The second day of competition (Friday) on this year’s Vodafone Rally de Portugal was a tour de force by Kris Meeke and the Abu Dhabi Total World Rally Team. The Irishman, returning to competition after Rally Sweden in February, dominated the time sheets throughout the day, claiming four stage wins on the road, a second place by 0.2 seconds and a notional win following a stage cancellation.
Meeke set out his stall early, by winning the first two of the morning’s three stages. He was bested on the third by last year’s winner, Jari-Matti Latvala, who went through 0.2 seconds faster. By the mid-day service halt, Meeke held a lead of 11.5 seconds over Sebastien Ogier who was a further 3.1 seconds ahead of Dani Sordo.
The first stage of the afternoon saw drama unfold though, as firstly, Hayden Paddon and then Ott Tanak rolled in the stage. However, Paddon’s car caught fire and was completely burned-out, catching the surrounding vegetation alight also.
The stage was stopped while it was extinguished and the emergency services put out both the vegetation and prevented Tanak’s car, which came to rest in an almost identical position, from catching fire.
Eventually, the organisers awarded Meeke, running later on the road, the notional stage win, based on his performances to that point. He then went on to win the following two stages, claiming five of the day’s six gravel stages. Ogier struggled to match the pace on the second loop of stages, despite them now being very rough and in the same condition for all drivers.
Sordo had climbed past the Frenchman on the penultimate gravel stage of the day, into second but a puncture on the final test dropped him back again, with Ogier heading him back to Oporto and the double street stage.
Despite Thierry Neuville taking the win on both tests, Meeke retains the lead, with a margin of 31.9 seconds over Ogier, who in turn is 5.4 seconds in front of Sordo, setting up the prospect of a thrilling third day of action.