Sébastien Ogier has seized control of Rally Portugal after a dramatic Friday, capitalising on errors from his rivals to build a narrow lead.
Oliver Solberg and Adrien Fourmaux dominated Thursday’s stages, but both encountered setbacks on Friday. Solberg suffered a puncture and dropped time, while Fourmaux ran wide and damaged two tyres on the right side. Ogier won three of Friday’s seven stages, taking the lead and holding a 3.7-second advantage over Thierry Neuville.
The morning began with Sami Pajari winning stages 4 and 5, briefly climbing to second. Solberg lost the lead to Fourmaux, dropping to fourth, and described his performance as “horrendous” with “not good driving.” Neuville took the final morning stage, but all drivers complained of low grip.
Ogier made key adjustments for the afternoon, winning stage 7 to move up to second. Stage 7 was notable for Elfyn Evans’ dangerous moment when he encountered dust from a crane truck driving in the middle of the road, forcing him to slow down.
Fourmaux held the lead until stage 8, where he went wide in the same spot Solberg had earlier. The puncture cost him 28 seconds, allowing Ogier to win the stage and take the lead with a strong margin. Ogier then took stage 9 as well, while Neuville claimed the final stage of the day.
After Friday, Ogier leads by 3.7 seconds over Neuville. Sami Pajari is third, 15.2 seconds back. Solberg is fourth, Evans fifth, and Fourmaux dropped to sixth.
Dani Sordo had a difficult day with tyre troubles, admitting, “We made a mistake yesterday, fitting hard tyres instead of softs.” The Spaniard is not “in the rhythm” but will aim to recover on Saturday, which features “tricky conditions” according to seventh-placed Takamoto Katsuta.
Saturday will see nine stages, including a double pass through Felgueiras, Cabeceiras de Basto, Amarante (the rally’s longest stage at 26.24 km), Paredes, and the Lousada super special.
Standings after Rally Portugal Stage 10
In the support categories, Jan Solans continues to lead WRC2 by 3.7 seconds over Roope Korhonen, with Yohan Rossel just 0.2 seconds behind the Finn. Alejandro Cachón had taken the morning lead but retired due to a broken alternator pulley; the Repsol Toyota team is working to get him back for Saturday. In WRC3, Matteo Fontana leads, ahead of Ali Türkkan and Gil Membrado, who is 11.6 seconds off the pace.
