Ott Tänak starts a comeback on Sunday, but he can’t catch up with Sebastien Ogier – The Frenchman acknowledges the Hyundai driver’s superior speed
Sebastien Ogier has won the Rally Portugal for the seventh time. The Toyota driver inherited the lead the day before when Ott Tänak (Hyundai) experienced problems with his power steering. Ogier used his experience to manage his lead on Sunday and hold on to it until the finish.
“I think I can be really proud of that – of having remained competitive over all these years,” said Ogier happily. “The car was great to drive this weekend. I think we have proven once again that race management is definitely one of our strengths.”
“It was a tough battle with Ott, but unfortunately he didn’t get to finish fairly because of his problem. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have won because he was obviously faster. But rallying isn’t always about being fast – you also have to get to the finish line.”
The eight-time world champion started the final day with a 27.6-second lead over his Toyota teammate Kalle Rovanperä. Due to power steering failure on Saturday afternoon, Tänak had fallen back to third place, 36.1 seconds behind Ogier.
On Sunday, two loops of three special stages were on the program. In SS19 “Paredes 1,” Rovanperä took 11.1 seconds off Ogier. Ogier admitted that he had started the day cautiously.
Tänak set the fastest time in SS20. The highlight of the day was the famous “Fafe” stage. Tänak was fastest on the first run. Ogier was a touch better than Rovanperä and still held a 16.3-second lead at the halfway point of the day.
Tänak continued his comeback and also set the fastest times in SS21 and SS22. This allowed the Estonian to overtake Rovanperä before the Power Stage and move up to second place. Ogier’s lead was now 13.6 seconds.
Decision in the Power Stage
But the battle for second place was exciting right down to the last few meters, as Tänak only had a one-and-a-half-second lead over Rovanperä before the Power Stage. This meant that the top three had to attack right to the end.
Ogier managed to hold on to his 8.7-second lead to the finish line. Tänak attacked at full throttle and also set the fastest time in the Power Stage. This secured second place against Rovanperä by three and a half seconds.
“A big disappointment,” said Tänak, referring to the defective power steering on Saturday. “We are still too fragile to compete with Toyota. But at least the performance of the new chassis is good.”
Rovanperä was also not satisfied with third place after his spectacular victory in the Canary Islands: “A long and difficult weekend. It’s a big disappointment because we didn’t have any pace despite the good starting position. I couldn’t go any faster.”
World champion Thierry Neuville finished fourth, 38.5 seconds behind. “I’m very disappointed for Ott and the team,” he said, sympathizing with his Hyundai teammate. “We deserved more this weekend.”
Elfyn Evans continues to lead the World Championship standings
Takamoto Katsuta (Toyota) finished fifth ahead of Elfyn Evans (Toyota), who failed to make the podium for the first time this season. “Not an easy weekend,” said the championship leader after finishing sixth. “With our speed, we made life a little harder for ourselves.”
The remaining places in the top 10 went to Sami Pajari (Toyota), Josh McErlean, Gregoire Munster (both M-Sport Ford) and Oliver Solberg, who won the Rally2 classification in his Toyota Yaris Rally2.
With this result, Evans leads the World Championship standings by 30 points ahead of Rovanperä. Ogier is now third, 32 points behind. Tänak is fourth in the championship, 34 points behind. Toyota leads the manufacturers’ standings by 55 points ahead of Hyundai.
The World Rally Championship remains on gravel for the time being: the sixth round of the season will take place from June 5 to 8 on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia.
