WRC Rally of Portugal
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We’ll have a report on Autosport.com later after the two evening stage around Porto’s streets, where we'll also update you with any news on the remaining places. Signing off for now!
As mentioned only six WRC cars made it to the end of the latest stage. The remaining positions are unconfirmed pending the decision to award notional times to those drivers delayed at the incident involving Paddon.
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Here's our report from that dramatic second loop this afternoon: 
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David Evans
There’s time for one more war story… Rally fans will always remember 1997 as the start of a new era, new cars, World Rally Cars. But there was one car which will always be remembered in Portugal’s hardest of hardcore rally areas, Arganil. Rather unusually, that car is the 35bhp Renault 4.
A local council worker Antonio Pinto dos Santos loved the sport and was determined to find a way to compete on his home WRC round – and did so by securing backing from the EU to promote a local holiday village. His way of promoting the village was to take his Renault 4 on a two-year world tour. He did Rally Portugal twice, along with the Acropolis, Tour de Corse, Rally GB, Swedish, Catalunya and Rally Finland before the car ran out of homologation in 2000.
A local council worker Antonio Pinto dos Santos loved the sport and was determined to find a way to compete on his home WRC round – and did so by securing backing from the EU to promote a local holiday village. His way of promoting the village was to take his Renault 4 on a two-year world tour. He did Rally Portugal twice, along with the Acropolis, Tour de Corse, Rally GB, Swedish, Catalunya and Rally Finland before the car ran out of homologation in 2000.
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Ostberg's car was smoky at the end of SS6, which may account for him. We'll get word to you as soon as we have it.
In a dramatic SS7 Paddon stopped and reportedly blocked the stage, with Suninen and Ostberg behind. Mikkelsen also stopped on stage with ongoing technical problems.
Information
Only six cars made it through that last stage - and here's how they rank:
Overall classification
1 Neuville 1h33m55.2s
2 Evans +7.3s
3 Meeke +11.6s
4 Sordo +23.8s
5 Lappi +33.0s
6 Breen +2m19.9s
Overall classification
1 Neuville 1h33m55.2s
2 Evans +7.3s
3 Meeke +11.6s
4 Sordo +23.8s
5 Lappi +33.0s
6 Breen +2m19.9s
Things are looking better for Evans now as he's second, 7.3s off Neuville in the overall lead.
David Evans
Elfyn Evans remained upbeat about his chances through the afternoon and admitted the results weren’t an entirely fair picture of where he was in terms of pace. “The first stage this morning was good,” said Evans. “But then we dropped around nine seconds with the spin in the second one and we started to lose the tyres towards the end of the third, we were more relying on the mechanical grip as the surface in the last one was definitely becoming more abrasive.”
Information
SS7 times
1 Neuville 19m24.7s
2 Evans +3.9s
3 Meeke +9.7s
4 Lappi +14.9s
5 Sordo +29.7s
6 Breen +2m24.6s
1 Neuville 19m24.7s
2 Evans +3.9s
3 Meeke +9.7s
4 Lappi +14.9s
5 Sordo +29.7s
6 Breen +2m24.6s
Red flag
Our leader Paddon in stopping and has blocked the road, so the session has been red flagged. Ostberg and Suninen were behind on the road and haven't been able to set times.
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"Puncture, rear punctiure right at the start of the stage," says Breen. "Stupidly I tried to chance it and drive on, but had to change it eventually."
Breen is over the line - 21m49.3s, two and a half minutes off Neuville's mark.
Breen lost about 2 minutes earlier in the stage.
Breen is going, and it looks like he's going OK. It's not clear what caused his earlier delay.
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"No problems but obviously very difficult; very rough," says Evans. "It's very difficult to judge how well you're doing."
And Evans comes in with a 19m28.6s, the second best time, 3.9s off Neuville.
Evans is one of the few cars out there going at full pelt, he's 3.4s off Neuville at the final split.
Actually Mikkelsen stopped for more weighty reasons, as his bonnet is up again and he has a fire extinguisher in his hand...
Mikkelsen meanwhile stopped to let Evans by.
Crash
According to our timing Breen is moving but lost a load of time, while our overall leader Paddon has stopped.
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Problems for Paddon and Breen...
"On this one I didn't have any new problems, I'm really lucky to be here," says Lappi. "The time is not crazy bad."
Lappi in with a 19m39.6s, 14.9s off Neuville.
Meeke sets a 19m34.4s, 10s off Neuville. "Front left tyre's delaminating," he says he crosses the line. It's an impressive time considering.
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"It was completely slow," says a disappointed Sordo, "it was impossible, if I push more I lost the tyres, I am so sad with the soft tyres today."
Sordo is having a much tougher time than Neuville and sets a 19m54.4s, nearly 30s slower than the Belgian.
Mikkelsen is losing much more time, 50s after two splits. He'll have to stop to let Evans past soon.
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"I pushed very hard, the car was working nice," says Neuville, "I changed the diff setting. But the guys behind will be very fast with the cleaning."
Stopwatch
Neuville reaches the end of the stage, with a 19m24.7s, some very second
hand tyres on his wagon...
hand tyres on his wagon...
Mikkelsen's problems might not be solved after all - he's lost 28s to Neuville at the first split.
Meeke is neck and neck with Neuville after four splits. They're the two quickest so far.
Mikkelsen started 12 minutes late.
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Mikkelsen is now up and running, he started late but his car seems to be handling OK again.
By: Matt Beer
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