Amarante was first used on the Rally of Portugal in 1969. It was again the longest stage of the rally this year and the risk of rain increased as Martinš Sesks carried out his road-opening duties in darkening clouds. Would this become unlucky stage 13 for someone?
Sesks made it safely through in dry conditions in 16min 59.8sec, although it began spitting with rain at the finish line. The Latvian beat team-mate Jon Armstrong by 2.7 seconds but ceded 1.8 to Josh McErlean.
Takamoto Katsuta was the quickest of the first five Rally1 drivers with a run of 16min 51.0sec but he slipped a further five seconds behind Adrien Fourmaux. The Frenchman was not able to make in-roads into Elfyn Evans’s hold on fifth place, however, and dropped another 2.8 seconds to the current WRC leader.
Oliver Solberg was the quickest of the first nine drivers and reduced Sami Pajari’s hold on third place to 2.4 seconds. Thierry Neuville dropped 3.6 to the young Swede but retained second place, as drizzle began to fall in the final kilometres of the stage.
Sébastien Ogier was second quickest and increased his lead over Neuville to 8.1 seconds in intensifying drizzle. Solberg duly confirmed a second stage win of the weekend.
In WRC2, Jan Solans continued to pull away from a struggling Nikolay Gryazin and he increased his cushion over Roope Korhonen by two seconds.
Yohan Rossel was quicker than the front-running Spaniard but Teemu Suninen was flying in the damp conditions behind and the Finn won the stage by 5.6 seconds to grab a 5.2-second WRC2 lead.
Car 18. KATSUTA/JOHNSTON
“Super slippery.”
Car 33. EVANS/MARTIN
“It was an okay run, nothing really super special. No rain yet, but I am sure it will happen at some point.”
Car 99. SOLBERG/EDMONDSON
“I tried to be careful with the tyres. No special push really, just missing a lot of grip.”
Car 5. PAJARI/SALMINEN
“It was quite okay but not perfect, especially in the tarmac section. I felt massive under steer.”
Car 16. FOURMAUX/CORIA
“Actually, we tried to save some tyres for later with the rain. I am happy with my driving. This is always a nice stage. It is nice to drive. I enjoy.”
Car 1. OGIER/LANDAIS
“It has been a good stage for me. I lost a bit on the last section because of the rain but it could have been worse.”
Car 11. NEUVILLE/WYDAEGHE
“I was sliding a lot and could not keep the rear on the line. I made a small mistake and lost a bit of time. I was pushing quite hard. We had the rain, like six kilometres before the end, but not too much.”
Car 95. ARMSTRONG/BYRNE
“Bit of a tricky stage grip wise. It was a bit damp in some places and after the first tarmac bit the tyres were a bit hot and it was moving around a bit.”
Car 55. MCERLEAN/TREACY
“There were a lot of interesting lines. You see the lines a bit wider and think maybe you could have carried more speed. It’s obviously a big stage and we tried to manage to tyres a bit on the tarmac.”
Car 22. SESKS/FRANCIS
“It was okay. It felt good in some points and I got a bit distracted with the surface changes.”
Car 6. SORDO/CARRERA
“I don’t get the feeling with the tyres and the car is sliding. It is difficult to get the good grip in the braking. I am struggling a little bit.”
Car 25. GRYAZIN/ALEKSANDROV
Nikolay was using his co-driver’s crash helmet to try and overcome an intercom issue. “His head is a bit bigger than mine. No grip and no rhythm at all. Sometimes you have it and sometimes you don’t. It was not easy.”
Car 36. SOLANS/SAN JUAN
“It was not the best stage. Maybe I was too careful when it started to rain a bit, but you never know.”
Car 40. DELECOUR/ROCHE
Lost four minutes in SS12.