Sordo in the lead in Portugal, Toyota in agony

Dani Sordo (Hyundai) points at the head at Rally of Portugal at midday of the first stage. The Spaniard set a good pace until setting the scratch in the fourth special to climb ahead of Kris Meeke (Citroën) and Hayden Paddon (Hyundai), the two previous leaders who are less than five seconds behind.

After suffering while sweeping the road in the first ES, Sébastien Ogier (M-Sport) and Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) found pace to climb into the Top 5, the Frenchman ahead of his Belgian rival by two seconds.

Andreas Mikkelsen (Hyundai) was also lacking in performance on the first courses before improving his times and moving up to sixth place ahead of Craig Breen (Citroën), Elfyn Evans (M-Sport), Teemu Suninen (M-Sport) and Mads Ostberg (Citroën).

The first step was nightmarish for Toyota. Ott Tänak, leader after the opening super special, retired after puncturing the radiator when hitting a stone in SS2. The Estonian indicated that his retirement was definitive, the engine being broken, but the team does not want to confirm the information yet. Jari-Matti Latvala dismounted in the following special, the Finn having broken his front-right suspension.

Esapekka Lappi is the only survivor in the Japanese team, but the Finn only occupies 11th position without understanding his lack of rhythm.

Stéphane Lefebvre (Citroën) leads the WRC 2 with more than 27 seconds ahead of Gus Greensmith (Ford), Pierre-Louis Loubet (Hyundai) fell to tenth after losing time on the last course of the morning while he was in third position. Pontus Tidemand (Skoda) was slowed down by a puncture on the first route of the stage and is only in seventh place.

The first stage of the Rally Portugal will resume at 16:25 p.m. with the second pass of Viana do Castelo.