Kalle Rovanperä takes the lead in Portugal before the final day

It was planned, it came true: the Rally of Portugal 2022 turns into an internal duel in the Toyota Gazoo Racing. On this second stage contested on Saturday May 21, Elfyn Evans and Kalle Rovanperä rode together while continuing to distance themselves from the rest of the field WRC.

The pace today from @KalleRovanpera and @ElfynEvans has been incredible… so we slowed it down a bit 😎

Just four seconds between the top two in the standings with one short stage left tonight!#ToyotaGAZOORacing #GRYaris #WRC #RallydePortugal 🇵🇹 pic.twitter.com/noccK4mCsw

- TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRT (@TGR_WRC) May 21, 2022

The leader of the World Rally Championship and the outgoing two-time vice-champion exchanged places at the end of the day, for the benefit of the Finn. The gap remains minimal (5''7) and everything will be decided in the last stage, Sunday.

Thanks to a beautiful super special in the streets of Porto, the returning Dani Sordo (Hyundai) maintains the hope of a third place for his first participation at the wheel of a Rally1 hybrid. Indeed, the gap with Takamoto Katsuta (Toyota) is only 5''7.

Hyundai can also count on the combativeness of Thierry Neuville. Having started very far away on Saturday morning after a problem with the transmission, the Belgian returned to fifth position thanks to valiant driving.

At M-Sport on the other hand, it's the grimace soup. Sebastian Loeb, although restarted under the Rally2 rule, definitively packed up on Saturday morning with an irreparable loss of power on his Ford Puma. Then, Gus Greensmith bent his left rear suspension in a collision with a rock.

So all that remains is Craig Breen and the French Pierre-Louis Loubet and Adrien fourmaux to collect points. The latter having the sole objective of seeing the finish on Sunday noon, he voluntarily restrains his attack.

In WRC2, Andreas Mikkelsen (Skoda) and Oliver Solberg (Hyundai) disappeared from traffic. The outgoing champion broke his engine while it was the management which gave way for the son of Petter Solberg.

Victory should be decided between Teemu Suninen (Hyundai) and Frenchman Yohan Rossel (Citroën). The representative of the PH Sport team is around thirty seconds behind the former M-Sport Ford driver in the WRC. Third, Kajetan Kajetanowicz was rejected at 1'55''.

The third stage of the Rally Portugal will begin on Sunday May 22 at 8:08 a.m. and can be followed in live text on AUTOhebdo.fr.

ALSO READ > The WRC celebrated its 50th anniversary in Portugal

General classification :