24H of Le Mans
16h
Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) took the scratch in the 17,43km of Vieira do Minho, SS13 of the Rally of Portugal, completed in 10'43''4. The Belgian took a second from Sébastien Ogier (Ford), while Ott Tänak (Ford), Dani Sordo (Hyundai) and Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford) followed at just over 3s. Craig Breen (Citroën), Esapekka Lappi (Toyota) and Mads Ostberg (Ford) finished more than 6s ahead of Kris Meeke (Citroën) and Elfyn Evans (Ford). Stéphane Lefebvre (Citroën) ranked 13s.
Restarting Rally 2 this morning, Hayden Paddon (Hyundai) retired with a power steering problem.
Sébastien Ogier retains the lead of the Rally de Portugal with an 18s lead over Thierry Neuville. Dani Sordo is now 5s behind the Belgian. Craig Breen remains 9th ahead of Ott Tänak, Juho Hänninen, Elfyn Evans, Esapekka Lappi and Mads Ostberg. Jari-Matri Latvala still completes the top ten.
SS13NeuvilleOgierSordoLatvalaBreenLappiOstbergEvanshttps://t.co/zDgHafI0p1 #wrc #RallyPortugal pic.twitter.com/ReBGKX6q83
— Michelin Motorsport (@Michelin_Sport) 20th May 2017
16h
Tänak sets the 3rd fastest time, 3″5 behind Neuville. The Estonian is still in 5th place, almost half a minute behind Breen.
16h
Sordo achieved the same time as Latvala, finishing 3″6 behind his teammate Neuville. The Spaniard is now 9″1 behind his Belgian teammate. “I attacked like hell and it’s pretty good. »
16h
Ogier drops a second to Neuville and maintains a lead of 18″5 at the head of the rally. “I think I can manage my lead. We must remain cautious. I am satisfied with my special. We were able to keep the tires. »
16h
Neuville takes the provisional scratch with a time of 10'43"4 where he improves Latvala's time by 3"6. “There's more grip, so it's better, even if the rear still moves a little. It will be hard to take Ogier back. »
16h
Breen is the closest to Latvala with 2″9 behind. The Citroën driver is 4th. “The car was moving so much that I thought I had a flat tire. »
16h
Evans sets the 4th time, 4” behind Latvala. The M-Sport driver is in 1th place, almost half a minute ahead of Lappi. “I have a really bad burning smell in the car and we need to find out what's going on. »
16h
Hänninen sets the 5th time, 13″5 behind his teammate Latvala. The Toyota driver is 6th. “We are trying to save the tires for the next stages. »
16h
Lappi finished 3” behind Latvala, a tenth ahead of Ostberg. The Toyota driver is 1th. “It went well, I didn’t make any mistakes. I am slowed down a little by the two spare wheels on board. »
16h
Ostberg is the closest to Latvala with 3″2 behind. The Ford private driver is 9th. “We try new things and it works much better. »
16h
Latvala took the provisional scratch in 10'47"0, almost 10 seconds ahead of Lefebvre. The Toyota driver is in 10th position. “The lunch break did me good. »
16h
Prokop reached the finish line 33 seconds behind Lefebvre in his old Fiesta WRC. The Czech is in 14th place.
16h
Lefebvre achieved the first benchmark in 10'56"9. Gorban is at 50s with a second ahead of Al Qassimi.
16h
It was a power steering problem that forced Paddon to dismount.
16h
Paddon is arrested in the special. The Hyundai driver restarted in Rally 2 this morning.
16h
The strategies diverge for the second passage:
Meeke and Breen took 4 hard and 2 soft.
Lefebvre and Sordo took 4 soft and 2 hard.
Latvala, Neuville, Tänak and Ogier preferred 3 soft and 2 hard.
Hänninen chose 2 soft and 3 hard.
Lappi opted for 2 soft and 4 hard.
Paddon chose 5 tenders.
16h
The second pass of the 2nd stage of the Rally Portugal will begin at 16:08 p.m. Gorban will return to Vieira do Minho where Ogier took the scratch in 10'46"4.
