Category: Tin Top Racing

Onto the final day then and with 72km’s over seven stages the challenge of this rally was not over. Adrien would continue to open the road throughout the final stages. In addition, there would be no service break or tyre fitting zone giving the crews an extra degree of uncertainty.

First up then was SS19 Paredes 1 – 16.09 km and Kalle set the pace from Thierry and Ott. Also on the pace was Elfyn setting a faster time than Sami and closing the gap to his teammate who held sixth place.

Into SS20 Felgueiras 1 – 8.81 km and Ott was fastest in this one from Kalle and Thierry. Elfyn continued to close on Sami, reducing the gap to 7.1 seconds. The Welshman was on a push to get past his younger teammate. Meanwhile Josh was really showing excellent pace, only 1.5 seconds slower than Sami. The Irishman now had a 40 second lead over his teammate.

The first run of SS21 Fafe 1 – 11.18 km and Ott was fastest in this one as well with Seb second and Thierry third. Elfyn took a further 3.9 seconds from Sami and the Welshman was now just 3.2 seconds from his teammate.

Just three stages left then and first up was SS22 Paredes 2 – 16.09 km. Ott again was fastest from Seb and Kalle. Ott was closing on Kalle for second overall, the gap now just 3.7 seconds between them. Meanwhile there was a change in positions as Elfyn passed Sami for sixth overall. At M-Sport Greg was the fastest of the Puma’s and also quicker than Sami.

We came then to the penultimate stage of the rally, SS23 Felgueiras 2 – 8.81 km and Ott was fastest from Elfyn and Kalle. The Estonian’s pace was clear to see, and he passed Kalle for second overall. He was also just 13.6 seconds behind Seb who took the lead after Ott’s problems. It was an amazing recovery drive for the leading Hyundai crew over the weekend.

Onto the final stage then, SS24 Fafe 2[Power Stage] – 11.18 km and Elfyn set the early benchmark before being outpaced by the top five. Ultimately the top five who took the powerstage points were Ott, Thierry, Kalle, Takamoto and Seb.

Let’s take a look at the final finishing positions and hear from the drivers.

Final Classification – Rally de Portugal

1 S. Ogier V. Landais Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 3:48:35.9 2 O. Tänak M. Järveoja Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +8.7 3 K. Rovanperä J. Halttunen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +12.2 4 T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +38.5 5 T. Katsuta A. Johnston Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +1:41.9 6 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +2:31.0 7 S. Pajari M. Salminen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +2:38.3 8 J. McErlean E. Treacy Ford Puma Rally1 +5:12.3 9 G. Munster L. Louka Ford Puma Rally1 +5:57.5 10 O. Solberg E. Edmondson Toyota GR Yaris +9:15.1

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sébastien Ogier

“It feels fantastic to win again here in Portugal. It’s been a very demanding and exhausting week but to get this win for the team and for ourselves is something that was really worth all the effort. It was a tough fight with Ott, and I don’t think we had the pure speed to win without his issue, but rallying is not only about being quick. There were very rough conditions on the second pass of stages and with a strong car and a clever approach we were able to take the opportunity, so thank you to the team.”

Kalle Rovanperä

“It’s been a long and difficult weekend but any time you can finish on the podium is not bad, especially considering the road cleaning we faced running second on the road on Friday. In the end we were able to catch some good points for the championship. I was a bit disappointed that we couldn’t have a bit more pace today in our fight for second place with a better starting position, so we are still missing something and need to keep working for the next rallies.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“It has been a very demanding weekend, but I think it was not a bad one for us. The car was working well, and I felt comfortable, and we had good pace at the beginning of the rally. I’m pleased to finish the rally in fifth position; of course, I would have liked more but there were a lot of things to learn about the new tyres especially and I can see that we have the potential to be better.”

Elfyn Evans

“It’s not been an easy weekend for us and I’m quite relieved to be at the end. Obviously opening the road on Friday was tough for us but we were also missing quite a bit of performance especially from the middle of Friday onwards. We haven’t collected as many points as we would have liked so it’s been a frustrating weekend, and now we just have to work to try and be better on the next rally in Sardinia.”

Sami Pajari

“It has been a good, clean weekend for us and exactly what we wanted. Our plan was to get more experience on this kind of more twisty gravel roads with the Rally1 car and try to have some solid, consistent speed. That’s what we were able to do, with no big mistakes or issues, so I’m really happy with that. A big thanks to the team and let’s try to continue like this in Sardinia.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Ott Tänak

“In a way this weekend was very frustrating. I hate to lose like this, especially at an event that is very special to me. This is the first time in a long time that we were able to really enjoy our drive, and it was a lot of fun, but while our speed was there the car is maybe missing a bit of the robustness needed to win. Nevertheless, it was definitely a big improvement compared to Rally Islas Canarias, and we are definitely back in the game – now we need to build on that. We’ve only had Toyotas winning rallies so far this season, and it’s time to change that.”

Thierry Neuville

“We made a small mistake on Friday that maybe cost us a position for Saturday, but I think we finished in the same position we would have done without it. My instinct tells me I wouldn’t have been able to fight with Ott today. We didn’t struggle too much this weekend; the performance was there, and our times were good, so I think overall we are satisfied. There are a few things I know we can do to get a bit more speed out of the car, so if we can find that extra performance for Sardinia, we can get a better road position.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“Today was tough for us from the start. We were first on the road, so we were doing a lot of sweeping for the rest of the field. We wanted to score some good Super Sunday points but unfortunately, it just wasn’t possible. The whole weekend has been frustrating for us after the great start we had on Friday, but the broken suspension took us out of the fight for the lead as well as made it really difficult to score any points. Despite this, we can still take away a lot of positives; the car has the pace and we got to know these Hankook tyres. We will now shift our focus to a strong weekend at Rally Italia Sardegna.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Josh McErlean

“Honestly it’s been a really nice weekend and we’ve loved every moment of it. It’s been a crazy rally as always, it’s so nice to come to the finish clean and with some good times as well. A big thanks to all the team, to run four cars with no problems is a great achievement for them. We’ve had a lot of friends and family at home watching, and lots of Irish flags on the stages too which is so nice to see. Now on to Sardinia!”

Grégoire Munster

“It’s been a really tough event, we got some things right and some things wrong and the result isn’t exactly there, but at least we managed to get back the feeling towards the end.

“We had an ok run just then in the power stage, the first two kilometres were ok, but in two ruts we slid wide, and we lost a lot of time. But we didn’t give up and we tried to push and gain back some time, I think we had some pace towards the end.”

Mārtiņš Sesks

“It was a challenging week — a good experience for sure. Not everything went as planned, but it never does! It was a valuable learning opportunity for us.

“I would say everything started to go wrong with the puncture. The stage after felt quite strange, so we made some changes to the set-up, but from that point on we struggled with the feeling. We kept having bad luck, but if you take away the lost time, we were close to our teammates — and for our first time in Portugal in a Rally1 car, that’s pretty good. We didn’t expect it to be this tough!”

Pierre-Louis Loubet

“I’m pleased with the result for our first time with the car. We optimised the package, and I think we did the maximum we could. There are some small things to improve on, and we know where we can develop. I’m very happy to be part of the team, and I’m looking forward to the next event — I hope we’ll be even better!”

Romet Jürgenson

“There’s a big contrast between where we were on Friday and where we are now on Sunday. On some stages — for example, Parades — we showed really decent pace, so we can be happy with that. We were on the same level as Pierre on some stages too, so there were definitely big improvements.

“I lacked a bit of confidence and motivation at times, honestly, because some of the stage times were a bit of a shock to us. But at least we’re here, and we’ve gained a lot of valuable experience.”

Diogo Salvi

“What a party! I enjoyed it. We took it very slowly, but I still had a great time. It’s been a pleasure working with Axel — he’s been very professional, talented, and patient with me throughout the weekend!

“Everyone at M-Sport has been tremendous — the engineers, mechanics, and all the support staff. Everything has been perfect. Thanks also to my family for coming to support me — even my partner, who hates rally! We’ve had a fantastic time.”

 

Oliver Solberg

“I am very, very happy with this result,” smiled Oliver. “We all know how big rallying is in this part of the world and we’ve seen that all the way through this event – so many people, so many fans absolutely everywhere. The atmosphere has been amazing!

“I wasn’t so sure what to expect from the Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 at the start of the event. We hadn’t done a rally on this kind of surface and with these kind of roads in this car. Printsport did a fantastic job to help me get what I wanted from it. I think there’s still some more speed to come from me and the car, but I’m really happy with what we found.

“For the rally itself, we knew this would be a really tough Friday. It was so long and really hard on the tyres and the car. We pushed as much as we could, we wanted to make an advantage and we managed that. After that, through Saturday and Sunday, it was a little bit more about managing that lead.

“I’ve been so close to winning this rally for the last two years, it’s really nice to finally get it done today. The win is a big thing for me and Elliott, but maybe the bigger thing is the maximum points – they are so important this year. We want that title.

“Like you could imagine, it would have been nice to say a big thank you to the crowds in places like Lousada and Fafe – it would have been nice to do some donuts, but we didn’t do that. We were staying out of the stewards’ room on this one!

“I have one word for the fans though: obrigado! We say it every year, but they’re just amazing. From the moment you land into the country for the recce, they are smiling and talking and cheering – the passion here is incredible. It’s fantastic.

“Tonight, we can celebrate a really good result with some great speed from the car and great work from everybody in the team. Thank you.”

 

Summary

Well, what a result in the end for Seb and Vincent taking Toyota’s fifth win of the year. To be honest though they were lucky to pick this up as Ott and Martin would have won this rally without the failure of the powersteering.

Elsewhere Kalle and Jonne took a good podium and good points for themselves in the drivers’ championship and is 30 points behind his teammate now holding second in the championship.

Next up is Rally Italia Sardegna over the weekend of the 5^th to 8^th of June.

2025 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’ Standings
After round 5

1 E. Evans 118 2 K. Rovanperä 88 3 S. Ogier 86 4 O. Tänak 84 5 T. Neuville 78 6 T. Katsuta 51 7 A. Fourmaux 44 8 S. Pajari 25 9 G. Munster 18 10 J. McErlean 12

2025 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’ Standings
After round 5

1 Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team 258 2 Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team 203 3 M-Sport Ford World Rally Team 72 4 Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team 2 36

Onto the second day then of this classic event and the crews would have 122.92km’s over seven stages with three in the morning and the remaining in the afternoon and early evening. Adrien returned to the action and would open the road throughout the day.

First up was SS12 Vieira do Minho 1 – 17.69 km and Seb was fastest out of the blocks, setting the best time from Ott and Kalle. The double Finnish champion was able to gain one position and moved into third overall at the expense of his Japanese teammate Takamoto. Further back Josh passed his own teammate Greg and moved into eighth position.

Into SS13 Cabeceiras de Basto 1 – 19.91 km and once again Seb set the pace going fastest from Takamoto and Ott a further 2.4 seconds behind. The Frenchman was closing the gap to Ott who had a reduced lead of just two seconds. There was a swap again in positions between Takamoto who regained third position from Kalle.

The final stage of the morning then, SS14 Amarante 1 – 22.10 km and Ott hit back setting the fastest time from Kalle and Takamoto. Seb was only fifth fastest and was now 11.8 seconds from Ott. Incredibly Kalle repassed Takamoto for third place again. Further back Elfyn was losing a few seconds to his younger rookie teammate in their fight over sixth place.

After lunchtime service came the second running of SS15 Vieira do Minho 2 – 17.69 km. Ott was fastest by just three tenths of a second over Seb, the gap between them now 12.1 seconds. Kalle was third fastest and building a gap over Takamoto whose pace was not where it had been earlier. Martins in the Puma was the fastest of the three M-Sport Ford crews in the stage whilst Josh remained the highest placed driver from the team holding eighth overall.

SS16 Cabeceiras de Basto 2 – 19.91 km was next and Ott again was fastest from Seb and Thierry. Martins was again fastest of the M-Sport crews, setting the sixth best time. The top M-Sport crew remained Josh who still held eighth place.

Onto the penultimate stage then, SS17 Amarante 2 – 22.10 km and Kalle was fastest from Seb and Thierry. However, there was drama for the overall leader Ott who at around two thirds of the stage completed had a failure of his powersteering giving him a huge issue with the control of the car. In fact, Martin took over changing gear for Ott. This all meant that the lead changed after the Estonian lost 46 seconds and fell to third overall. Also gaining a position was Thierry as he passed Takamoto for fourth overall.

The final stage then, SS18 SSS Lousada – 3.52 km and Seb was fastest from Thierry and Sami. Ott managed to keep third overall with a gritty drive in the Superspecial. Greg was the top M-Sport Ford crew in this one setting the seventh fastest time.

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

Classification after Day Two

1 S. Ogier V. Landais Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 3:01:04.7 2 K. Rovanperä J. Halttunen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +27.6 3 O. Tänak M. Järveoja Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +36.1 4 T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +44.6 5 T. Katsuta A. Johnston Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +46.8 6 S. Pajari M. Salminen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +1:58.4 7 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +2:15.9 8 J. McErlean E. Treacy Ford Puma Rally1 +4:13.2 9 G. Munster L. Louka Ford Puma Rally1 +4:41.7 10 O. Solberg E. Edmondson Toyota GR Yaris +7:07.5

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Elfyn Evans

“It’s not been the day we were hoping for today. The feeling hasn’t been too bad behind the wheel, but we weren’t able to find the speed to go with it. We won’t give up though and we have to stay positive and try to find something to improve for tomorrow. The pace was there at the start of the weekend, so we have to understand why it’s gone the way it has. Tomorrow is a new day, and we’ll give it everything to push for some more points.”

Kalle Rovanperä

“It’s been quite a good day for us in the sense that we were able to gain a couple of positions, both in the overall standings and in the road order for tomorrow. We had much softer conditions than we have seen here before and the second pass was really rough, so it was tough for the tyres and the cars. We haven’t quite had the optimal speed so it might not be easy to keep Ott behind us, but of course we will try our best tomorrow to take as many points as we can.”

Sébastien Ogier

“It’s been another tough day today. This morning it was quite enjoyable but in the afternoon the conditions were so rough with huge ruts. It took a lot of effort to keep it on the road without issues and I was glad to get to the end of the day. It was not the way we would have liked to take the lead, and I really feel sorry for Ott, but it’s also part of the game in this sport and things like this can happen, especially when conditions are rough like today. We just have to focus on our job and try to finish it tomorrow on what is still a long and demanding Sunday.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“This morning I had a good comfortable feeling in the car and good pace, and I was able to have a nice fun fight with Kalle. In the afternoon, when the conditions totally changed and became rougher, it was much harder and unfortunately we lost a position. But now I just need to focus on what I can do tomorrow. The gaps are still quite close, and I will try to keep pushing and see what happens.”

Sami Pajari

“I’m quite happy with the performance that we had today. It’s not so easy to read the pace because we could see there was some road cleaning effect. The morning especially was quite enjoyable with a nice flow. This afternoon there were some extremely rough sections, which was something new for me in this car, but we managed to get through it and let’s see what tomorrow brings.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Ott Tänak

“The power steering loss was sudden, and obviously the stage still had a lot of bedrock and roughness to it, so there wasn’t anything else I could do. The first stage this morning was not so great, but after that we managed to find something that clicked. I really enjoyed driving the car out there today and was controlling the pace and feeling good grip. Obviously, our issue was very unfortunate, but we are still in the fight tomorrow.”

Thierry Neuville

“We had a solid day today. The car was feeling good, and it allowed us to push on every stage – today was strong and we are satisfied with the position we are in considering our road position. We’re never 100% happy with the pace but it was definitely there, and we were similar to Kalle despite having different tyre choices. There’s still a lot to learn about the tyres. With six stages left and now being so close to the podium, we will be going full attack tomorrow.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“It has been a mixed day for us today. It was challenging to open the road, but we found some improvements within the setup, and we are happy with the changes we made. Nevertheless, it’s frustrating when you don’t have a fight going on around you and you are just driving in a league of your own. We’re keeping our heads up and we are going into Sunday fully focused on maximising our points tomorrow.”

Oliver Solberg

“It’s been another good day,” said Oliver. “We had to use more of the hard tyre today and that took some more getting used to on these roads. Yesterday, there was more of a hard base to the road, but today it’s a little bit softer with some more ruts and rocks being pulled out.

“The feeling from the car on these tyres is not quite like it was yesterday, but at the same time we have a good lead and we’re just trying to manage that gap. We are trying to go around every rock, but there are quite a lot of them!

“The last stage in Lousada was really cool, like always. No donuts this time, but I hope we still managed to give everybody a bit of a show. The fans here are just incredible, it’s really like an honour to come and drive in front of them. I wanted to make some tyre smoke and slide the car a little bit.

“And there’s more of that coming tomorrow with the really famous Fafe stage. That place is just incredible – the fans have been up there and sleeping up there for days waiting to get their party started!”

 

Sunday

The final day will see the crews tackle six stages over 72km’s. Can Seb hold on and take a seventh victory in this rally or will there be more drama for the crews?

The first full day of action would see the crews have a very long day with 149km’s over ten stages. Elfyn and Scott would open the road throughout the day. Their championship challengers would hope that they would have better and cleaner roads to allow them to challenge for the top positions and perhaps finish ahead of the Toyota crew.

Coming into the day there’d been a short stage the previous evening giving a leaderboard of sorts. After this Elfyn held the lead from Ott whilst Seb was third and actually matched Ott’s time.

First up was SS2 Mortágua 1 – 14.59 km and Ott was fastest from Kalle and Elfyn.  It was a good start then for the number 33 Toyota crew. However, it was not so good for Thierry who had a spin in the stage and lost quite a bit of time. It was worse for Martins in the M-Sport Puma who had a puncture on his front left. He and Renaur would lose a huge amount of time. The top overall three was now Ott, Kalle and Elfyn.

Next was SS3 Lousã 1 – 12.28 km and Ott was fastest again from his teammate Adrien with Kalle third. Elfyn fell behind Adrien to fourth but was still only 4.9 seconds from the leader. The conditions in the stage were not too bad with some damp sections meaning the road would not sap too much of the pace for Elfyn. Thierry was on the move though and gained one position to seventh place at the expense of Sami.

Onto SS4 Góis 1 – 14.30 km and Adrien was fastest this time from Seb and Takamoto. The Frenchman’s pace took him into second overall and was now just 2.1 seconds from the leader his teammate Ott. The Estonian could only manage fourth fastest. There were some position changes behind the top two as well with Seb moving into fourth and Takamoto into fifth with Elfyn falling two places to sixth.

Just the final morning stage then, SS5 Arganil 1 – 14.41 km and Adrien was fastest again from Takamoto and Seb. Ott was once again fourth in the stage and his lead was only two tenths of a second. Meanwhile Kalle fell two positions to fifth with Seb and Takamoto gaining a position each.

After the midday service SS6 Lousã 2 – 12.28 km was next and Seb was fastest from Takamoto and Ott. Further back Thierry passed Elfyn and moved into sixth place overall.

Next up was SS7 Góis 2 – 14.30 km and Takamoto was fastest from Thierry and Seb. The Japanese driver moved into third overall with Seb dropping to fourth. Meanwhile Adrien remained just eight tenths of a second from Ott who still held the lead.

SS8 Arganil 2 – 14.41 km followed and Thierry was fastest this time from Kalle and Takamoto. Unfortunately, Adrien retired in this stage from second place after suffering broken suspension at half distance in the stage.

Just three stages remained after the final tyre fitting zone and the first was SS9 Mortágua 2 – 14.59 km. Ott was fastest from Kalle and Thierry. Seb moved up to second overall with Takamoto falling to third.

Onto the penultimate stage of the day then, SS10 Águeda / Sever – 15.08 km and Seb was fastest from Ott and Thierry. The Estonian’s lead was now down to 5.8 seconds over Seb. Further back Josh passed his teammate Greg for eighth position.

Finally, the last stage of the day, SS11 Sever / Albergaria – 20.24 km and Ott was again fastest from Seb and Sami. The top three remained Ott, Seb and Takamoto. Meanwhile with his third fastest time, Sami actually passed Elfyn for sixth place overall. It was a surprise that Toyota had let their young driver pass the championship leader.

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

Classification after Day One

1 O. Tänak M. Järveoja Hyundai i20 N Rally1 1:41:26.2 2 S. Ogier V. Landais Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +7.0 3 T. Katsuta A. Johnston Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +27.1 4 K. Rovanperä J. Halttunen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +28.3 5 T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +32.7 6 S. Pajari M. Salminen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +1:01.4 7 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +1:09.0 8 G. Munster L. Louka Ford Puma Rally1 +1:50.2 9 J. McErlean E. Treacy Ford Puma Rally1 +1:54.3 10 O. Solberg E. Edmondson Toyota GR Yaris +3:38.2

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Elfyn Evans

“It’s been a tough day. It started off not too badly: the first two stages of the morning were not completely dry, so the conditions were a bit more similar for everyone and we weren’t losing too much time. After that we struggled a lot more. The middle loop is where I think we could have done better, because the last loop was extremely difficult in terms of cleaning with very low grip. At least we will be in a better position tomorrow and the sandier stages should be a bit more enjoyable to drive, so we hope to find a better feeling and push more.”

Kalle Rovanperä

“It’s been a crazy long day, but I think we have to be quite happy. It was not optimal, but I think we did what we could with our starting position. The day started with lower grip conditions than we usually see here in Portugal, and I think it was a bit tricky for everybody. Then it started to dry up and it felt a bit more like usual. I think the middle loop especially was good for us and now we’ll try to catch up some time if we can tomorrow on stages that usually suit us quite well.”

Sébastien Ogier

“I’m happy with my day today. It was a difficult start this morning as I felt something was not right with the car setup – probably a consequence of the difficult wet conditions we had in our test. But I started to work on it between stages and the rhythm got better. I’m happy with the way we fought and managed to stay in touch with the lead, while also trying to save some soft tyres for the rest of the weekend. To be in a battle with Ott is always intense and enjoyable and I know I need to give my best to keep the pressure on tomorrow.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“Things were going well through most of today. I was feeling very comfortable in the car and I was enjoying the driving. In the last loop with some new stages the feeling maybe wasn’t quite so good, and I was maybe driving a bit more on the safe side. But we are still in third position with two days to go, and still in a good place on the road for tomorrow, so I will keep trying to push.”

Sami Pajari

“It has not been a bad day for us. At first the conditions were changing, and it was not easy to get in a rhythm, but then it started to become drier and also quite rough. With the rain in testing the preparation was not ideal but we were able to make quite a lot of changes with the setup and it was going in a better direction. I didn’t really feel that I was really pushing hard today so the pace was probably where it should be and we will try to build on this tomorrow.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Ott Tänak

“This morning was definitely positive. I had a good flow and feeling on the first two stages, but after that lost some of it. Despite this, we tried to make the most of the day to ensure a good road position for tomorrow. We knew the Toyotas didn’t have the best position today, so we had the upper hand on them, and we capitalised on that advantage. It’s very tight and it’s nice to have this kind of competition – we now have only a few hours to determine our strategy and hopefully find more pace tomorrow.”

Thierry Neuville

“Overall, a positive day. This morning we were pushing but just didn’t get everything together, and immediately lost eight seconds with our spin and then a bit more as we struggled with confidence. However, I’m satisfied with how the day went and that we are very close to a podium position; we’re in a good place to have a better day tomorrow, and having Ott at the front is also nice. A good day for the team. It was tough, and while I think we perform well in those conditions, this was maybe too long for my liking.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“Today was going really well until a part in the front-left suspension broke on SS8 and we were forced to retire. It wasn’t something we could fix quickly, which was a real shame after our strong morning. Our pace was great, we felt comfortable in the car and we were fighting for the lead, so we can still take plenty of positives from today. We need to understand what happened so we can hopefully rejoin tomorrow and continue our push.”

 

Oliver Solberg

“Yes, it’s been a long one, we knew that was coming and we knew it would be tough. And it was at times, but it’s fantastic to be here and leading like this.

“This morning I was taking a little bit of time to find the feeling with the car in this kind of set-up. I didn’t compete in the Yaris on this style of road before, so I wanted to get comfortable, to find the grip and the confidence. We did that. In the last one, I was trying to look after the tyre – there were so many rocks around. Maybe I was a little bit too careful, but it’s OK.

“We had a high-speed spin on the second run of Lousã which cost us sometime, but otherwise everything has gone really quite perfect for me and Elliott. I have to say, I’m really happy with the car and a big thanks to the team for making everything right.”

 

Saturday

This day will see the crews tackle 122.92km’s over seven stages. Can Ott continue to hold the lead or will Seb and even Takamoto move past him? Can Elfyn move up as well and improve his points haul?

 

Time then for the next round of this season’s championship as the teams will tackle the gravel stages of Portugal. This classic round of the championship has been around for decades and is one loved by the drivers.

The rally has 344km’s over 24 stages this year with the longest day being Friday with 149km’s over the ten stages. Each day has it’s normal morning and afternoon stages run in the usual repeat format each day.

Let’s hear from the drivers.

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Elfyn Evans

“After a good start to the season we’re now entering a sequence of gravel events where, as championship leader, it can be challenging running first on the road on the Friday if it’s dry. My recent testing on gravel has been in the wet, so preparation has not been ideal, but the feeling was good in Kenya and even if the rallies we’re heading into are quite different to that, I’m confident we can start them in a stronger place than where we were last year. Portugal has some great stages that are fun to drive, so we’ll be looking to enjoy them and even if road cleaning is a factor, we also want to aim for a strong run through Sunday to keep scoring as many points as we can.”

Kalle Rovanperä

“It felt good to win again in the Canaries after quite a while. Now we go back to gravel, where I’m still working to feel as comfortable as I do on asphalt. On gravel there’s always less grip and you’re sliding a lot more, and with the different weight balance of the car and new tyres this year, I’m still looking for the happy place. Together with the team we were working hard on it during our test last week and hopefully we can find a good, consistent pace to keep scoring the points on these next rallies. The style of the stages in Portugal is really nice, I always enjoy driving them and hopefully we can be fast there again this year.”

Sébastien Ogier

“Rally Islas Canarias was a nice event for the whole team, and I was pretty happy with my own result. Now we go back onto gravel after a long time away for me, since Chile last October. A lot has changed in that time with the car and the tyres, and I had some challenging weather conditions in my test, but I’m lucky to have a great team around me and my team-mates and let’s hope we can carry on the great start to the season. I’ve always loved Portugal; it’s a rally with a unique atmosphere and a lot of fans. It was nice to finally get the sixth win there last year and it would be amazing if we could repeat that result again.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“The last rally was very good for me and for the team, and it’s always nice to come away with a good result and a good feeling. Now we go to Portugal, where there’s a lot of fans and a lot of passion and I can feel that amazing atmosphere every year. I enjoy the stages a lot and they suit me pretty well. We’re still learning about the gravel tyres and so the test was important to find a good setup for the rally, and we’ve tried to prepare well. I’ve been close to a podium in Portugal in the last few years and my main target is going to be to set good, consistent times in every stage and enjoy.”

Sami Pajari

“In the Canaries my rally was going quite well until the slightest mistake took us out. It was a pity but it’s all part of the learning and now we look forward to the next event in Portugal. Some of the stages there can be really enjoyable, and others can be very rough, and with long days and high temperatures it can be demanding for the car and the crew. It’s again quite different to what’s come before, but we will just continue with our approach; I hope we can have a clean event in Portugal and then try to improve from one rally to the next through Sardinia and Greece.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“Rally de Portugal is like any other gravel rally, you need to optimise your road position and try to manage the temperatures, especially on the first days in the Amarante area. The main challenge is the road conditions, they can be abrasive and tyre wear can be an issue if you push too hard. On Sunday, the stages are smoother so you can really push across the final day. We need a strong result as a team, we need to be stronger than the Toyotas and we need to outscore Elfyn – he has a big lead in the championship and we haven’t been able to fight back as much as we would have hoped, so he will be our main target to beat in Portugal along with Kalle.”

Ott Tänak

“Rally de Portugal is a huge event in so many ways. There are roads that I enjoy a lot, and the history of the rally paired with the atmosphere we have there every year is all you can ask for from an event. Every time we go to a rally, we always target to be on top in the fight, but you are only as good as your last result, which in our case wasn’t the strongest. We need to keep our head down and work our way back on top. This is the fifth rally this year where we have new tyres, and we need to get maximum out of it. There’s no doubt the rally will be hard; Portugal always has very long days and rough conditions on the second loop.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“Rally de Portugal is a big challenge; the heat is demanding so managing tyres is a big task. There are some places where it’s full attack, but at the same time we have to be careful with the tyres – it’s a factor we need to determine during our testing. There are places on the rally where we need to be cautious, but you can still establish big gaps so it can be a sprint at times. We didn’t get the best results at the end of the last round, so as a team we need to stop the domination of Toyota and get a really good result with all three cars. I want to be back on the podium to help with the charge, this is crucial for the rest of the season.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Grégoire Munster

“I’ve had a really good feeling during the test. The whole team is clearly motivated to bounce back after Canarias, so I’m looking forward to a strong event around Porto. It’s typical to have two kinds of stages here—some with a softer surface, like in Fafe, and others that are rougher with a hard base. Portugal always feels like two events in one! M-Sport has shown in the past that the car can be really competitive here, so we’re aiming for a good result.”

Josh McErlean

“It feels great to be heading back to Rally Portugal—this event holds some really good memories for us. I can’t wait to get going again, this time in a Rally1 car. It’s the start of the gravel season and there’s no better place to kick it off. The fans, the atmosphere, the roads—everything about Portugal is just mega.”

Mārtiņš Sesks

“I’m really looking forward to summer and the start of the gravel season with Portugal. I competed in Portugal once before, in 2021, in Junior WRC. I think some of the stages will be similar, and I hope having some knowledge of them will help. We’ve also done two rallies with Past Racing in the Portuguese championship, which should be helpful as well. We’ve done some good preparation, but this will still be a demanding event, and I know everyone’s very focused on doing well here. Our goal remains to keep developing, stay consistent, and stick to this approach throughout the season. We’re excited to see what we can achieve on gravel this year!”

Romet Jürgenson

“Portugal is one of those legendary events that you always want to do, I’m glad that this year we have the chance to do it! Even though its our first time there, I think we’re going to really enjoy the event. The stages look amazing, and obviously I still feel more natural on gravel so that should also help. We’re looking forward to doing a good, solid, mistake-free event; the goal is to try to improve our pace throughout the weekend.”

Pierre-Louis Loubet

“First of all, I’m very pleased to be back in the team and to be back driving again in a Rally2 car in the WRC2 category. I’m looking forward to hopefully doing well on a rally I know really well, so let’s see what we can do! There will be a lot of discovery for me with this car, but from what I’ve seen it’s a good package and the tyres are new for everyone, so maybe there’s some opportunity for us.”

Oliver Solberg

“Much as I love to compete on this event, it’s been quite tough in the last couple of years. We had a penalty which cost us the win in 2023 and then last time we crashed after we saw Kalle [Rovanperä] off the road directly in front of us. Both times, I was thinking we could have taken the win, it was in our hand. This time I definitely want to get it done and bring it home.

“The first day of this event is always a tricky one. The roads around Arganil are tough and you don’t have the full service – only two remote services for this really long day. So, you have to be thinking a little bit to manage the car and the tyres through Friday.

“But, at the same time, with so many cars registered in WRC2 and with so much competition, you really can’t afford to be taking it easy. You have to keep pushing but try to limit the risk for everything. It’s a tough one.

“The weekend stages are really nice as well, but not usually so abrasive. And, of course, the final day includes Fafe. This stage is just incredible. You fly into this place near the finish with so many fans and so many people having a huge party – it’s definitely one of the most amazing sights of the season!

“For us, the job is simple: we need to take the points. We made a great start to the year with the win at home in Sweden, but getting stuck in the fech fech in Kenya wasn’t good for us. We want to be back on top [of WRC2] and the best way to do that is to finally win in Portugal.”

 

Summary

Well once again we are set for a spectacular rally. Of course, Elfyn and Scott will open the road throughout the first full day and as it is the longest day as well. They will be sweeping the road of gravel, and this will make it very hard to be in the top positions at the end of the first day. Their best hope is that there will be rain which will make it easier for them to set a higher pace.

Of course, their teammates Kalle and Jonne will have a cleaner road as they will be second on the road and will hope that they can make the most of a cleaner road to make a good start and build an advantage over their rivals.

 

Thierry and Martijn will hope that their title defence really starts this weekend and that they can take a good podium or even victory. Let’s wait and see what they can do this weekend.

 

Enjoy!

Well, we came to the final day of this event, and it was all looking very good for Kalle and Jonne to take their first win of the year. Toyota were also set for a lockout of the top four positions as well. Of course, it should be mentioned that Sami and Marko would not be returning to the action after their crash in the penultimate Saturday stage twelve. Once again Greg would open the road throughout the day.

First up was SS14 Agüimes – Santa Lucía 1 – 14.97 km and there was drama from the start as Josh went wide and hit a barrier at a third of a way into the stage. He and Eoin were out on the spot sadly. Kalle was again fastest from Seb and Elfyn.

Next up was SS15 Maspalomas 1 – 13.47 km and Kalle again set the fastest time from Elfyn and Thierry was third. Greg gained another position on the leaderboard moving into eleventh overall and was now fifty-four seconds from tenth placed Nikolay Gryazin.

Onto SS16 Costa Canaria – 1.50 km and it was another mickey mouse stage won by Adrien, whilst Seb and Yohan set the same time to go second and third. These silly stages are not rallying and quite honestly utterly pointless.

Seb was fastest in SS17 Agüimes – Santa Lucía 2 – 14.97 km from Elfyn and Kalle. There was a position change as Ott moved into sixth place at the expense of Thierry who had a puncture and lost almost a minute and a quarter.

Onto the final stage then, SS18 Maspalomas 2[Power Stage] – 13.47 km. The top five in the stage and therefore securing power stage points were, Kalle, Seb, Elfyn, Adrien and Thierry. Kalle had secured victory from Seb and Elfyn. Takamoto was fourth meaning that the Toyota team secured the top four positions.

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

Final Classification – Rally Islas Canarias

1	K. Rovanperä	J. Halttunen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	2:54:39.8
2	S. Ogier	V. Landais	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+53.5
3	E. Evans	S. Martin	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+1:17.1
4	T. Katsuta	A. Johnston	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+2:02.9
5	A. Fourmaux	A. Coria	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+2:31.0
6	O. Tänak	M. Järveoja	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+3:11.4
7	T. Neuville	M. Wydaeghe	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+3:40.7
8	Y. Rossel	A. Dunand	Citroën C3	+7:10.7
9	A. Cachón	B. Rozada	Toyota GR Yaris	+7:40.2
10	N. Gryazin	K. Aleksandrov	Škoda Fabia RS	+7:58.4

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Kalle Rovanperä

“It’s been a super weekend for us and also the whole team. To get a 1-2-3-4 result like this again is quite amazing. We have just been enjoying the driving. The car has been super-fast, so a big thanks to the whole team for preparing it so well. Jonne has also been doing a great job and we drove well so it’s probably one of my best wins so far. It’s not so often on this level when you can be so consistently fast through the whole weekend. To get maximum points was our goal today and we really needed that. It’s still a big gap to Elfyn but at least we are now a step closer, and we keep working.”

Sébastien Ogier

“It’s an amazing result for the team to lock out the top four. It doesn’t happen every time and we need to be very happy with that. On our side, second place is not my favourite position but it’s still a good one. I think we drove a pretty good rally. I enjoyed it so much; the car was fun to drive and a big thanks to the team for giving us the best tools this weekend. Kalle and Jonne were untouchable but it’s still a very positive weekend for us, securing maximum points for the team.”

Elfyn Evans

“It’s been a great weekend from the team with an incredible performance from the GR YARIS Rally1. A big thank you to the team who’ve done a great job understanding the challenges of this rally, preparing the car and adapting to the new tyres. A big well done to Kalle because he had pace that nobody else could match this weekend, and well done to Seb also. I’m not wholly satisfied of course to have been a bit behind them and not fight for the win with equal machinery, but it’s still good points and we have to be relatively pleased with that.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“I’m very proud to be part of such an amazing result for the team. A big thanks to everyone in the team for preparing the car so well. It’s been such a nice car to drive all weekend, and this is why we could finish 1-2-3-4 on such a new and different rally that we haven’t been to before. On my side it would have been nice if we could have finished even higher, but it’s been a good rally for us with no big moments, and I will focus now on the next one to keep improving.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Adrien Fourmaux

“While there are some positives from the weekend, such as that amazing final stage and winning our inter-team battle, for sure it is not what we wanted. Sometimes in difficult rallies like this you can learn a lot and take steps forward for the future – I’m confident in the team that we can do that. We managed to take some points, which is good, but we will keep pushing to come back stronger.”

Ott Tänak

“It’s difficult to find the words to describe such a demanding weekend. I think it’s the worst we’ve been across all three crews, with none of us able to compete at the front. It is tricky when it is hot, as I get more understeer, and when the car is not working I really struggled to push. We didn’t do our homework and we weren’t prepared for this event, and Toyota set the bar very high – it was a great job from them.”

Thierry Neuville

“It hasn’t been a good weekend for us. We struggled a lot, and even though we were working hard to fix the situation, everything we tried didn’t seem to work. We still need to put our finger on what has caused these issues for us and come back stronger. Nevertheless, the team kept fighting despite all our struggles; we weren’t lucky with the puncture today, otherwise we might have got a reasonable result. We expected much more from this weekend, and we didn’t get it.”

 

M-Sport Ford

Grégoire Munster

“Although we learnt a lot in our pre-event test, sadly we still got something wrong and once we are here with sealed mechanical components we can’t really do much to try and solve it. Sometimes that’s just how it is, but we never gave up all weekend and we kept trying to find solutions. Certainly, we don’t have the result we wanted to achieve, but we didn’t give up and that’s the most important thing. I’m looking forward to bouncing back on gravel in Portugal in only a couple of weeks.

“Thanks must go out to the organisers for such a well organised event; it is amazing to see how many fans came out to watch us. It made the weekend incredibly enjoyable, even if the stages were a challenge.”

Romet Jürgenson

“The rally on Friday sadly ended quite quickly for us, we missed a whole day and after that it was quite difficult to get the confidence back for Saturday. But once we got out there it got better, and then I think especially on the Power Stage I felt quite ok. There’s a lot more to learn and a lot to improve on, but I think for our second Rally2 event on Tarmac we can be satisfied. It’s just this kind of pure racetrack tarmac, for me, is really new but it has been a really good experience for us.”

Josh McErlean, Retired Sunday

“This island has produced many memories! It’s been difficult from the start; we began to make small progress over the three days with the whole package. It’s a big shame what happened today, a little too ambitious pacenote meant we carried too much speed and ran wide into an armco. I’m sorry for the whole team for this mistake. We have learnt a lot about the car and my own driving this weekend. I look forward to getting back on the gravel now and into more familiar territory, everything should come a little more naturally and we can push on from here.”

 

Oliver Solberg

“Experience and a deeper understanding of how the Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 works on dry Tarmac was what we’re all about here. I take much more confidence away from the event.

“Today was really cool, really nice. We were winning a lot of stages, which was great given how close the fight was at the front of the WRC2 class. We’ve worked a lot with the set-up for the car and today showed what’s possible – Elliott and I were really enjoying the driving and having so much fun.

“The whole Printsport team has done such a good job with the car, like always and the same with Elliott on the notes.

“The speed on these roads from these cars is fantastic. What’s also been great this week is the atmosphere. I know we talk a lot about how much we love to see the fans and interact with them on events, but it’s really what our sport’s about – we have to take it to the people.

“On Saturday night, the spectator stage went into the Gran Canaria Arena, and we actually did some donuts in the middle of a basketball court – the whole place was packed with thousands of people. It was just fantastic.

“OK, we didn’t get the chance to actually look and see the faces from the fans, but you could really feel the noise inside the car.

“Now, we turn to the gravel rallies through the middle of the season. Portugal is next and that’s a very, very different event to this one – but definitely one of the highlights of the year.”

Next rally is in Portugal from the 15 to the 18 of May.

2025 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’ Standings
After round 4

1	E. Evans	109
2	K. Rovanperä	66
3	T. Neuville	59
4	S. Ogier	58
5	O. Tänak	57
6	A. Fourmaux	44
7	T. Katsuta	39
8	S. Pajari	19
9	G. Munster	16
10	M. Sesks	8

 

2025 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’ Standings
After round 4

1	Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team	208
2	Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team	157
3	M-Sport Ford World Rally Team	58
4	Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team 2	25

 

Onto day two then and with 124km’s over seven stages, what would the day hold? The Puma’s of M-Sport would open the road with Josh first into the stages followed by Greg, whilst rally leader Kalle would be last of the top cars to complete.

First up then was SS7 Moya – Gáldar 1 – 24.09 km and Seb was second fastest to Kalle by just one second, whilst Elfyn kept his consistent run going third fastest. Adrien was back to being the fastest of the Hyundai crews going fifth fastest and passing both his teammates and moving into sixth overall.

Next came SS8 Arucas – Firgas – Teror 1 – 13.75 km and Kalle was fastest again from Seb and Elfyn. The three of them continued to hold the podium positions and there were no changes to the top positions at all.

The final morning stage then, SS9 Tejeda – San Mateo 1 – 23.30 km and Kalle continued to dominate the top of the timesheets taking another stage win from Seb and Takamoto this time. Adrien was still the top Hyundai driver, holding sixth. The Frenchman was actually pulling away from his two world champion teammates, who were really struggling.

After the service break came SS10 Moya – Gáldar 2 – 24.09 km and Kalle was fastest from Seb and Sami this time. The times were coming very easily for Kalle and Jonne and no-one could get close.

Next up was SS11 Arucas – Firgas – Teror 2 – 13.75 km and Kalle made it eleven stage wins in a row. Seb and Elfyn remained second and third fastest, just two seconds behind their teammate. There was drama for Greg and Louis who slid wide on a right-hander, and they lost over three minutes whilst some spectators helped them return to them to the road.

The final proper stage then of the day, SS12 Tejeda – San Mateo 2 – 23.30 km and there was some more drama as Sami who was setting a very high pace went wide on a left-hander and collided with a roadside barrier. This led to heavy damage to the right-hand front of the car and put the car out for the remainder of the day. Kalle was fastest from Elfyn this time and Seb was third. Of course, with the retirement of Sami, everyone behind gained a single position with Takamoto now holding fourth place overall.

Finally, to the last stage of the day, SS13 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria – 1.80 km and Elfyn set the pace, eclipsing Seb and Thierry. We finally had a different stage winner, but to be honest these kinds of stages are complete nonsense, and not rallying.

Anyway, let’s take a look at the top positions and hear from the drivers.

Classification after Day Two

1	K. Rovanperä	J. Halttunen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	2:22:17.3
2	S. Ogier	V. Landais	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+45.2
3	E. Evans	S. Martin	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+1:08.1
4	T. Katsuta	A. Johnston	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+1:43.9
5	A. Fourmaux	A. Coria	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+2:09.6
6	T. Neuville	M. Wydaeghe	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+2:15.2
7	O. Tänak	M. Järveoja	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+2:37.3
8	Y. Rossel	A. Dunand	Citroën C3	+5:45.9
9	A. Cachón	B. Rozada	Toyota GR Yaris	+6:04.7
10	J. McErlean	E. Treacy	Ford Puma Rally1	+6:12.3

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Kalle Rovanperä

“Everything has been going really well again today. The stages had a bit of a different style to yesterday and in the first two I was maybe not so comfortable, but I really enjoyed the third one that was more flowing. The afternoon was especially good: we made some really small changes to the car, and it felt even better, which was nice. I hope we can have the same feeling tomorrow and that everything continues to come comfortably, because we would need to try and take as many points as we can.”

Sébastien Ogier

“It’s been good fun to drive the car on these beautiful roads again today. Again, Kalle has had something more than the rest of us, but I could achieve my main target to be secure in P2. We have been making some good adjustments on the car and the balance has been suiting me better and better. Now we need to continue like this tomorrow, which will be an important day because we need to make use of this pace and collect some more points for the team.”

Elfyn Evans

“This morning the car felt a bit better than yesterday, but we didn’t really seem to gain any time from it. It’s been a bit frustrating not to be fighting closer to the front, but Kalle and Seb have just been a bit faster than us. We were trying to be clean, and the pace was OK. We will try to improve and be ready for tomorrow. You have to try to grab every opportunity for points, so we just have to focus on driving well, doing a good job and trying to bring home some points.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“Today was much better than yesterday. We definitely made a step forward. I was quite happy with the car. I feel sorry for Sami that he had to stop because he was doing a very good job. Now I just need to keep focused tomorrow from the first stage and keep pushing. I hope to find a bit more comfort and a bit more pace, but I don’t think we need to change too much.”

Sami Pajari

“We were having another nice and clean day. The pace was coming naturally, and it was enjoyable in the car. Unfortunately, in SS12 we were a bit too fast in one long corner. I’m not sure what happened because I think I did the same that I did in the morning, but we simply had too much speed and hit the fence. It’s always a pity if things go this way but if we are starting to match the times of the top drivers, then things like this can happen easily. We just need to get back out there tomorrow and try to continue where we left off.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Adrien Fourmaux

“We are still missing some performance, but I was really enjoying this afternoon when the balance was ok on the stages. We don’t really know what to expect tomorrow; it will be a big challenge for us. Everything has to go perfect, and while there are a few things we could change, it is also a gamble. We are certainly going to try everything we can to score as many points as possible.”

Thierry Neuville

“This afternoon went much better than this morning; we had a good balance with the car, and I was starting to enjoy my driving. I think we’ve done a good job, and I’m satisfied with it. While we never stop hoping that we can make up more positions, realistically it will be very difficult to do that tomorrow, but we are going to go for points – there is still a lot to play for.”

Ott Tänak

“The first stage of the loops was the most tricky today, but it was possible to slightly enjoy the second and third stages. The roads are really nice to drive on the inside of the car, although the story from the outside is quite different. We were blind testing some changes, but the engineers had some good ideas, and step by step we were making some improvements.”

 

Oliver Solberg

“What a stage and what a day that was,” smiled the 23-year-old on Saturday night.

“The atmosphere in that final stage – especially the section inside the Arena – was something else. I think everybody knows I love doing a donut, so the chance to do a couple in front of a packed crowd on a basketball court was super cool!

“The rest of the day has been good. We’ve achieved what we wanted: we’re learning lots about this car and what it can do on dry Tarmac. I’m pleased with the progress we’re making – of course we’re not running for points in WRC2 and we’re not at the maximum speed, but we’re taking lots of experience.”

 

Sunday

The final day will see the crew tackle 58km’s over five stages. Kalle looks likely to take his first victory of the year, whilst his teammate, Elfyn is likely to extend his lead in the world championship over his closest rival Thierry.

Let’s see what happens.