Large crowds were in attendance for the first pass through the iconic stage at Arganil, many of whom had camped out overnight in chilly temperatures. The stage was run in reverse to 2025.
Elfyn Evans continued to open the road and posted the target of 11min 35.1sec. He again took time out of Takamoto Katsuta but dropped 6.9 seconds to a flying Sami Pajari and that enabled the Finn to climb above the Welshman and Oliver Solberg in the overall classification to take third place.
Pajari chipped six-tenths of a second out of Adrien Fourmaux’s overall lead, although the Frenchman retained a cushion of 5.3 seconds over the Finn. A frustrated Sébastien Ogier slipped behind Solberg into fourth place. Thierry Neuville held fifth ahead of Evans.
Dani Sordo left the road briefly and clipped a bank under braking. The mistake cost the Spaniard precious seconds and he slipped to eighth place.
Teemu Suninen topped the WRC2 times on the previous stage but Nikolay Gryazin (not registered for Drivers’ points) snatched the outright lead from Jan Solans. Just 0.8 seconds separated the two drivers heading to Arganil. Series leader Yohan Rossel was losing time by running first (WRC2) on the road.
Car 33. EVANS/MARTIN
“There were things to discover with the grip and the new notes. Not the best run, the grip was quite inconsistent in places. Maybe I wasn’t brave enough. Dry in places and some patches are still quite greasy.”
Car 99. SOLBERG/EDMONDSON
“I tried to push but I don’t have the grip with the tyres. It is very slippery in there. One hard makes a difference on the rear. I don’t want to over drive it.”
Car 5. PAJARI/SALMINEN
Slight damage to the front-right bumper. “Good stage once again. The feeling is nice with the car. You never really know. I am trying to enjoy.”
Car 16. FOURMAUX/CORIA
“It’s an amazing stage. The downhill is faster. Even in reverse it feels like it is new. It’s very positive. We know we have the pace on gravel.”
Car 1. OGIER/LANDAIS
“I am not fighting with the balance. Just too slow then.”
Car 11. NEUVILLE/WYDAEGHE
“It’s okay but it’s not great. But we are here in the fight. We carry on. I don’t think there is a lot of wear (tyres).”
Car 95. ARMSTRONG/BYRNE
“It’s such a nice stage, so flowing and the surface is quite nice as well. I had a pretty good run. This direction is new with the jumps at the end.”
Car 55. MCERLEAN/TREACY
“It’s not bad. We are just struggling a bit with the balance.”
Car 22. SESKS/FRANCIS
“Something’s not right. I’m not sure. It’s not easy to go with the pace when you have four races off. I have been analysing the data, of course, but when you get into the car, it’s the real deal.”
Car 6. SORDO/CARRERA
Misjudged a corner and left the road. “I just brake and the car went straight. We don’t have grip, slippery no traction. Now we can do nothing.”
Car 20. KORHONEN/VIINIKKA
“Not so good. It’s a new stage and new pace notes and always a bit more difficult. There are some quite tricky places in some corners.”
Car 21. ROSSEL/DUNAND
“I push on my maximum to be honest. When it was fast on the last part it was okay because we have more or less the same line. I tried to push because. It is always the same in Portugal. When you are first anywhere, you struggle a lot.”
Car 24. DAPRÀ/GUGLIELMETTI
“We need to be better in some places. Still, not a bad time but we need to continue to improve ourselves.”