The World Rally Championship carousel returned to Europe this past weekend and headed north to Portugal . The first stage started with a circuit special and was followed by six classic timed tests. However, the fifth special stage was cancelled. Right from the start, the Volkswagen Polo R WRC set a sharp pace, which lined up on the circuit in the order of Andreas Mikkelsen , Sébastian Ogier and Jari-Matti Latvala . Mikkelsen then held on to the first position even after the second test, although he had to share it with Dani Sordo , who pilots the Hyundai i20 N WRC. Ott Tänak moved to third place with a Ford Fiaesta RS WRC, Kris Meeke with a Citroën DS3 WRC was fourth and Latvala was fifth. Chris Evans retired with the second Ford due to a technical problem. After the third test, Mikkelsen regained his lead, but after the fourth he dropped to third place as Latvala took the lead and Meeke was second. Mikkelsen was followed by Sordo and Tänak.
Due to the canceled fifth special stage, only two tests were waiting for the drivers on Friday afternoon, one of which was won by Latvala ahead of Ogier and in the second the order was reversed. Latvala finished the first stage in the leading position ahead of Meek and Mikkelsen . Tänak moved up to fourth, followed by Sordo , Ogier, Mads Ostberg in the second Citroën, Hayden Paddon , Thierry Neuville (both in Hyundai cars) and Robert Kubica in another Ford. In the WRC2 class, Nasser Al-Attiyah led, with Yazeed Al-Rajhi second (both in a Ford Fiesta R5). However, the Czech fan was already pleased with the next row, as it was held in the hands of the Skoda Motorsport pilot with the new Fabia R5 Pontus Tidemand . He was followed by Christian Lefebvre and Esapekka Lappi with another Fabia. In the WRC3 category, Gilbert led ahead of Folba and Veiby.
In the first test on Saturday, Mikkelsen won again and moved up to second place. Ogier also started his journey up the leaderboard and was fourth. However, Meeke did not want to lose the silver position, so he won the next two tests and was second again, ten seconds ahead of the Norwegian pilot. Behind this dramatic fight, Ogier and Tänak were waiting for their chance. Ogier then won all three afternoon tests, and suddenly he was second in the overall standings, leaving Meek and Mikkelsen behind. Behind them, the order settled down to Tänak, Sordo , Paddon , Ostberg , Kubica and Martin Prokop with Ford. in WRC2 Al-Attiyah was still the best ahead of Lappi and Tidemand . The new Fabias both made it to the podium.
On Sunday, only three special stages were waiting for the competitors and Ogier won the first one, but it was not enough to reduce Latvala 's lead. In addition, Latvala secured the leading position by winning the penultimate test, leaving Ogier with just three points for winning the final Power Stage , on which the Frenchman did not close his team-mate's lead. During these tests, Mikkelsen managed to pass Meek and thus Volkswagen could celebrate a complete podium and repair the reputation from the failed Argentina. Tänak , Sordo , Ostberg , Paddon , Kubica and Prokop finished in other positions. in WRC2 , Lappi did best on Sunday, but it was not enough to defeat Al-Attiyah , the Qatari won this category. The second Fabia Tidemand took the third place to the finish line.
Photo: Stuff, Motorsport.Hyundai, Motorsport, Autosport, Crash, WRC, Rallystar, TV2, Skoda-Auto, Rally4you, ewrc-results, RTE
