WRC Rally of Portugal
Live Text
Sort by
Information
And as we build up to that, here for one final time today is a stage guide from Kris Meeke's co-driver Paul Nagle:
SS15 Amarante (23.33 miles)
This is one of the best stages of the rally, it’s an absolute classic that we do on the way back south towards service in Porto. It’s completely different to the first couple, much wider, faster and flowing – this one and Ponte de Lima are probably my favourites here. The surface is different here as well, it’s a good hard-packed surface which should give good grip.
SS15 Amarante (23.33 miles)
This is one of the best stages of the rally, it’s an absolute classic that we do on the way back south towards service in Porto. It’s completely different to the first couple, much wider, faster and flowing – this one and Ponte de Lima are probably my favourites here. The surface is different here as well, it’s a good hard-packed surface which should give good grip.
Information
Less than 10 minutes to go now until this afternoon's final stage.
Apologies if our previous wording suggested Matosinhos proud fishing heritage is not as important as Rally of Portugal.
David Evans
This week’s Rally of Portugal is as far west as the World Rally Championship can go in mainland Europe. Set by the sea, this rally’s host town of Matosinhos is pretty proud of what can be found offshore. What this sign doesn’t make clear is what makes them the ‘world’s best fish.’ Are they well behaved? Considerate neighbours? Do they turn the music down straight after dark? One thing’s sure: they certainly taste good.
Before we get down to the serious stuff...
Twitter
And we're back in the room!
OK, short break now before the final stage of the day. We're off for a quick tea break but will back before you know it.
Information
SS14 results:
Leading stage times:
1 Ogier 13m31s
2 Neuville +4.5s
3 Latvala +5s
4 Tanak +6.2s
5 Lappi +6.3s
6 Sordo +7.9s
Overall classification:
1 Ogier 2h50m44.6s
2 Neuville +23s
3 Sordo +35.5s
4 Breen +1m04.1s
5 Tanak +1m25.5s
6 Evans +2m41.3s
7 Lappi +2m53.2s
8 Hanninen +3m13.6s
Leading stage times:
1 Ogier 13m31s
2 Neuville +4.5s
3 Latvala +5s
4 Tanak +6.2s
5 Lappi +6.3s
6 Sordo +7.9s
Overall classification:
1 Ogier 2h50m44.6s
2 Neuville +23s
3 Sordo +35.5s
4 Breen +1m04.1s
5 Tanak +1m25.5s
6 Evans +2m41.3s
7 Lappi +2m53.2s
8 Hanninen +3m13.6s
Information
SS14 summary:
* Ogier puts in a strong time to extend his lead
* M-Sport man now has 23s in hand over Neuville
* Tanak claws back some time on Breen as he looks to recover
* Ogier puts in a strong time to extend his lead
* M-Sport man now has 23s in hand over Neuville
* Tanak claws back some time on Breen as he looks to recover
Meeke is now in and goes seventh on that stage - no trouble in the overall standings, though. He's 15th and 22 minutes off the lead.
Stopwatch
Tanak now comes in and is fourth, 6.2s slower than Ogier. Overall, that means he's 21.4s behind Breen.
Stopwatch
Sordo is in and fifth-fastest on the stage, putting a bit more distance between himself and Breen overall.
Twitter
Quote
"It's a good time," says a content Ogier at stage end. "I pushed more, I tried to push harder. I save a bit on the first [stage]. If I lose a bit on the long one it's OK."
Stopwatch
Mega time in from Ogier now. He's 4.5s clear of Neuville and extends his lead to 23s.
Quote
"We had the section where you gain with the soft but then obviously lose some with the soft," says Neuville. "I hope I have enough tyres for the last stage."
Stopwatch
Neuville is in and beats Latvala's previous best by half a second.
Quote
"I had something strange, a very strange feeling for the last 5kms or 6kms," says Breen.
Stopwatch
Breen goes third-fastest now, and is 7.5s slower than Latvala.
A twist of the screw from Ogier, who's now 3.8s to the good on closest challenger Neuville's second split.
Quote
"Not very good to be honest," is Evans' assessment. "Struggled with confidence and the balance of car."
Stopwatch
Evans is in and fifth-fastest, but 17.1s down on Latvala's benchmark.
Quote
Here's Hanninen: "We had some issue on the stage. I don't know, like fuel pressure or something. We need to go and have a look."
Back in the middle of the stage, it's Ogier who's fastest of all through split one - he's 0.9s faster than Neuville through there.
Stopwatch
Hanninen has now reached the stage end, and is 1m13s slower than team-mate Latvala.
Appears that Hanninen may have stopped on stage.
... But scratch that, as he is on the move again.
... But scratch that, as he is on the move again.
Lappi now gets closer, though, and is 1.3s slower than his team-mate and current stage pacesetter.
Pretty familiar trend for you now - no one's able to match Latvala until we get to Neuville and beyond. Looks like that's going to continue on this one too.
Pretty familiar trend for you now - no one's able to match Latvala until we get to Neuville and beyond. Looks like that's going to continue on this one too.
Stopwatch
Ostberg now slots into second on the stage, 9.8s slower than Latvala.
Neuville, Ogier and Sordo are all on the stage. Everyone down to Breen has come through the first split, but no one yet is as fast as Latvala.
Quote
"On the tarmac it's not very comfortable to drive," says Latvala.
Stopwatch
Latvala completes the stage in 13m36s, which is 13s exactly faster than current second-place man on the stage Lefebvre.
Lappi, Hanninen and Evans are now also on the stage. Missing split times from Al Qassimi and Gorban make the split times hard to gauge - but it's probably safe to assume that Latvala and those behind are comfortably faster than their efforts.
Twitter
Twitter
Stopwatch
In WRC2, Mikkelsen has added a couple of seconds to his advantage over Tidemand and now leads by 1m11.4s.
Six cars on the stage at the moment, with Latvala and Ostberg the most notable of those names.
Information
Right... SS14 is well underway now, so before we get times coming in let's check in with a quick stage preview - once again, it's courtesy of Paul Nagle:
SS14 Cabeceiras de Basto (13.85 miles)
The second stage in the loop is brand new, we’ve never been here before so new notes for his one. It’s very similar to the first one in terms of nature and road surface – which you’d kind of expect given that it’s only a few miles down the road and running in the Serra da Cabreira range as well.
Like the first one, the road here is narrow and twisty with a real sandy surface. That’s definitely a feature of the first two, how soft they are. The roads will dig out quite a lot and leave a lot of bedrock. It’s so soft the roads were actually re-graded in places after the recce.
SS14 Cabeceiras de Basto (13.85 miles)
The second stage in the loop is brand new, we’ve never been here before so new notes for his one. It’s very similar to the first one in terms of nature and road surface – which you’d kind of expect given that it’s only a few miles down the road and running in the Serra da Cabreira range as well.
Like the first one, the road here is narrow and twisty with a real sandy surface. That’s definitely a feature of the first two, how soft they are. The roads will dig out quite a lot and leave a lot of bedrock. It’s so soft the roads were actually re-graded in places after the recce.
Information
SS13 results:
Leading stage times:
1 Neuville 10m43.4s
2 Ogier +1s
3 Tanak +3.5s
4 Sordo +3.6s
5 Latvala +3.6s
6 Breen +6.4s
Overall classification:
1 Ogier 2h37m13.6s
2 Neuville +18.5s
3 Sordo +27.6s
4 Breen +51.6s
5 Tanak +1m19.3s
6 Hanninen +1m55.6s
7 Evans +2m19.2s
8 Lappi +2m46.9s
Leading stage times:
1 Neuville 10m43.4s
2 Ogier +1s
3 Tanak +3.5s
4 Sordo +3.6s
5 Latvala +3.6s
6 Breen +6.4s
Overall classification:
1 Ogier 2h37m13.6s
2 Neuville +18.5s
3 Sordo +27.6s
4 Breen +51.6s
5 Tanak +1m19.3s
6 Hanninen +1m55.6s
7 Evans +2m19.2s
8 Lappi +2m46.9s
By: Matt Beer
Published:
Lap:
