Elfyn Evans endured his last stage as the road-cleaner in Portugal and was 2.7 seconds slower than he had been at the start of the morning. The fifth-placed Welshman also dropped two seconds in Mortágua 2 to team-mate Takamoto Katsuta.
Sami Pajari confirmed third overnight with a solid run of 9min 14.0sec even though Oliver Soberg trimmed his hold on the final podium place to just 1.2 seconds. Adrien Fourmaux finished the day in sixth after his double-puncture drama earlier in the afternoon.
Sébastien Ogier safely negotiated the final stage with the third quickest time and headed back to Exponor with an overnight lead of 3.7 seconds over stage winner Thierry Neuville.
Jon Armstrong survived the afternoon without power steering but Ford team-mate Märtinš Sesks suffered a double puncture after 3.8km and had to stop to change wheels in the stage. The Latvian lost four minutes and slipped behind the leading WRC2 runners.
Roope Korhonen was again the quickest of the early WRC2 runners and managed to pass Yohan Rossel in the overall classification. Nikolay Gryazin continued to lead the way but is not eligible for Drivers’ Championship points in Portugal.
Car 18. KATSUTA/JOHNSTON
“It was not like I expected this morning. We know how we can improve for tomorrow. It is going to be quite tricky tomorrow but that is what I am hoping for.”
Car 33. EVANS/MARTIN
“It’s like a beach inside the ruts. It’s going to be bad cleaning. It’s been okay, a clean drive with no mistakes.”
Car 99. SOLBERG/EDMONDSON
“Tricky day and not a good feeling in the car. We are trying to improve. We are making silly mistakes. I would be closer to the top two if I was not making mistakes.”
Car 5. PAJARI/SALMINEN
“It was quite okay. Different conditions to the first pass. We even got a broken windscreen, so always something happening. It has been an okay day. A few things where we lost a few seconds. Two more days to go and we are in the fight, so that is good.”
Car 16. FOURMAUX/CORIA
“I really tried but we had no tyres left. I can be pleased that we are here and we have no spare wheels. The rally is very long, so we can focus until Sunday.”
Car 1. OGIER/LANDAIS
“We didn’t have the best stage in the beginning. I had to slow down because of scooping but I am happy to finish the day. We can be happy with what we did this afternoon.”
Car 11. NEUVILLE/WYDAEGHE
“The last stage of the day. I was trying. It’s very rough in the beginning and I got kicked out of the line a couple of times. I had massive under steer. We compensate a bit with the driving style but it’s a long rally to drive like this. A bid day tomorrow and very different conditions.”
Car 95. ARMSTRONG/BYRNE
“That one was horrible. Fine dust everywhere and the rear was trying to break away. I had to go a lot slower just to get through. The arms are okay, more the hands.”
Car 55. MCERLEAN/TREACY
“Puncture risk is quite high in there. It was like a rodeo in there. We were shaking a lot.”
Car 22. SESKS/FRANCIS
Front-left and front-right tyre pressure alerts and pulled over to change tyres. “It was actually the same place as last year and we changed the tyre in exactly the same place. This time there were two punctures. I don’t know what we have done here. It’s a shame.”
Car 6. SORDO/CARRERA
“It’s hard. We lost a lot of time with mixed tyres. We are quite far. This stage was really bad. It’s like it is. I cannot do much more.”
Car 20. KORHONEN/VIINIKKA
“This one was quite nice, really rough in some places but we managed to avoid the big rocks. It was quite a clean day for us.”
Car 21. ROSSEL/DUNAND
“It was very difficult to drive but it was a clean one to be honest. I push on my maximum. It’s not the car I like but it’s fine for Nikolay. We need to find more traction.”
Car 24. DAPRÀ/GUGLIELMETTI
“We struggled a bit in the afternoon. We will try to do something different for tomorrow. I enjoyed the last stage of the day.”