The double puncture at the end of Friday’s afternoon loop dictated that Märtinš Sesks was handed road-opening duties for the short first stage at Felgueiras on Saturday. The Latvian was followed into the special by Ford team-mates Jon Armstrong and Josh McErlean. Overnight leader Sébastien Ogier was running 11th on the road. Soft tyres were the choice across the board, where possible, for the morning’s loop.
The forecast rain held off for the start of the stage, although there had been patchy rain during the night in some areas. Jon Armstrong was the fastest of the three Ford drivers with a run of 5min 54.2sec. Takamoto Katsuta was the quickest of the tail-end quintet of Rally1 drivers with a time of 5min 52.3sec.
Elfyn Evans managed to edge a further 2.5 seconds clear of sixth-placed Adrien Fourmaux and Sami Pajari managed to increase his advantage over Oliver Solberg to 5.7 seconds in the battle for third place with a time of 5min 46.0sec. That was enough to claim the stage win and trim Thierry Neuville’s hold on second place to nine seconds after the Belgian stalled under braking and lost a few seconds.
Sébastien Ogier was fourth quickest, retained his overall lead but that was trimmed to just 1.7 seconds by Neuville.
Jan Solans snatched the advantage from Nikolay Gryazin in WRC2. He beat the Lancia driver by 2.8 seconds, although difference was a mere three-tenths of a second. Roope Korhonen was a close third.
Friday’s action had taken its toll on the field, although the likes of Gus Greensmith (26 - turbo), Alejandro Cachón (31 - alternator), Tristan Carpentier (41), Adrien Mosca (59), Jarkko Nikara (69) and Craig Rayhill (76 - suspension) all rejoined the action on Saturday.
Retirements included seven of the Portuguese Rally Championship contenders and Eugen Caragui (63) for medical reasons.
Swede Calle Carlberg began the day with a 7.3-second lead over Ali Türkkan in Junior WRC, but Matteo Fontana led the Turk by 4.2 seconds in the WRC3 battle. Gil Membrado was a close third.
Car 18. KATSUTA/JOHNSTON
“It’s okay, very low grip. It was quite a tricky stage. For sure, it’s going to be a long day and we have to be ready for that.”
Car 33. EVANS/MARTIN
“On the whole, a few places I didn’t carry the speed I wanted, but it was fine.”
Car 99. SOLBERG/EDMONDSON
“It’s quite dry. It is going to be a long loop for the tyres.”
Car 5. PAJARI/SALMINEN
“I had a big push. That’s really as much about it.”
Car 16. FOURMAUX/CORIA
“It was a very nice stage but it is going faster and faster.”
Car 1. OGIER/LANDAIS
“I was sliding too much. It is always very narrow in there and you need to be very committed between the banks. That was not the case for me,”
Car 11. NEUVILLE/WYDAEGHE
“We had a good stage but we had a stall under braking and the engine completely died. I lost some time there.”
Car 95. ARMSTRONG/BYRNE
“Yesterday was quite tough but this morning doesn’t feel too bad. We are trying to do our best. It was quite loose and a couple of places I was braking too late and we touched the bank.”
Car 55. MCERLEAN/TREACY
“There’s a lot of camber in there and a lot of sliding.”
Car 22. SESKS/FRANCIS
“It was quite good. The expectation was damp but it was far from that. It was quite okay conditions. Quite a lot of camber and loose gravel but you have to be precise to keep the momentum.”
Car 6. SORDO/CARRERA
“Very slippery and I couldn’t drive the car. It was very difficult, the tyres, the surface.”
Car 20. KORHONEN/VIINIKKA
“Slippery, really slippery. I lost the line there.”
Car 25. GRYAZIN/ALEKSANDROV
Intercom issues for the Lancia driver.
Car 36. SOLANS/SAN JUAN
“I tried to make a clean run. It is very easy to make small mistakes. We are trying to do our best.”