Rally Portugal 2019
12h
Ott Tänak (Toyota) scored the scratch in SS2 of the Rally of Portugal by completing the 18,78km of Gois in 12'19''7, one second ahead of his teammate Jari-Matti Latvala. Dani Sordo (Hyundai) followed almost 4 seconds behind, preceding Sébastien Ogier (Citroën) who did well by opening the road. Kris Meeke (Toyota) failed more than 5 seconds behind his Estonian teammate after encountering radio problems. The Northern Irishman beat Esapekka Lappi (Citroën) and Teemu Suninen (M-Sport). Sébastien Loeb (Hyundai) set the 8th fastest time, around ten seconds from the benchmark, ahead of Thierry Neuville (Hyundai). M-Sport drivers Elfyn Evans and Gus Greensmith were the slowest.
Dani Sordo retains the lead of the Rally Portugal by half a second over Ott Tänak. Jari-Matti Latvala climbs onto the provisional podium 2 seconds behind the leader, ahead of Kris Meeke who now precedes Teemu Suninen. Esapekka Lappi is at the gates of the Top 5, ahead of Elfyn Evans. Sébastien Ogier climbed to 8th place ahead of his compatriot Sébastien Loeb while Thierry Neuville slipped to 10th place with just over 2 seconds ahead of Gus Greensmith.
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Ogier is already underway in the 14,44km of Arganil, the last course of the first passage.
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Sordo finally ranks 3″7 behind the benchmark by setting the 3rd provisional time. The Hyundai driver retains the provisional lead by half a second over the Estonian. “I wanted to keep the tires. I could have gone faster. »
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Sordo is one second away from the provisional reference in the 3rd split, but it is in the last km that performance will count.
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Suninen ultimately failed almost 9s from the benchmark. The M-Sport driver is taken over by Toyota drivers Latvala and Meeke. The M-Sport driver is not very keen to comment on his performance.
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Like many, Suninen let go in the last km with more than 6 seconds behind the reference at the last split.
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Greensmith seems to be struggling more, already being almost 3 seconds behind at the first intermediate point.
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Sordo took the pace by moving within a few tenths of the Toyotas of Latvala and Tänak in the 2nd intermediate. Suninen is almost 2s away from the benchmark at intermediate 3rd.
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Latvala ranks just one second behind his teammate Tänak. The Finn remains 1″6 behind the Estonian in the general classification. “I was a little worried about how the tires were holding up, but I relaxed a little towards the end. »
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Latvala is now 1″8 behind Tänak at the last split; The Estonian seems to have pushed very hard on the last part.
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Sordo is more discreet in the first km of this ES with half a second behind Tänak in the first split.
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Lappi finally failed 6″6 behind Tänak even though he kept pace with the Estonian for most of the special. The Citroën driver is still a little more than 2s behind Meeke in the general classification. “I don’t know why I wasted time. It seemed to me that I was constantly following the trajectories. I'm a little disappointed with the time. The car is good. »
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Suninen is still on the pace with 3 tenths behind Tänak in the first sector. Latvala came back to his teammate on the course.
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Lappi lost a little ground by being almost 5s behind Tänak in the last split.
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Latvala is ahead of Tänak by a tenth in the 2nd intermediate position. Lappi points 1″6 from the reference to the next sector.
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Loeb sets the 4th fastest time, finishing 9″5 behind Tänak. The Hyundai driver overtook his teammate Neuville by half a second. “I attacked in this SS and I think I had a good time. We'll have to see what the others do. The first course was difficult with the dust. »
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At Loeb, we do what we can. The Alsatian is almost 9s behind the benchmark at the last split.
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Lappi is one of the only ones to be faster than Ogier in the special. The Finn is just over a second behind Tänak in the 2nd split. Latvala is the fastest in the first sector with 3 tenths ahead of the Estonian.
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Evans is the slowest at the finish with more than 13 seconds behind, but the M-Sport driver clearly seems to have a problem with his Ford Fiesta WRC as he immediately leaves the press point without giving any explanations. The Welshman finds himself somewhere between Meeke and Ogier in the general classification.
11h
Evans lost ground in the special, finding himself more than 11s behind the benchmark in the 4th split. Maybe an M-Sport driver error?
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