Tänak narrowly resists in Portugal

The Toyota ont souffert dans le second passage de la deuxième étape du Rally from Portugal. Ott Tänak had regained a lead of around fifteen seconds before seeing his front-right shock absorber break on the last course (SS13). The Estonian lost a dozen seconds and returned to service at the end of the day with a little more than 4 seconds ahead of his teammate Kris Meeke.

Jari-Matti Latvala (Toyota) suffered a similar mechanical problem, but the Finn had to abandon on the link leading to the last course when he was Ott Tänak's closest opponent at the break.

It is now Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) qui complète le tiercé de tête après avoir notamment signé deux scratchs consécutifs. Le Belge est revenu à moins de 5 secondes de Kris Meeke et a relégué Sébastien Ogier (Citroën) at a dozen seconds. The Frenchman was once again a victim of Hyundai's strategy which placed Dani Sordo and Sébastien Loeb behind him so that the road is less swept.

Esapekka Lappi (Citroën) se retrouve dans le Top 5 en possédant désormais une belle avance sur Teemu Suninen (M-Sport). Elfyn Evans (M-Sport) complète le groupe de tête des WRC following the exit of his teammate Gus Greensmith on the last course.

SS13 - @GreensmithGus
Big disappointment, after a great performance on his first event on a WRC car, Gus has gone off the road and the car is stuck in a ditch. #WRClive #WRC

LIVE STREAM https://t.co/twccZ0hRvh pic.twitter.com/zJQUhvfGaB

- World Rally Championship (@OfficialWRC) 1th June 2019

Kalle Rovanperä (Skoda) remains at the lead of WRC 2 Pro with one minute ahead of Jan Kopecky (Skoda). Pierre-Lous Loubet (Skoda) is fighting for victory in WRC 2 following the retirement of Takamoto Katsuta (Ford).

The final stage of 5 stages should start this Sunday from 9:25 a.m. The Rally of Portugal is to follow with our live text.