Portugal – SS9: Scratch for Tänak, Ogier new runner-up

The most difficult special of the Rally of Portugal, as the pilots call it, is doing quite well in Ott Tänak. Already the fastest this morning during the first pass on the loop around Mortagua (SS2), the Estonian repeated the feat by beating Kalle Rovanperä (Toyota) by 1 seconds. Thanks to this new scratch, his third since the start, the 5 world champion increases his lead at the top of the standings. From now on, his runner-up is called Sébastien Ogier.

The Frenchman, who set the fourth fastest time, finds himself 6 seconds back in the overall standings, which is a minimal gap after nine special stages. Takamoto Katsuta, who was second until now, conceded just over 9 seconds to Tänak and finds himself 5 seconds back in the overall standings. The misstep was carried out by Martins Sesks. The Latvian driver lost 8 minutes on a penalty for starting SS7 late earlier in the day.

To add to his misfortune, the freelancer of M-Sport missed a braking point during SS9 and hit a bank. It was a scare for his Ford Puma, which was able to restart after losing around thirty seconds. After having already lost a lot of time with a puncture in the morning, Sesks is having a very complicated start to the rally.

WRC – Rally Portugal
SS9 – Special stage classification and general classification

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