. Now there are just five stages left and it looks like we have a chance of challenging for the podium too. I’m really happy to be in this battle, and tomorrow I want to continue like this – to show what I can do.”
Sébastien Ogier (Rally 2) said:
“It wasn’t a very exciting day for us, but I wanted to make use of it – doing some work on the car and trying to find some little things to improve the set-up. I’m pleased with that and we were quickest over the second loop – closing the day with a fastest time. Power Stage points is the only thing we can try to push for tomorrow. We’ll be running pretty early on the road so it won’t be easy, but at least we have nothing to lose.”
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Esapekka Lappi (5th)
“It has been a pretty good day. The feeling has been nice with the car and I have been pushing really hard. I don’t think I’ve ever pushed as hard for a whole day, especially this afternoon. I gave it everything, and it was really enjoyable. The guys in front of me have been doing a really good job and it has been hard to take any time out of them, but I’m really happy with my driving and that I could stay on the limit for so long. It was a risky tyre choice this afternoon to go with the hard tyres and it didn’t pay off, but we didn’t lose anything to our rivals either. The gap is quite big going into the final day but I want to keep the pressure on.”
Jari-Matti Latvala (Rally 2)
“I’m really, really happy about today. We had two stage wins, so we know the speed is there. I still have a little bit of margin: particularly this afternoon when it was quite rough in places I was a bit more careful not to break the car, as it has been important for me to have a clean day. The car is fast and I have started to find in myself the speed and confidence. All the elements are now there so we just need to bring it to the end. Tomorrow my approach will be to try and carry on in the same way. I want to be competitive and to do another clean day, and then of course in the Power Stage, I will try to attack and try to get some points. The idea is try to and keep building the confidence ready for Sardinia.”
Citroen Abu Dhabi Racing WRT
Mads Østberg (6th)
“The morning went well for us. I felt full of confidence in my C3 WRC and the times were pretty decent given our position in the running order. Since we weren’t in a close fight for position with anyone, we decided to do some set-up tests this afternoon to try and keep improving with the car. We probably pushed things a bit too far, but that’s part and parcel of the learning process.”
Craig Breen (7th)
“It was a difficult day for us, with a huge amount of cleaning with the dry and sandy ground. It hasn’t rained properly here for a while! But it’s the kind of experience that you have to get in order to fight with the very best one day and I prefer to focus on the very good feeling that I had driving my C3 WRC.”
Kris Meeke (DNF)
“I turned into a fast-left-hand corner a little bit late, missed my line and got onto the loose gravel on the outside of the corner and lost control of the car. Obviously, I’m sorry for the whole team, who clearly deserved better. I’m really very grateful that they built such a strong car. It was my mistake, of course, so I’ll take it on the chin. But the feeling in my C3 WRC was so good here in Portugal that I can’t help but take the positives away from this weekend.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Andreas Mikkelsen (Rally 2)
“First of all, I am very grateful to the team for their efforts in getting us back into the rally after the problems we experienced on Friday. We had to make some adjustments to the engine settings for today to help us make it through. As a result, we didn’t have access to full power, which limited what we could do. We simply had to do our best with what we had at our disposal and I think in that regard it has been a pretty good day. It is important for us to finish the rally cleanly in order to secure manufacturer points for the team, even if we are not at the level we know we could be. We always want to compete at the front and I hope we can fight for some Power Stage points tomorrow.”
The final day then and with five stages to go, it wouldn’t be easy.
The first stage then saw Dani lose third overall with Teemu and Esapekka moving ahead of the Spaniard. Thierry’s lead was really strong, whilst Elfyn was looking good for his best result of the year.
The first run of the famous Fafe stage, with its jump just before the finish line saw Ogier set the best time – a sign of things to come, whilst the battle between Dani and Esapekka continued over fourth, this time the Spaniard getting back ahead!
Stage 18 – Luilhas, saw them swap again and Esapekka was back into fourth! Meantime, Teemu was looking really good in third and likely to score his first WRC podium. Thierry and Elfyn were just stroking their cars to the finish, ticking off the km’s.
Teemu won stage 19 – Montim 2, beating Lappi by 1.7 seconds whilst Dani was third. The overall positions were really set now, with Thierry looking likely to win his second rally of the year, but in the M-Sport camp all eyes were on their young drivers. Elfyn was set for his best result since last October’s Wales Rally GB and Teemu was set for his first ever podium finish!
Time then for the final stage, the re-run of Fafe, with its famous jump. Of course, there were as usual points up for grabs for the quickest five drivers! The winner of the stage was Lappi, and Thierry was second. Dani, Teemu and Elfyn rounded out the top five. Seb had rejoined under rally 2 regs, and had come very close to scoring some points, ending up just 8 tenths away from fifth place.
Thierry had taken a unexpected but very welcome victory, and we also had Elfyn in second place, with teammate, Teemu Suninen taking his first ever podium. Thierry had also taken the lead of the world championship after Seb’s mistake took him out of the points. He’ll want to bounce back at the next round- no doubt!
Final Overall Classification – Rally de Portugal
1
T. Neuville
N. Gilsoul
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
3:49:46.6
2
E. Evans
D. Barritt
Ford Fiesta WRC
+40.0
3
T. Suninen
M. Markkula
Ford Fiesta WRC
+47.3
4
E. Lappi
J. Ferm
Toyota Yaris WRC
+54.7
5
D. Sordo
C. del Barrio
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+1:00.9
6
M. Østberg
T. Eriksen
Citroën C3 WRC
+3:33.5
7
C. Breen
S. Martin
Citroën C3 WRC
+5:23.0
8
P. Tidemand
J. Andersson
Škoda Fabia R5
+14:10.8
9
L. Pieniazek
P. Mazur
Škoda Fabia R5
+16:17.3
10
S. Lefebvre
G. Moreau
Citroën C3 R5
+16:34.3
2018 FIA World Rally Championship Round 06, Rally de Portugal 17-20 May 2018 Thierry Neuville, Nicolas Gilsoul, Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC Photographer: Austral Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Let’s hear from the drivers!
Thierry Neuville
“What a weekend and what a result! We have taken a clever approach to this event, pushing when we could and controlling the pace when we needed. The car has been fabulous all weekend long, and the team has been behind us every stage of the way. I have felt completely comfortable and at ease despite some challenging conditions. My teammates have also been on the pace but were unlucky not to be on the podium. We tried to give it a bit of a push in the Power Stage, to take as many points as we could, but also taking care not to make any mistakes. We have a lot of Portuguese people in the team, so it’s going to be a nice celebration. A fantastic weekend for our team.”
Elfyn Evans
“I’m happy with this result, and a bit relieved too if I’m honest! Everyone knows that our season didn’t get off to the best of starts. Monte started well with the exception of the puncture, but one thing led to another and it quickly snowballed into what was becoming a pretty dismal season.
“We knew coming here that we needed to get some strong points on the board – for the team and for us as well. So, to come away with second place was good. It wasn’t perfect, and there are some areas where we can still improve. I wasn’t entirely happy with my driving through all of the stages, but it’s certainly alleviated the pressure and we can go to Sardinia in a positive frame of mind.”
Teemu Suninen
“It’s really great to get my first podium here in Portugal – the first one is always special and I think it will be a big step for my career. I was really happy with my driving all weekend. We struggled a bit to find the limit on Friday morning as I had to get used to driving this car on these stages, but after that I was able to push and set some really good times.
“I want to thank the team for their trust in me and for the good support that they gave me all weekend. I’m really happy that I could pay them back with these good points for the championship.”
2018 FIA World Rally Championship Round 06, Rally de Portugal 17-20 May 2018 Thierry Neuville, Nicolas Gilsoul, Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC Photographer: Austral Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Hyundai Motorsport
Dani Sordo (4th)
“I am disappointed not to finish on the podium after what had been a very promising and competitive weekend for us. We showed our pace in many stages and were definitely in the fight. The time penalty was frustrating but we put that out of our mind and concentrated on doing the best job we could on Sunday morning. Unfortunately, we had an issue during the penultimate stage when a stone went through our front splitter and smashed the windscreen. This made some corners difficult to see in the Power Stage but we gave it absolutely everything. There are so many fans here and lots of people supporting me, so I was happy to put on a good performance through Fafe. Congratulations to Thierry and Nicolas on a great win, and thanks to the team.”
Andreas Mikkelsen (16th)
“That was not the weekend we had hoped to have but it’s been a positive final morning. The car was working much better in the Power Stage, which allowed us to really give it a push. I’d like to send big thanks to the team who put in a huge effort to adapt the car to get it better suited to my style. I have enjoyed driving this weekend and without our issues on Friday, and the knock-on effects of that, I am sure we could have had a much more representative result. Congratulations to Thierry and Nicolas on their victory, which is thoroughly deserved for them and the entire team. I am looking forward to Sardinia.”
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Esapekka Lappi (5th)
“Today we just continued like we ended yesterday: flat out all the time. In the end, we just couldn’t catch Suninen. It was a tough, tough fight. He did a good job and deserved the podium. However, I have to be pleased to take five points from the Power Stage as well. I have now won half of the Power Stages this year, and this is important, because I now have 15 points just from these three stages alone. I’m pretty satisfied with the weekend: we didn’t make any mistakes, and that is what we were looking for.”
2018 FIA World Rally Championship / Round 06, Rally Portugal / May 17-20, 2018 // Worldwide Copyright: Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC
Jari-Matti Latvala (24th)
“Today was another good day, with another stage win. Of course, I tried to go for points on the Power Stage and give everything I could. It was a very good run; I don’t think I could have driven much better, but there was a very big cleaning effect on the Fafe stage today and I was the first World Rally Car on the road. I am happy though because the confidence is improving a lot. We had the problem on Friday but at least I could then drive two clean days without any mistakes. We could also learn something on today’s stages, which were more technical than before, about the setup that we need for Sardinia. I feel very positive going there.”
Citroen Abu Dhabi Racing WRT
Mads Østberg (6th)
“This first rally on gravel was informative for us because we learned a lot about the C3 WRC. Although we struggled a bit to find the right set-up on Friday morning, the team quickly worked it out and the car worked very well in the afternoon for the second loop. It’s just that we then had a tough time of it due to our road position. If you don’t have as good a first day as you were hoping for, then your whole rally ends up being affected, but I’m pleased to see that the speed was there whenever we pushed and we had the right conditions.”
Craig Breen (7th)
“Our puncture on Friday afternoon, when we were running third, meant we had to open the road on the next two days and from that point on, it was difficult to hope for a better outcome. But I’m now looking forward to Sardinia to turn the good feeling we had this weekend into a significantly better result.”
Well, after yet another twist in this year’s championship we head to Rally Italia Sardegna held from the 7th to the 10th of June!
Craig Breen, Scott Martin, Rally Portugal 2018, Photo credit, Citroen Racing.
2018 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’ Standings
After round 6
1
T. Neuville
119
2
S. Ogier
100
3
O. Tanak
72
4
D. Sordo
58
5
E. Lappi
57
6
A. Mikkelsen
54
7
E. Evans
45
8
K. Meeke
43
9
J.M Latvala
31
10
C. Breen
26
11
T. Suninen
23
12
M. Østberg
16
13
S. Loeb
15
14
P. Tidemand
11
15
H. Paddon
10
2018 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’ Standings
After round 6
