Mikko Hirvonen leader in Portugal

As in a cycling time trial or an alpine ski descent, the best go last. This Thursday, the pilots of WRC therefore had to wait until the very last minutes of the first special of the Rally of Portugal to launch into battle. For long minutes, it was the Spaniard Yeray Lemes (Renault Clio S1600) which had the best time, in 2?19??6.

We had to wait until the last passages for this time to improve. It was Khalid Al-Qassimi (Ford Focus WRC) who stuck to it, finishing in 2:13:4. It was then Federico Villagra (Ford Focus WRC) who amazed everyone, by “slamming” a time in 2:09:4.

The pilots who immediately followed him failed to get ahead of him: Sébastien Ogier (Citroën C4 WRC), Kimi Räikkönen (Citroën C4 WRC), Ken Block (Ford Focus WRC) and Henning Solberg (Ford Focus WRC): all failed!

Same sanction for Petter Solberg (Citroën C4 WRC), Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford Focus WRC) and Dani Sordo (Citroën C4 WRC), the latter having failed seven tenths behind the Argentinian, who realizes that he has established a huge time.

So there remains Sébastien Loeb (Citroën C4 WRC) and Mikko Hirvonen (Ford Focus WRC). The Frenchman sets off and finishes his passage in 2:10:8. He is seventh before Hirvonen passes. The latter, who wishes to put himself back in the title race during this rally, manages to finish in 2:09:3, and beats Federico Villagra by a tenth! He therefore won this super special and placed himself at the top of the general classification of the Rally of Portugal.

Friday, for the first day of competition, two loops of three special stages are on the program, for a total of 128 kilometers.