WRC Portugal: Hyundai on top as overnight leader Oliver Solberg loses time
Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux reclaimed the Rally Portugal lead after overnight leader Oliver Solberg struggled for pace across Friday morning’s loop of stages.
Fourmaux started the day 3.4 seconds behind Solberg, but was able to leapfrog the Toyota driver in the opening stage of Friday’s mammoth seven-stage itinerary.
Fourmaux delivered a strong pace across the three stages, posting top three times in each test to open up a 7.7s lead as the crews headed to the midday remote service, where only minimal car changes can be carried out.
"It's a very good start to the rally. We have had some good strategy decisions and that was a team effort. Very positive,” said Fourmaux.
The 7.7s advantage was over Toyota’s Sami Pajari, who emerged as the star of the morning loop.
The Finn struggled for balance on Thursday and was sitting in sixth, but some small set up changes overnight to his GR Yaris significantly improved his performance. Pajari set fastest times in stage four (Mortagua) and stage five (Arganil) to climb into second position.
"Yesterday wasn't the best. We tried to find something more for today,” said Pajari. “At least the feeling is really nice, it feels good in the car. The times have been nice today. We will try to keep the same speed.”
Nine-time world champion and seven-time Portugal winner Sebastien Ogier was frustrated by the handling of his GR Yaris throughout the morning. Improvements were found as the loop progressed, which helped the Frenchman to third – 8.0s from the lead.
“We need to make some changes because the pace is not what I'd like to have,” said Ogier.
Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville was among those fighting his car as the Belgian reported understeer and oversteer issues. However, the 2024 world champion managed to win stage six (Lousa) by 0.4s from Ogier. It was enough to move into fourth overall, 8.2s from the lead.
After topping the times on Thursday night, Solberg dropped to fifth overall after struggling to extract pace from his GR Yaris. The Swede described the feeling in the car as “horrendous”, and felt he had made an error taking more hard than soft compound tyres.
“Yesterday had much more grip and the car was better. Not a perfect tyre choice, but that was my mistake,” said Solberg.
Solberg wasn’t the only driver to rue an incorrect tyre decision. Hyundai’s Dani Sordo had wanted to take more softs than hards, but ended up with the opposite after a team mistake at last night’s tyre fitting zone.
The Spaniard was clearly frustrated by the mistake and was fortunate to survive an overshoot that he felt was caused by the lack of grip generated by the tyres.
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Sordo ended the looping eighth [+47.3s] behind the Toyota’s of Elfyn Evans [+15.2s] and Takamoto Katsuta [+34.7s], who faced the worst of the conditions opening the road at the front.
Josh McErlean headed M-Sport-Ford’s charge in ninth overall, 3.8s ahead of team-mate Jon Armstrong with the third Ford Puma of Martins Sesks in 11th [+1m01.4s].
Crews will tackle four more stages this afternoon.
Photos from Portugal - Shakedown & Day 1
Takamoto Katsuta, Aaron Johnston, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Diogo Cardoso – Getty Images
Drivers of Rally de Portugal
Philip Fitzpatrick / Sportsfile via Getty Images
Rally stage atmosphere
M-Sport
Joshua Mcerlean, Eoin Treacy, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1
M-Sport
Takamoto Katsuta, Aaron Johnston, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Toyota Racing
Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Diogo Cardoso – Getty Images
Joshua Mcerlean, Eoin Treacy, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1
M-Sport
Sébastien Ogier, Vincent Landais, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Toyota Racing
Daniel Sordo, Candido Carrera, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Miguel Lemos /NurPhoto via Getty Images
Oliver Solberg, Elliott Edmondson, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Diogo Cardoso – Getty Images
Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
McKlein Photography / LAT Images via Getty Images
Sébastien Ogier, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Miguel Lemos /NurPhoto via Getty Images
Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Luca Barsali - NurPhoto - Getty Images
Elfyn Evans, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Toyota Racing
Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Massimo Bettiol - Getty Images
Joshua Mcerlean, Eoin Treacy, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1
Miguel Lemos /NurPhoto via Getty Images
Oliver Solberg, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Miguel Lemos /NurPhoto via Getty Images
Joshua Mcerlean, Eoin Treacy, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1
McKlein Photography / LAT Images via Getty Images
Joshua Mcerlean, Eoin Treacy, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1
M-Sport
Sébastien Ogier, Vincent Landais, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Diogo Cardoso – Getty Images
Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
DPI / NurPhoto via Getty Images
Joshua Mcerlean, Eoin Treacy, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1
M-Sport
Oliver Solberg, Elliott Edmondson, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Toyota Racing
Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Miguel Lemos /NurPhoto via Getty Images
Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Toyota Racing
Jon Armstrong, Shane Byrne, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1
Miguel Lemos /NurPhoto via Getty Images
Takamoto Katsuta, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Miguel Lemos /NurPhoto via Getty Images
Jon Armstrong, Shane Byrne, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1
M-Sport
Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Miguel Lemos /NurPhoto via Getty Images
Oliver Solberg, Elliott Edmondson, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Massimo Bettiol - Getty Images
Oliver Solberg, Elliott Edmondson, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
DPI / NurPhoto via Getty Images
Joshua Mcerlean, Eoin Treacy, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1
Philip Fitzpatrick / Sportsfile via Getty Images
Jon Armstrong, Shane Byrne, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1
M-Sport
Adrien Fourmaux, Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Miguel Lemos /NurPhoto via Getty Images
Joshua Mcerlean, Eoin Treacy, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1
Philip Fitzpatrick / Sportsfile via Getty Images
Jon Armstrong, Shane Byrne, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1
Diogo Cardoso – Getty Images
Adrien Fourmaux, Alexandre Coria, Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Miguel Lemos /NurPhoto via Getty Images
Jon Armstrong, Shane Byrne, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1
Luca Barsali - NurPhoto - Getty Images
Adrien Fourmaux, Alexandre Coria, Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Diogo Cardoso – Getty Images
Joshua Mcerlean, Eoin Treacy, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1
M-Sport
Oliver Solberg, Elliott Edmondson, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Toyota Racing
Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
McKlein Photography / LAT Images via Getty Images
Joshua Mcerlean, Eoin Treacy, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1
M-Sport
Daniel Sordo, Candido Carrera, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Miguel Lemos /NurPhoto via Getty Images
Joshua Mcerlean, Eoin Treacy, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1
M-Sport
Takamoto Katsuta, Aaron Johnston, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Toyota Racing
Jon Armstrong, Shane Byrne, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1
M-Sport
Sami Pajari, Marko Salminen, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT2 Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Toyota Racing
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