Nine-time World Champion Sébastien Ogier delivered a masterclass in tactical driving to lead the 59th Vodafone Rally of Portugal with co-driver Vincent Landais after nine special stages on Friday afternoon. The Toyota GR Yaris driver had struggled to find the optimum set-up on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning but the resurgent seven-time event winner came back strongly to win three of the afternoon’s four stages to the south of Porto and take a narrow lead of 3.7 seconds into the night halt.
The Frenchman’s cause was helped in the eighth Góis stage when fellow countryman Adrien Fourmaux was bounced off the track on hard bedrock and ended up briefly in an adjacent field. The impact punctured both tyres on the right-hand side of the Hyundai i20 N and Fourmaux slipped back to sixth as a result. He and Alexandre Coria had led the event for the previous four stages.
Fourmaux’s Hyundai team-mate and former World Champion Thierry Neuville got stronger as the afternoon progressed. The winner of stages six and 10 climbed into second place at the night halt and is well-placed to mount a challenge for the Korean manufacturer’s first win of the season, particularly with inclement and wet weather forecast on Saturday.
Sami Pajari and Markko Salminen overcame a half-spin and a slow puncture to finish the day in third place. The young Finn had won the first two stages of the morning in the second of the Toyotas.
Oliver Solberg and Elliott Edmondson lost their overnight lead on stage four and also left the road at the same place as Fourmaux. The Swede lost less time in the incident and was able to hold on to fourth place, conserving tyres becoming a priority for the Monte-Carlo Rally winner. A good run through the re-run of Montágua saw Solberg close to within 1.2 seconds of Pajari overnight.
Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin suffered for two days opening the road, although their strategy of damage limitation worked well on the varied gravel surfaces. The championship leader held fifth place at the end of the leg in Matosinhos and was well-placed to attack on Saturday.
Japan’s Takamoto Katsuta appeared subdued by his own recent high standards and struggled to match the times of the stage-opening Evans. The Japanese found himself down in seventh, albeit comfortably clear of the eighth-placed Hyundai crew of veteran Dani Sordo and his co-driver Candido Carrera.
A rusty Märtinš Sesks and Renars Francis struggled to find a competitive pace for the first handful of stages but the Latvian found some useful speed on Friday afternoon and managed to climb to ninth. His push unravelled with a double puncture and the loss of four minutes on the 10th stage.
A 50-second penalty for leaving remote service in Arganil five-minutes late didn’t help Irishman Joshua McErlean’s cause in the second of the M-Sport Ford Pumas but he recovered to hold ninth overall. Team-mate Jon Armstrong was forced to drive the entire afternoon’s loop of four stages with no power steering after a pump failure and slipped out of the top 10.
Nikolay Gryazin is not registered for points in the WRC2 Drivers’ championship in Portugal but he has made himself the man to beat. The Lancia driver completed the day in 10th overall, 2.5 seconds ahead of Spaniard Jan Solans (Škoda Fabia RS), who was the leading WRC2 Challenger runner and on course for maximum points in WRC2.
Championship leader Yohan Rossel had suffered from being the first of the WRC2 drivers on the road. He managed to hold fourth, sandwiched between Finland’s Roope Korhonen and Teemu Suninen. Alejandro Cachón lost out on a potential top result after suffering alternator failure.
Sweden’s Calle Carlberg overhauled Ali Türkkan during the morning’s loop and headed into the final stage as the leading Junior WRC driver. His Turkish rival held a narrow advantage over Matteo Fontana and Gil Membrado in WRC3.
What to expect on Saturday
Tomorrow’s demanding timetable includes 145.88 competitive kilometres and nine special stages, culminating in the visit to the Lousada rallycross track at 19.05km.
Heavy showers and inclement weather conditions are forecast throughout the day, particularly in the Felgueiras and Amarante areas. A first pass through a short Felgueiras stage of 8.81km gets the day’s action underway before runs through Cabeceiras de Basto (19.91km), Amarante (26.24km) and Paredes (16.09km) complete the morning’s itinerary.
A midday return to Exponor for a service and regroup precedes repeat runs through the four stages in the afternoon, prior to the visit to Lousada.
2026 Vodafone Rally of Portugal – positions after SS10:
1. Sébastien Ogier (FRA)/Vincent Landais (FRA) Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 1hr 28min 25.2sec
2. Thierry Neuville (BEL)/Martijn Wydaeghe (BEL) Hyundai i20 N Rally1 1hr 28min 28.9sec
3. Sami Pajari (FIN)/Marko Salminen (FIN) Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 1hr 28min 40.4sec
4. Oliver Solberg (SWE)/Elliott Edmondson (GBR) Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 1hr 28min 41.6sec
5. Elfyn Evans (GBR)/Scott Martin (GBR) Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 1hr 28min 57.7sec
6. Adrien Fourmaux (FRA)/Alexandre Coria (FRA) Hyundai i20 N Rally1 1hr 28min 59.5sec
7. Takamoto Katsuta (JPN)/Aaron Johnston (IRL) Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 1hr 29min 15.3sec
8. Dani Sordo (ESP)/Candido Carrera (ESP) Hyundai i20 N Rally1 1hr 29min 48.5sec
9. Joshua McErlean (IRL)/Eoin Treacy (IRL) Ford Puma Rally1 1hr 30min 45.9sec
10. Nikolay Gryazin (BUL)/Konstantin Aleksandrov (KGZ) Lancia Ypsilon HF (WRC2) 1hr 33min 00.0sec
Rally leaders
SS1 Adrien Fourmaux
SS2-3 Oliver Solberg
SS4-7 Adrien Fourmaux
SS8-10 Sébastien Ogier
Stage winner
SS1 Adrien Fourmaux
SS2 Oliver Solberg
SS3 Sébastien Ogier/Elfyn Evans
SS4 Sami Pajari
SS5 Sami Pajari
SS6 Thierry Neuville
SS7 Sébastien Ogier
SS8 Sébastien Ogier
SS9 Sébastien Ogier
SS10 Thierry Neuville