Kalle Rovanperä gives everything! He takes the best time with an 8″ margin over Katsuta! “I'm not attacking too much,” defends the Finn. We follow our own pace. I'm not only thinking about catching Elfyn (Evans), but also about keeping my 2nd place. »

Dani Sordo concedes 6 tenths to Takamoto Katsuta on this special. The gap between the two men for 3rd place in the rally is 4″1. “I overdrove a little at the end of the special in the rain. »

Takamoto Katsuta takes the lead by 3 tenths!

Gus Greensmith hit a rock with the right rear wheel and suffered a loss of air pressure in the tire! The Englishman was able to finish the special and lost around ten seconds. He will have to change his soft tire on the link course.

Pierre-Louis Loubet crossed the finish line 3″6 behind Tänak. Craig Breen gets closer

While the rain increased in intensity, Thierry Neuville finished with a deficit of 4 tenths! “It’s raining more and more but visibility is still good. »

Ott Tänak is beaten by 2 tenths by Craig Breen! “I changed some settings on the chassis and suspensions but I feel there is still work to be done. I'm not yet comfortable. »

Adrien Fourmaux finished “inside” 9″ behind Ott Tänak. “I wanted to take more soft tires but I didn't have any left. »

Here is the starting order:

Weren't you here this morning? Don't panic, discover the summary!

It was expected, it was not missed. The head of Rally of Portugal 2022 will be played internally in the Toyota Gazoo Racing clan this Saturday, May 21. At the end of the morning loop, Elfyn Evans preserved an advantage of 18″4 over her colleague and leader of the World Rally Championship (WRC), Kalle Rovanperä. He was faster during three of the four morning stages but the final sector, the longest of this fourth round of the season, allowed the Welshman to recover his health.

The two teammates dumped the competition. Takamoto Katsuta (Toyota) took care of overtaking Dani Sordo (Hyundai) just before returning to the service park to gain third place… more than a minute away! The Spaniard has been a step below the Japanese since the start of the rally. Handicapped by a transmission problem on Friday, Thierry Neuville is slowly but surely gaining positions. The Belgian finds himself fifth.

New punctures punctuated this start of the stage, mainly on the M-Sport Ford side. Gus Greensmith and Adrien Fourmaux had to replace tires in poor condition. Author of a poor choice of tires worn on hard surfaces, Pierre-Louis Loubet spun but continued his journey in sixth place as the best representative of Malcolm Wilson's team.

We will never see Sébastien again Loeb (M-Sport Ford) this Saturday. The nine-time world champion stopped on the road between the first two special stages of the day due to a loss of power. The Frenchman, leader on Friday lunchtime before hitting a concrete wall, should return to Rally 2 once again on Sunday.

Sébastien Ogier (Toyota) for his part made an unusual driving error. A rock positioned on an outside bend sent him onto the shoulder of the road. Forced to wait for all the Rally1 hybrids to pass to exit from below, the Gapençais then suffered a mechanical problem before SS12.

In WRC2, Andreas Mikkelsen (Skoda) was forced to retire due to engine failure. The defending champion will observe from a distance the fight between Teemu Suninen (Hyundai), Yohan Rossel (Citroën) and Oliver Solberg (Hyundai). The latter was penalized 20” for leaving the service park late. As for the Frenchman, he is only around fifteen seconds behind Suninen.

ALSO READ > Loeb recounts his Friday outing

Ranking after SS12: