Tänak new leader in Portugal after a slaughter of leaders

The classification of Rally of Portugal was upset during the second passage of Ponte de Lima, 27,46km long, with several contenders for victory seeing their hopes disappear.

Jari-Matti Latvala (Toyota) est d’abord parti en tonneau. Le Finlandais a pu rallier l’arrivée avec près de 5 minutes de retard. “The car did not slow down on the second brake. I have no idea why, lamented the Finn. I hit an embankment and we rolled over. »

Jari-Matti Latvala then blocked Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) qui a perdu une vingtaine de secondes dans l’incident. Le Belge s’est retrouvé 6e au terme de la première étape avec moins de 23 secondes de retard sur la tête de la course.

“I found myself stuck behind him for more than 5km and I even almost got out three times, the Belgian got angry. He moved slower than my grandmother. I don't understand what he tried to do. We're going to go see the commissioners because we should be on the podium this evening. »

The Hyundai driver saw his request taken into account, since the winner of the Tour de Corse and the Rally of Argentina, was credited with a new time in the SS in 19'27″7, placing him 4th overall at 11″1 from the leader Ott Tänak (Ford).

It was then Kris Meeke (Citroën) who stopped. Although a puncture was suspected, the Briton finally dismounted due to a broken suspension.

Hayden Paddon (Hyundai) was able to complete the course, but the New Zealander lost around ten minutes due to power outages, a problem he had already briefly encountered during SS3 before mid-stage service . “The car just stopped and I couldn't start again, explained the Hyundai driver. We checked everything, then it restarted. Our weekend is ruined now and I'm going to clean the road tomorrow. We have to stay positive by taking the opportunity to experiment. »

Already in the lead before the formidable SS7, Ott Tänak (Ford) retained the lead at the end of the first stage with a lead of 4''6 over Dani Sordo (Hyundai) who kept second place for 4 tenths ahead of Sébastien Ogier (Ford). Behind Neuville moved up to 4th position, Craig Breen (Citroën) is in 5th place, less than 8 seconds behind the top three.

Juho Hänninen (Toyota) marks the separation in the peloton by being half a minute behind Evans. The Finn is ahead of his teammate and compatriot Esapekka Lappi.

Andreas Mikkelsen (Skoda) retains control of the WRC 2 with a good lead over his pursuers.

The second stage of the Rally Portugal will be contested this Saturday, May 20 from 10:08 a.m. (Paris time).