Tänak threatened by Latvala in Portugal

Ott Tänak retains the lead in Rally Portugal but his teammate Jari-Matti Latvala intends to challenge his leadership position.

Published on 01/06/2019 à 13:24

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Ott Tänak (Toyota) a vu son avance se réduire nettement dans le premier passage de la deuxième étape du Rally from Portugal. Starting with a lead of more than 17 seconds over his teammate Jari-Matti Latvala, the Estonian returned to service with a 5 second gap over the Finn. The leader of the event lost time suffering from brake problems on the first route of the day.

Kris Meeke still completes a provisional podium monopolized by the Toyotas. The Northern Irishman is closely following the duel between Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) and Sébastien Ogier (Citroën) for 4th place. If the Frenchman was able to seize this position in SS9, the Belgian regained his due in the longest course of the event by finishing the Amarante special (SS10) with 2 seconds ahead of the champion In title.

The only Hyundai driver still in contention for the podium benefited from a team strategy with Dani Sordo and Sébastien Loeb placing himself between Sébastien Ogier and Thierry Neuville in order to sweep the road for the Belgian. The Spaniard and the nine-time champion WRC have nothing left to hope for after their fuel problems encountered the day before and their penalties will have no consequences for the Korean manufacturer.

Esapekka Lappi (Citroën) a fait l’essentiel en gagnant deux places pour se hisser au 6e rang face aux pilotes M-Sport Teemu Suninen et Gus Greensmith. Elfyn Evans (M-Sport) ferme la marche des WRC du groupe de tête.

Kalle Rovanperä (Skoda) remains at the top of the WRC 2 Pro by completing the Top 10 in the general classification ahead of Jan Kopecky (Skoda). Ole Christian Veiby (Volkswagen) led WRC 2 ahead of Nikolay Gryazin (Skoda) before a fire broke out in his Polo GTI R5 on the final course. The crew is safe.