The Ogier-Neuville duel intensifies; relive the second day of the Rally of Portugal with our live text commentary.

Adrien fourmaux and Alexandre Coria made a perfect start to their second day on the Rally from Portugal. This afternoon, after the three special stages, they arrived at the Arganil service area in the lead, 7,7 seconds ahead of Sami Pajari and Marko Salminen. Behind them were... Sébastien Ogier And Vincent Landais, third indeed, but only 8 seconds behind the leader. Elfyn Evans and Takamoto Katsuta suffered from the sweeping this morning and are already falling behind. This afternoon, rain is possible, although it is mainly expected tomorrow and Sunday. In any case, this second run of the afternoon promises to be intense, especially since the cars, as a reminder, haven't had a proper service since Thursday midday.

WRC – Rally Portugal
Follow Friday's events with live commentary

17h45 - 👋 Thank you all for following us for this second day of the Rally of Portugal on Friday, May 8th! We'll see you again from 8:00 AM (French time), 7:00 AM local time, to follow Saturday's events live, starting with SS11! Have a great rest of the day!

17h40 - 📊 To conclude this day of the Rally of Portugal, here is the current standings!

17h36 - Nikolay Gryazin also reaches the end of the special stage, but does not overtake! He finishes three seconds behind Yohan Rossel, and 5,2 seconds behind Roope Korhonen.

17:34 – 🇫🇮 Roope Korhonen regains a 2,2 second lead over Yohan Rossel in this special stage, and even takes the lead over the Frenchman in the overall standings by 2 tenths!

17h33 - 🇮🇹 Roberto Daprà reaches the finish of SS10 2,7 seconds behind the Frenchman.

17:30pm – 🇫🇷 Yohan Rossel completes this last special stage in 9:40.0.

17:28 – Josh McErlean at 21,7 seconds, Martins Sesks at 4:05.3… Yohan Rossel is now on track in Rally 2! 

17h21 - 📊 First look at the provisional standings before the last Rally1 drivers reach the finish line!

17:18 PM – 💥 Martins Sesks is stopped on the road! Double puncture for the Latvian, which could hinder his pursuers!

17:13 a.m. – 🇧🇪 Thierry Neuville Finishes this first day very well with the theoretical fastest time! Nine tenths faster than Oliver Solberg in this SS10… 3,7 seconds separate the 2024 World Champion from the leader of the Rally of Portugal!

17:10 PM – ⏱️ Sébastien Ogier was in front all the way, but ultimately 4 tenths of a second separate the driver from Gap from the leader Oliver Solberg at the moment!

17:07 PM – 🇫🇷 The result is difficult for Adrien Fourmaux, who lost 6,6 seconds. He seemed forced to preserve his tires without a spare after his double puncture earlier.

17:04 PM – ⏱️ Oliver Solberg gains 3 seconds on Sami Pajari; the Swede maintains his pace but is clearly disappointed. His mistake is costing him dearly today.

17:00 PM – ⏱️ Sami Pajari takes the lead in this stage while awaiting Solberg. 1,4 seconds ahead for the Finn, but his Swedish counterpart is closing in fast!

16:58 PM – ⏱️ Taka finally manages to dislodge Elfyn Evans! The Japanese player gains a full two seconds on the Welshman.

16h55 - ⏱️ First time in 9:17.4 for Elfyn Evans who confirms that this last special stage was very tricky in the opening position.

16:55 PM – The Finn sees a stone damage his windshield!

16h54 - Sami Pajari also set off on the road to SS10.

16h47 - 🇯🇵 Takamoto Katsuta takes his turn, will he finally manage to go and find Elfyn Evans?

16h45 - 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Elfyn Evans is starting as the opening driver for the last time in this Rally of Portugal! Tomorrow, he will join the regular lineup.

16:39 PM – The last special stage of the day, 14,59 km long, will start at 16:45 PM!

15h55 - 👋 The next special stage, the last of the day, will now start at 16:40 PM French time, 15:40 PM local time! See you soon for this final thrill of the afternoon in the Rally of Portugal!

15:55 PM – 📊 At the end of this SS9, the standings have changed again, but Sébastien Ogier remains the leader!

15:53 PM – ⏱️ Roope Korhonen gains two tenths on Yohan Rossel at the end of his attempt!

15h51 - 🇮🇹 Roberto Daprà 3,1 seconds behind the Habs in Rally2.

15:48 – 🇫🇷 4:42.8 for Yohan Rossel who says he lacks traction coming out of corners but also seems relatively satisfied with the behavior of his Lancia.

15h45 - ⏱️ Josh McErlean is also regaining some form… and finishes 6th in this special stage.

15h42 - 🇱🇻 Martins Sesks confirms his good form and moves into third place ahead of Adrien Fourmaux! He himself doesn't quite understand this return to form, but the fact remains that the Latvian is closing in on Dani Sordo in the general classification…

15h37 - 📊 Here's a first look at the standings for this ES9!

15h31 - ⏱️ Thierry Neuville lives up to his status and takes second place on this stage, just eight-tenths of a second behind Sébastien Ogier. His post-stage interview indicates that he is currently using tires that are already well broken in…

15:28 PM – ⏱️ The leader of this Rally of Portugal extends his lead and regains a 2,8-second advantage over his compatriot! Sébastien Ogier remains the new man to beat!

15:24 PM – ⏱️ Adrien Fourmaux shows us the same phenomenon! 4:33.1 for the pilot Hyundai who does even better!

15:22 PM – ⏱️ Oliver Solberg takes a 0,5-second lead over Pajari and Evans, and takes the lead in this stage! The Swede will certainly regret his costly off in SS8…

15:20 – ⏱️ Sami Pajari equals Elfyn Evans' time, no difference between the two drivers: 4:34.2.

15h17 - A little flashback with the Rally2 cars gradually arriving at the end of SS8, here is the current state of the times.

15h16 - ⏱️ By a tenth of a second, Takamoto Katsuta falls short behind Evans.

15:13 – ⏱️ The Welshman completes this short special stage in 4:34.2.

15h10 - Elfyn Evans kicks off the hostilities of this ES9!

15h05 - ⏱️Well, it seems the surprises aren't over in this SS8! Martin Sesks finds his rhythm again and sets the 4th fastest time, 2 seconds behind Sébastien Ogier!

15:02 – 🛠️ Adrien Fourmaux and Alexandre Coria appear to have finished the work on their Hyundai.

15h01 - ⏱️ Dani Sordo reaches the finish of this special stage in 10:03.3.

14h57 - Still without power steering, Jon Armstrong is 55,6 seconds behind Sébastien Ogier. Here's a look at the shaken-up standings while SS8 is still underway!

14h53 - ⏱️ Thierry Neuville takes third place in this special stage and therefore remains behind Ogier by 4,2 seconds overall!

2:51 PM – 🇫🇷 As a direct consequence of Fourmaux's misfortunes, Sébastien Ogier takes the lead in the Rally of Portugal! The driver from Gap overtakes Sami Pajari by eight-tenths of a second and now has an 8,7-second lead overall!

14:48 PM – 💥 Adrien Fourmaux has suffered a double puncture on the right side! The Frenchman completely lost control of his car before regaining control… 28,5 seconds behind Pajari, the driver from northern France loses the lead of the Rally of Portugal!

14:45 PM – 💥 Oliver Solberg had a rather unexpected airborne incident and nearly lost complete control of his car after exceeding the road limits! He finishes 7,9 seconds behind the leader!

14:41 PM – ⏱️ Sami Pajari wakes up this early afternoon and takes a 5-second lead over Evans! 

14h38 - ⏱️ Takamoto Katsuta loses another 1,3 seconds to Elfyn Evans…

14h36 - 💬 Elfyn Evans is very clear: "This is the worst special stage to open the road."

14h33 - Sami Pajari set off, while Elfyn Evans proved just how technical this Góis special stage is in the Portuguese soil…

14h28 - Takamoto Katsuta takes his turn.

14:25 PM – Elfyn Evans kicks off SS8!

14:20 PM – 📊 That's it for this prematurely stopped SS7! Here's the standings, while Yohan Rossel will receive a fixed time.

14:18 PM – 🔴 Roberto Daprà is slowing down in this special stage, red flag!

14h15 - ⚠️ Josh McErlean clocked 11:38.9, 16 seconds off Sébastien Ogier's benchmark time… But the Irishman has to add a 50-second penalty due to his 5-minute delay to the Canadiens!

2:12 PM – 🇫🇷 Yohan Rossel opens the Rally14 competition in his Lancia!

14h10 - ⏱️ Martins Sesks, 13,4 seconds off the best time, is behind Dani Sordo.

14h05 - ⏱️ Quite logically, Jon Armstrong arrives more than a minute and 40 seconds behind…

14h00 - 🇧🇪 Thierry Neuville, 6,8 seconds behind the overall leader, takes 2nd place in the special stage, 2,6 seconds behind Sébastien Ogier!

13:57 PM – 🇫🇷 Sébastien Ogier sets the fastest time by 2,8 seconds ahead of Oliver Solberg! In the overall standings, there are now only 4 seconds between the two French drivers, with the Hyundai driver holding the advantage!

13h56 - 🇮🇪 Jon Armstrong is still suffering the consequences of a power steering problem. The Irishman is working his arms, but losing time…

13:54 PM – 🇫🇷 Second provisional time for Adrien Fourmaux who loses only 1,2 seconds to a Solberg who is racing against the clock!

13h52 - 🇸🇪 The pilot Toyota He complains about having seen a policewoman on the road as he drove by! Could Oliver Solberg have gained even more time? He's certainly annoyed…

13:51 PM – ⏱️ Oliver Solberg sets an incredible pace to gain more than 5 seconds on Katsuta and Pajari! 11:25.6 for the Swede!

13h49 - ⏱️ Sami Pajari is one tenth of a second behind Taka! The Finn is 2nd in this special stage and indicates that he may have hit a large rock during his run.

13:48 PM – 🇫🇷 Sébastien Ogier is on his way to try and make up his slight deficit! The nine-time champion is off!

13:46 PM – 🇫🇷 Adrien Fourmaux's turn to try his luck! He seems to have fitted two soft tires again!

1,3:45 PM – ⏱️ Takamoto Katsuta, with a time of 11:30.9, takes a 13-second lead over Elfyn Evans! The Japanese driver is provisionally in the lead of this SS7.

13h42 - ⏱️ 11:32.2 for the Welshman, while we wait for the next drivers!

13:41 PM – 🚨 Elfyn Evans, the course opener, goes through the dust! A support truck was in front of the Welshman! He was completely thrown off by this!

13h38 - 🇫🇮 Winner of two out of three special stages this morning, Sami Pajari sets off!

13h36 - 🚨 We've just learned that Rally2 driver Alejandro Cachon has broken down in Arganil! The car won't restart, and the mechanics have 20 minutes to fix the problem, otherwise it's over for the Spaniard in this Rally of Portugal. Without proper assistance today, he has to do it with very limited tools…

13h32 - Takamoto Katsuta, meanwhile, starts with four hard tires, while Elfyn Evans is on the attack after 5 km!

13:30pm – Elfyn Evans sets off again as the opener under the Portuguese wind!

13h22 - 📊 In a few minutes, at 13:30 pm French time, we will be live for SS7, which is 18,62 km long.

13:20pm – 👋 We're back for the second part of the day, here in Portugal to follow special stages 7, 8, 9 & 10 of this Friday!

12:20 PM – 👋🏻 That's it, we're closing up shop for this morning. Thanks for following us for these first three specials of the day! We'll see you again around 13:30 PM French time, 12:30 PM local time, for the rest of the day, still with live commentary right here!

12:18 – 📊 We are also looking at the provisional Top 20 of the overall standings, including the WRC2s.

12:17 – 📊 Before we wrap up for the morning, a quick look at the provisional Top 20 of the special stage across all categories.

12:13 PM – 🚨 Things are changing in the WRC2 standings! Alejandro Cachón has retaken the lead ahead of Jan Solans, with Yohan Rossel third, just 1,6 seconds behind the leader! Mikkelsen drops to fourth, and Suninen is now 5th.

12:06 – ☔️ With this rain falling, no one is currently improving on Yohan Rossel's reference time.

11:58 – 🌧️ Well, here's something else: it's raining in Portugal! We were mainly expecting rain tomorrow; there was some risk this afternoon, so this could change things…

11:54 – 📊 Same thing with the provisional overall standings for Rally1 at the end of this special stage!

11:53 – 📊 In the meantime, a quick update on the special stage standings for the Rally1 category if you're joining us now.

11:51 AM – 🚨 Yohan Rossel finishes the special stage in 04:46.1. We'll stay with you for a few minutes, friends, to tell you more about WRC2.

11:47 – 🇱🇻 The Latvian finishes in 04:37.4.

11:46 – ℹ️ McErlean finishes in 04:35.6, we're waiting for Sesks and that will be the end of this first loop for the Rally1 cars. Yohan Rossel has just started for the WRC2 Rally2 cars.

11:43 – 🇪🇸 Dani Sordo also finishes in 04:39.4.

11:40 – 🇮🇪 Jon Armstrong just finished in 04:35.6, let's see if he can beat Josh McErlean this time.

11:36 – 🇧🇪 Neuville in 04:32.5 with the best provisional time, he moves back to 4th place overall, sandwiched between Ogier (3rd) and Solberg (5th).

11:35 – 🧇 Watch out for Thierry Neuville too, currently the fastest at the intermediates!

11:34 – 💬 Ogier: “ We pushed a little harder in this one. We need to make changes; the behavior isn't ideal yet. »

11:33 AM – 🇫🇷 Ogier and Landais have moved back into 3rd place in the provisional overall standings! 04:32.9, that's their time just recorded!

11:32 – 💬 Fourmaux: “ Great start to the rally for us, we made some good decisions with the team, it's very positive »

11:30 AM – 🤩 The best time for Fourmaux and Coria in 04:33.0, perhaps their second scratch time of the weekend! They are the bosses at the moment!

11:28 – 🇫🇷 Sébastien Ogier and Vincent Landais have just started, Adrien Fourmaux – Alexandre Coria are ahead at the splits on Solberg!

11:27 – 🇸🇪 Best time just now for Oliver Solberg in 04:35.2! He is now 2,2 seconds behind Pajari in the overall standings.

11:25 AM – 🇫🇷 The provisional leaders, Adrien Fourmaux and Alexandre Coria, are off! Meanwhile, Oliver Solberg seems to be comfortable reading the intermediate times and may well overtake Pajari.

11:24 – 🚨 Pajari is still the fastest, for now of course. He finishes in 04:35.4. A tri-tri, a ple-ple for the Finn?

11:21 – 🇯🇵 Katsuta also finishes in 04:39.4 while Solberg prepares to start.

11:20 – 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Elfyn Evans at the finish in 04:37.1.

11:19 AM – 🇫🇮 The man of the morning is off! Judging by how he's tackling the stages of the Rally of Portugal, we'll soon be calling him Sami Pajero, at this rate…

11:16 – 🏯 It's Takamoto Katsuta's turn to start this special stage. We forgot to mention it, but this is the shortest of the day, only 7,07 kilometers.

11:13 am – 🚨 The sixth special stage of the rally is underway, the last of the loop before the remote service area at Arganil! Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin have just started.

11:07 – 📊 And we continue with the provisional overall Top 20.

11:06 – 📊 The provisional Top 20, all categories combined, of SS5 a few minutes before the start of the next special stage.

11:02 AM – 🚨 Jan Solans finishes in 12:18.8. In the overall standings, Teemu Suninen therefore regains the lead by 1,5 seconds over the Spanish rider!

11:00 – 🇳🇴 Mikkelsen finishes in 12:17.2, the second fastest time in WRC2.

10:55 AM – 🔥 Confirmed with Teemu Suninen's provisional best time of 12:13.4! The Finn is a cut above this morning; let's wait for Jan Solans' arrival to draw any conclusions regarding the overall WRC2 standings.

10:50 – 🚨 And meanwhile, Suninen and Mikkelsen are dominating everyone in WRC2 by reading the intermediate times. Isn't it said that the best soups are made in old pots?

10:48 – 🇪🇸 Alejandro Cachón sets the same time as Gryazin, a great result in the overall standings for the Spanish driver.

10:47 – 🇧🇬 Provisional fastest time in WRC2 for Nikolay Gryazin with a 12:17.4. Okay, since the car is run by PH Sport, we'll just say "it's French"...

10:45 – 📊 We are now interested in the overall standings after this SS5: Adrien Fourmaux remains the leader ahead of Sami Pajari, it is Oliver Solberg who made the good move by climbing to 3rd place ahead of Ogier (4th) and Neuville (5th).

10:44 – 📊 A look at the special stage standings, with, if you're joining us now, Sami Pajari's new best time, his second in two special stages today.

10:41 AM – 🚨 Rossel – Dunand finished in 12:20.6. We'll have to wait now for an update on the provisional WRC2 standings. But, clearly, we should expect some changes behind them with the sweeping action… 

10:37 – 🇱🇻 Sesks finished in 11:46.1, so that's the end of the Rally1 stages on this one. SS6 will start at 11:13 French time, 10:13 local time. Meanwhile, the first Rally2 cars of WRC2 are underway.

10:34 – 🇮🇪 McErlean again faster than Armstrong in 11:43.2, this is one of the nice surprises of the morning even if his teammate is discovering the Puma Rally1 in these conditions.

10:33 – 🇪🇸 Sordo finishes in 11:51.8, the Spaniard explains his small error by a lack of grip and delicate brakes.

10:31 AM – 🚨 A slight error from Dani Sordo who shoots straight on. The reigning Portuguese champion has restarted.

10:29 – 🇮🇪 Armstrong has just finished in 11:44.9.

10:27 – ✅ In other news, Dani Sordo and the three Ford Puma Rally1 cars M-Sport They are also in the special stage. Next up are Yohan Rossel and Arnaud Dunand.

10:26 – 🤯 If you're wondering whether the WRC Interestingly, the Top 6 are separated by just 11,1 seconds at the end of this 5th special stage!

10:25 AM – 🇧🇪 Thierry Neuville is also on fire! 11:30.5, third fastest time in this stage, the Belgian is now just 6 tenths of a second behind Ogier in 5th place overall!

10:23 – 💬 Ogier: “ I'm just slow! Even though I've won here seven times, it doesn't mean anything. In Portugal, you always start from scratch. »

10:22 AM – 🚨 Ogier – Landais in 11:32.9, the fourth fastest time behind Solberg in 11:31.5! In the overall standings, the reigning World Champions drop to 4th place behind Solberg (3rd) and Pajari (2nd). All of this is provisional, of course.

10:20 – 💬 Fourmaux: “ Incredible special edition, I loved discovering it upside down. It looked brand new. It was fantastic. »

10:19 AM – 🚨 Second fastest time for Adrien Fourmaux and Alexandre Coria in 11:28.8! Yes guys! Let's wait for Ogier and Landais, but it's a very good start to the day for our French drivers!

10:15 – 🔥 Solberg made a great comeback! A great time also for the Swede at 11:31.5, who moves back ahead of Evans in the overall standings. Meanwhile, Ogier and Neuville are on the special stage.

10:13 AM – 🚨 Huge time from Sami Pajari who sets the provisional fastest time of 11:28.2 and puts 6,9 seconds on Evans! He moves back ahead of the Welshman in the overall standings!

10:11 am – 🤩 At the splits, the fastest man on the slope at the moment is… Adrien Fourmaux!

10:10 – 🇯🇵 Katsuta finishes in 11:38.8, losing 3,7 seconds to Evans.

10:09 – 🇫🇷 Adrien Fourmaux started the special stage two minutes ago, Sébastien Ogier will follow in a moment.

10:08 – 🇫🇮 Watch out for Pajari! The Finn is setting a blistering time according to the intermediate times! He was only 5,9 seconds behind Fourmaux at the start of this stage… Could he be the one making the most of the sweeping passes from those ahead?

10:07 – 🚨 Elfyn Evans sets the first benchmark time for this stage in 11:35.1!

10:04 – 🇸🇪 Oliver Solberg has just started! Will he be able to make up some of the lost time? Meanwhile, Pajari is the fastest at the first splits, already more than two seconds ahead of his teammates!

10:02 – 💡 At the first halftime, Katsuta is neck and neck with Evans. The sweep might be more important in this one… To be continued.

10:01 – 🚨 Sami Pajari, who set the fastest time in the previous stage, has just started! Meanwhile, we're following the French WRC2 drivers in the previous stage. Eric Camilli, Mattéo Chatillon, Eliott Delecour, and Pablo Sarrazin have finished. Next up are Tristan Charpentier and Adrien Mosca.

09:58 – ☑️ It's Takamoto Katsuta's turn to start from Arganil.

09:56 – 🤔 The question now is whether Oliver Solberg was able to rebalance his car before SS5. If you're just joining us, Adrien Fourmaux and Alexandre Coria are the provisional leaders!

09:55 – 🛫 Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin have just started this 18,62 kilometer special stage! There are many spectators here, let's hope there won't be any problems.

09:50 – 🚨 Are you ready? SS5 starts in just five minutes here in Portugal! As a reminder, this stage will be run in reverse compared to last year, as will the following one. If you want to know more about the route of this Rally Portugal, Alexandre Coria told us all about it last Wednesday, and you can read about it here. here.

09:42 – 📊 The WRC2 Top 5 after this 4th special stage.

09:40 – 🚨 Jan Solans finishes in 09:52.8. He remains in the overall lead by 3,9 seconds over Suninen and Mikkelsen also gets into contention, the Norwegian takes 3rd place overall.

09:36 – 🇫🇮 And so, you may have understood: good old Suninen is back ahead of Cachón and Rossel in the general classification.

09:34 – 🇪🇸 Jan Solans is in the special stage, already ahead at the first two intermediates compared to Teemu Suninen, who has just set the provisional best time in the category in 09:45.5.

09h31 – 📺 While we wait for the outcome of the special stage for the WRC2 cars and the next special stage, let's look back at yesterday's events with our special live broadcast from Portugal!

09:25 – 🥱 22 minutes: that's the time separating Yohan Rossel from Jan Solans, who led last night, in the starting order. In WRC2, it's therefore crucial to wait.

09:23 – 💥 Korhonen sets the provisional best time for Rally2 at 09:48.7. That's 5,5 seconds faster than Rossel.

09:22 p.m. – 📊 …and on the provisional overall standings at the end of this special stage.

09:21 – 📊 A quick update on the special stage standings for Rally1…

09:18 – 🇫🇷 Rossel – Dunand finish in 09:54.2, forced to sweep behind all the Rally1 cars before the other Rally2s. We'll see how that goes…

09:17 a.m. – ⏱️ The Rally1 cars return at 09:55 AM (08:55 AM local time) with the first run through Arganil. You can make yourself a coffee, even though the WRC2 times are about to start!

09:15 – ☑️ The last Rally1 driver has reached the finish of the special stage with Martins Sesks, back this weekend. Unsurprisingly, the Latvian is further back, posting a time of 09:32.2, 3,7 seconds behind McErlean.

09:13 – 🇮🇪 McErlean finished in 09:28.5, which is faster than Armstrong.

09:12 – 🔥 In WRC2, Yohan Rossel and Arnaud Dunand have also started their stage. As for them, we'll have to wait a little longer to know the overall standings after this stage, since Jan Solans, with car number 36, took the lead last night.

09:11 – 💬 Sordo, not happy: “ En Formula 1They don't choose their tires the day before! This isn't rallying… »

09:09 – 🇪🇸 Sordo also finished in 09:23.6.

09:07 – 🇮🇪 Armstrong finished in 09:29.2.

09:04 – 💬 Neuville: “ I did what I could, honestly. Like yesterday, I had understeer and oversteer; we need to work on that. But all in all, it was still a good stage. »

09:03 – 🇧🇪 Neuville loses ground! 09:17.0, 4,4 seconds behind Pajari!

09:01 – 💬 Ogier: “ That was close! We're fighting, not fantastic in the car »

9:00 AM – 🇫🇷 Ogier and Landais are third in 9:14.2, moving into second place overall! A French one-two finish at the top, folks! You can play La Marseillaise (temporarily, of course…)

08:58 – 💬 Fourmaux: “ An exceptional special stage every year, very demanding. I loved this special stage! I just loved driving the car, so much fun! »

08:57 – 👀 Ogier loses a little ground after 10 kilometers on Pajari, but everything is under control.

08:56 – 🤩 2nd fastest time for Fourmaux – Coria who temporarily regain the overall lead! 09:14.0

08:55 – 💬 Solberg: “ The feeling in the car was awful, very slippery… Definitely a bit of both, the tires and the car »

08:55 – 💥 Fourmaux is well on his way to slotting in between Pajari and Evans according to the intermediaries, he too might make a great move!

08:54 – 🚨 Solberg is definitely losing ground! 9,8 points lost to Pajari in 09:22.4!

08:52 – 🫣 Solberg is wasting quite a bit of time in this one… Meanwhile, Ogier is faster than Pajari at the first intermediate: I don't need to spell it out for you!

08:51 – 🚀 A good move for Pajari so far, 2,1 seconds faster than Evans in 09:12.6!

08:48 – Katsuta conceded 5,1 seconds to Evans in 09:19.8!

08:47 – 🇫🇷 Adrien Fourmaux and Alexandre Coria have just set off!

08:46 – ⚠️ Solberg is behind at the first two intermediate checkpoints, almost three seconds behind after 3,56 kilometers!

08:45 AM – The first time on the stage has been set at 09:14.7 by Elfyn Evans! Let's see if he improves further with the sweeping… 🧹

08:44 – The provisional leader, Oliver Solberg, is in the special stage!

08h43 - And Pajari is faster than Evans at the first intermediate checkpoint!

08:42 – Despite the sweep inherent in his starting position, Evans is currently faster at the intermediates than Katsuta.

08h41 - Sami Pajari also took off ☑️

08:40 – As a reminder, the special stage is identical to last year's. However, the following two stages will be run in the opposite direction compared to the previous edition!

08h38 - Katsuta and Johnston are now in the running.

08:37 – Quick reminder of the Start List: Evans – Katsuta – Pajari – Solberg – Fourmaux – Ogier – Neuville – Armstrong – Sordo – McErlean – Sesks.

08:35 AM – Let's go, SS4 is underway with Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin! 🔥

08:33 – 🛞 And here are the tire choices for the WRC2!

08:31 – 👀 And for those wondering what will be allowed this lunchtime for the remote audience, we'll tell you more here !

08h30 - 🛞 Different tire choices were made by all the WRC drivers for this morning's loop. As a reminder, this choice was made last night at the Tire Fitting Zone, not this morning – a unique feature of this Rally Portugal. To put it simply: all the Toyotas started with two hard tires and three soft tires… except for Solberg, who did the opposite (three hards and two softs). At Hyundai, Fourmaux and Neuville started this morning with one soft tire and four hard tires, the reverse for Sordo (four hards and one soft), Sesks and Armstrong with four hards and two softs, while McErlean split the difference: three hards and three softs.

08:25 – 📊 This morning, two French crews are also in the Top 10 of the WRC with Rossel – Dunand (3rd) and Camilli – De La Haye (9th).

08:22 – 📊 A quick look at the provisional general classification before getting into the heart of the matter. This morning, Solberg – Edmondson are in the lead with a 3,4-second advantage over Fourmaux – Coria and a 7,2-second advantage over Ogier – Landais.

08h19 - 👋 Good morning! Welcome to our live text coverage of the second day of the Rally of Portugal in its entirety! Start of SS4 scheduled for 08:35 (07:35 local time).