Evans conquers Portuguese gravel

The threesome Hyundai, Thank you-Sordo-Neuville, dominant, Toyota rested his hopes of victory on Elfyn Evans after the difficult first day of a Sébastien Ogier immediately left behind by its rivals.

After the first Friday specials, Hyundai placed its three drivers in the first three positions with Dani Sordo ahead of Ott Tänak and Thierry Neuville. Everything seemed rosy for the South Korean team until the bad luck factor came into play.

Having made a mistake in SS7, breaking his suspension in the process, the last city said goodbye to his hopes of victory in Portugal before the leader lost control after stalling in the same special.

Ott Tänak then presented himself as the new leader of the Portuguese round ahead of Elfyn Evans, first Toyota representative overall.

Very comfortable on the Lusitanian gravel, the Estonian seemed untouchable and promised final victory, especially as he had a high-level Saturday with 4 scratches in 6 specials. But fate decided otherwise.

Like Thierry Neuville on Friday, Ott Tänak also saw his rear suspension fail while he was comfortably in the lead. Forced to stop in the middle of the special on SS14, the 2019 champion handed over the reins of the event to Elfyn Evans, who had been very discreet since the start of hostilities.

Game over The Estonian has pulled over after 34.1km.

LIVE STREAM & Standings  https://t.co/m2aWjw9Ya9
live updates  https://t.co/TB268ztTnG#WRC I #WRCLive I #RallydePortugal pic.twitter.com/YecyGqZvhh

— WRC – FIA World Rally Championship (@OfficialWRC) May 22, 2021

Leader at the start of the last day, the Welshman quickly knocked out Dani Sordo by sticking to him for almost 10 seconds and thus pushing him back to 20 overall.

Easily ahead of Rally from Portugal, the resident of Gazoo Racing only had to perform afterwards to finish this weekend with a 28″ lead over his runner-up, Dani Sordo, and an Xth place in the Power Stage.

# BREAKING: Congratulations @ElfynEvans  and @scottmartinat  - @rallydeportugal  winners 2021 #EE33 | #RallydePortugal | @TGR_WRC | #ToyotaGAZOORacing | #WRCLive

- WRC - FIA World Rally Championship (@OfficialWRC) May 23, 2021

After Great Britain in 2016, Sweden and Turkey last year, Elfyn Evans scored his 4th WRC victory and moved up to 2nd place in the drivers' standings, two short lengths behind the leader.

The reigning world champion, Sébastien Ogier, had a very difficult weekend. Opener on Friday, the Gapençais was quickly excluded from the race for victory. The Frenchman, helped by the problems of the Hyundais, finally managed to get on the 3rd step of the podium.

After a promising start in Croatia in April, Adrien fourmaux (M-Sport) leaves Portugal with a 6th place overall. This time, the Habs cannot beat his teammate Gus Greensmith (5th) but he once again showed great things at the wheel of his Fiesta.

Find the analysis of the Rally of Portugal by our expert in AUTOhebdo No. 2313 available this Monday in digital version and Wednesday on newsstands.