Heavy rain throws the Rally Portugal into disarray: Oliver Solberg charges from fourth place to the lead, while Sébastien Ogier surprisingly loses time
Rainy weather thoroughly shook up the standings of the Rally Portugal, the sixth round of the 2026 World Rally Championship (WRC), on Saturday morning. Oliver Solberg (Toyota) took advantage of the difficult conditions on the final stage of the first loop to work his way up from fourth place to the top of the field with an impressive fastest time.
Before the start of the 14th special stage, Solberg was still 18.6 seconds behind the leader, Sebastien Ogier (Toyota). When the rain set in, Solberg delivered a masterclass of driving in the treacherous conditions, which steadily worsened as the stage progressed. In the end, he won the stage with a 7.2-second lead over his teammate Elfyn Evans, while the previous leader, Ogier, lost a whopping 19.1 seconds. (see results)
In the overall standings, Solberg thus edged past a stunned Ogier by 0.5 seconds. “Unbelievable. I felt like I’d given it my all, but I just had no grip. It’s not just about taking risks; honestly, I have no idea how that’s possible,” Ogier commented on Solberg’s time.
The rain is coming later than expected
Although the teams had expected wet roads, the rain didn’t start until late in the morning. This meant that most of the drivers were on the road with suboptimal setups for the majority of the loop.
Ogier, who had started the day in the lead, came under pressure from Thierry Neuville as early as the first stage. The Hyundai driver took two seconds off the nine-time world champion and cut the gap to 1.7 seconds. Third-place driver Sami Pajari (Toyota) was also in the thick of the action and, after his victory on the “Felgueiras 1” stage, was just 10.7 seconds behind the leader.
Ogier initially remained unfazed by Neuville’s pressure and extended his lead back to 5.0 seconds on the twelfth stage (Cabeceiras de Basto). Although the course was heavily rutted toward the end and conditions deteriorated for the later starters, Ogier finished just 0.5 seconds behind the best time set by Adrien Fourmaux (Hyundai).
Neuville remains Hyundai’s frontrunner
As Ogier and Neuville tackled the 26.24-kilometer “Amarante” stage, light rain began to fall. Ogier kept up the pace and was once again just 0.5 seconds behind the fastest time, which in this case was set by Solberg. As Neuville lost 3.1 seconds to Ogier, the gap at the top grew to 8.1 seconds ahead of the final stage of the loop.
The increasingly heavy rain on the final stage of the morning loop provided the decisive turning point for Solberg. Neuville slipped to third place and is now 2.6 seconds behind the leader, while Pajari fell back to fourth place, 8.1 seconds behind.
World Championship leader Evans remains locked in a tight battle for fifth place with Fourmaux. Evans started the day with a 6.2-second lead over the Frenchman. Fourmaux, who had led the rally until a crash on Friday, temporarily cut the gap to 5.8 seconds after winning Stage 12. However, Evans was able to counter and defended fifth place with a cushion of 11.7 seconds.
Katsuta and Sordo battle to catch up
Takamoto Katsuta (Toyota) finished the morning loop in seventh place. The Japanese driver was unable to make up ground on Fourmaux, although he felt more comfortable in the car and benefited from advice from 2019 World Champion Ott Tänak. Meanwhile, Dani Sordo in the Hyundai continues to struggle with his confidence in the car. He complained about a lack of grip from his soft tires and finished in eighth place.
Josh McErlean leads the M-Sport Ford trio in ninth place. Jon Armstrong, who has a working power steering system again after technical issues on Friday, held off his teammate Martins Sesks and is in tenth place. Armstrong was the third-fastest driver in the rainy 14th stage and was on course for his first stage win before Evans and Solberg beat his time.
The stages will be repeated in the afternoon before the 145-kilometer leg concludes with the spectator stage in Lousada.
