Rovanperä comfortable winner at the Rally of Portugal, Rossel leader of the WRC2 championship!

Three consecutive victories in the World Rally Championship (WRC) at only 21 years old, this is unheard of. Kalle Rovanperä (Toyota) continued to assert its authority over this 2022 season by winning the Rally of Portugal this Sunday, May 22.

The Finn, victorious on the Swedish ice then the Croatian tarmac, recorded his fifth WRC success, thanks to driving free of any errors. His runner-up Elfyn Evans was in control of the event Friday afternoon and Saturday, but in pure speed, the Welshman was unable to fight. Proof of this is that Kalle Rovanperä is the best performer of the weekend with 8 scratch times!

Ready for what could be a special Power Stage finish in Fafe! ✈️#ToyotaGAZOORacing #GRYaris #WRC #RallydePortugal 🇵🇹 pic.twitter.com/cgzCdFOZ8a

- TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRT (@TGR_WRC) May 22, 2022

The hat-trick signed by Toyota, we had already seen this during the 2019 season, in Germany). We will not see him again at the 2022 Rally Portugal, the fault of a wild Dani Sordo in the legendary Fafe special.

The podium is therefore completed by the Spanish veteran, who puts in a magnificent performance for his first stint at the wheel of a Rally1 hybrid in 2022. 

At M-Sport Ford, the best performer is French, but not the one who was favored by the forecasts. Sebastian Loeb abandoned Saturday due to a loss of power in his Puma hybrid, Adrien fourmaux took it easy to finish his first rally of the year, so it's Pierre-Louis Loubet who brings the greatest number of points to Malcolm Wilson! Victim of a brake problem, Craig Breen must be satisfied with eighth place, ahead of Fourmaux.

This final special will have smiled on Yohan rossel (Citroen). While a second place beckoned to him in WRC2, the outgoing WRC3 champion took advantage of an unexpected error from Teemu Suninen (Hyundai) to steal first position at the last minute!

The Finn actually went out into the trees after 40 seconds of special. If the crew was unhurt, the car was not. Thanks to this second consecutive success, as well as the retirement of title holder Andreas Mikkelsen (Skoda, broken engine), the Frenchman from the PH Sport team is the new leader of WRC2!

“It’s really too bad for Teemu, I feel sorry for him, Yohan Rossel first declared. Second place already satisfied me, but now, winning on gravel is great. I think I still have a lot of work to do before Rally Sardinia. The whole team and my co-driver are highly motivated for the rest of the championship. »

ALSO READ > Sébastien Loeb recounts his abandonment in Portugal

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