Meeke in his garden

The conditions were difficult for this fourth rally IRC of the season, leading to errors from the first stages. Juho Hanninen was the first big loser of this rally when he violently hit a rock on SS3. First leader of the event, Freddy Loix also experienced problems from SS2, leaving the lead in the standings to Kris Meeke. The driver of the 207 was not going to let go of this command of the weekend, winning ten of the seventeen special stages on the program. “ In these extremely varied and difficult conditions, I believe I benefited from my rally experience, declared Kris Meeke after the race. I had a very good feeling behind the wheel of the 207 and I tried not to take any risks. »

1500 kilometers from the Portuguese coast, the rain and the wind did not help the drivers to achieve good times. Kris Meeke took advantage of the good conditions of his 207 to keep Nicolas Vouilloz at bay. The Frenchman, reigning IRC champion, did not take any risks and let Jan Kopecky fly towards second place. Not comfortable on this tricky terrain, Vouilloz preferred to secure third place at the wheel of his 207. He finished more than a minute behind Meeke and ten seconds behind Kopecky.

The Frenchman was not disappointed, however: “ Victory was not within my reach here. With an identical car, I was not fast enough to compete with Kris Meeke. I could grab second place, I was in the same rhythm as Kopecky. But he was ready to fight for this place, I especially wanted to secure the points. » In the general classification, Meeke takes the lead with two victories and twenty points in his pocket. He precedes Loix (18 points) and Vouilloz (14 points).