11h
The crews are preparing to compete in the 37,55km Amarante, the longest special stage of the Rally Portugal. Gorban will start from 12:04 p.m.
11h
Mikkelsen maintains the lead in WRC 2 with a one-minute lead over Suninen and Tidemand. Gilbert remains 4th, more than 3 minutes from the provisional podium.
11h
Loubet reached the finish with a Ford R5 damaged after hitting a cow on the road. The Frenchman lost more than 2 minutes.
11h
Loubet stopped in the special before setting off again. The Fiesta R5 driver was in 5th place in WRC 2.
11h
Ott Tänak (Ford) took the scratch in the 22,3km of Cabeceiras de Basto with a time of 13'32''6 which allows him to beat his teammate Sébastien Ogier by 5''2. Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) followed at around ten seconds. Jari-Matti Latvala (Toyota) and Dani Sordo (Hyundai) followed at 14s ahead of Craig Breen (Citroën), Hayden Paddon (Hyundai), Kris Meeke (Citroën), Juho Hänninen (Toyota), Mads Ostberg (Ford) and Stéphane Lefebvre (Citroen).
Elfyn Evans (Ford) lost more than a minute after going off the road which caused a puncture.
Ott Tänak now has a 6”3 lead over Sébastien Ogier. Thierry Neuville climbs onto the provisional podium with a 3”8 lead over Dani Sordo. Craig Breen regains 5th place ahead of Juho Hänninen, while Elfyn Evans falls to 7th place ahead of Esapekka Lappi.
11h
Tänak takes the scratch with a time of 13'32″6 where he is ahead of Ogier by 5″2. The Estonian now has a lead of 6″3 over the Frenchman in the standings. “Sébastien attacks hard and we have to answer him. I did a good stage. The tires are still in good condition. »
11h
Sordo lost 3rd place against Neuville by dropping more than 5 seconds to his teammate. The Spaniard finds himself 3″8 behind the first Hyundai.
11h
Ogier signs the provisional scratch with a time of 13'37″8, or 4"7 ahead of Neuville who finds himself 12"6 behind the M-Sport driver. “I’m much happier in this situation. Everyone attacks hard. »
11h
Neuville takes the provisional scratch with a time of 13'42″5, 4″3 ahead of Latvala. The Belgian is fighting for a place on the podium. “I had more grip but I felt like I was too slow on the descent. »
11h
Breen is closest to Latvala with a second behind. The Citroën driver returned to 5th place following Evans' problems.
11h
Evans lost more than a minute and fell to 7th place behind Hänninen, 20 seconds behind the Finn. The Welshman ended up with a puncture. “I went off the road avoiding a stone and I'm already lucky to be at the finish. »
11h
Evans is on a bad pace in the special. The Welshman could suffer from a puncture after he had just taken 5th place against Breen.
11h
Hänninen sets the 3rd time, 4″1 behind his teammate Latvala. The Toyota driver remains 7th with the problems encountered by Lappi.
11h
Lappi loses 50s after losing a lot of time in the last sector. “I stalled in a tight corner and managed to restart. » The Toyota driver sees 7th place slipping away.
11h
Ostberg signs the 3rd provisional time, 5″6 behind Latvala. The Ford private driver is in 10th place. “The special went well. It was complicated with the grip change. We try things that don't work 100% at the moment. »
11h
Latvala takes the provisional scratch with a time of 13'46"8. The Toyota driver is ahead of Paddon by 3″1. “I couldn't sleep last night because I'm sick. » The Finn moved up to 12th place against Tidemand.
11h
Prokop failed almost a minute behind Paddon at the wheel of his old Ford WRC. “The grip is changing quite a bit in this special. It goes well. »
11h
Lefebvre is closest to Paddon, 19 seconds behind.
11h
Gorban set a first time in 15'06"1. Al Qassimi improved with a time of 15'01″4. Paddon achieves the first reference 13'49″9. " I really appreciated. The special is much more slippery than the previous one. I have no more pressure so we are testing things on the car. »
10h
The first crews have already set off in the 22,3km of Cabeceiras de Basto.
