WRC Rally of Portugal
Live Text
Sort by
With that we'll sign off. Hope you've enjoyed our live coverage of Rally Portugal. The next WRC round is Sardinia and kicks off on June 7, and we'll be in place for that. See you then!
Twitter
Autosport
Here is our report of Thierry Neuvlle's win of a chaotic Rally Portugal, with which he takes the championship lead : 
Twitter
Twitter
Information
Here is your final classification and power stage order
SS20 leading times
1 Lappi 6m33.2s
2 Neuville +1.9s
3 Sordo +2.1s
4 Suninen +3.3s
5 Evans +4.4s
6 Mikkelsen +4.6s
Overall classification
1 Neuville 3h49m46.6s
2 Evans +40.0s
3 Suninen +47.3s
4 Lappi +54.7s
5 Sordo +1m00.9s
6 Ostberg +3m33.5s
7 Breen +5m23.0s
8 Tidemand (WRC2) +14m10.8s
SS20 leading times
1 Lappi 6m33.2s
2 Neuville +1.9s
3 Sordo +2.1s
4 Suninen +3.3s
5 Evans +4.4s
6 Mikkelsen +4.6s
Overall classification
1 Neuville 3h49m46.6s
2 Evans +40.0s
3 Suninen +47.3s
4 Lappi +54.7s
5 Sordo +1m00.9s
6 Ostberg +3m33.5s
7 Breen +5m23.0s
8 Tidemand (WRC2) +14m10.8s
Quote
"We had a fabulous car working very well," says the victorious Neuville, "the team was behind me, it could have been the perfect weekend for Hyundai but I think we can still be very proud. The party tonight will be great!"
He was second on the Fafe stage and takes four power stage points too! It's a 6m35.1s.
Checkered flag
Thierry Neuville wins Rally Portugal! And with it takes the championship lead!
Just Neuville to go - a final flourish or will he just make sure he makes it home? It looks more like the former as he's second on the first split...
Quote
"It was well overdue," says Evans, "we've not had a great start to the year but hopefully this is sign of more positive things to come."
Evans cements second place and a Ford 2-3, setting a 6m37.6s, 4.3s off Lappi.
Twitter
Quote
"The feeling is so great," says Suninen, "it took nearly one year I feel so happy that I did it."
Suninen gets his first ever WRC podium! His 6m36.5s is good enough, 3.2s slower than Lappi.
He's 2.2s down on Lappi in the final split.
Suninen is next up, with 10.7s in his pocket to retain his podium place.
Quote
"It's been a great two days to be honest," says Lappi, "I've never pushed so hard. It's been a leaning curve as well, to drive on the limit for one and a half days is not easy. Suninen deserves his podium, nice to finish fourth, I didn't make any mistakes."
Stopwatch
Lappi tops the times with a 6m33.2s, he's the fastest so far, 2.1s under Sordo, and with it he ensures fourth place in the rally ahead of Sordo.
He's under Sordo's time at split two - by 1.4s.
Next up is Lappi - who did a spectacular Fafe leap last year.
Quote
"I have a problem with the screen," says Sordo, "my windscreen is completely broken so some corners I didn't see at all. I did it [the jump] for the people."
Stopwatch
Sordo goes top - 6m35.3s, 2.4s under Mikkelsen.
There's 4.1s between the pair.
Sordo, fighting for fourth place with Lappi, is 1.9s up on Mikkelsen at the final split.
Quote
"It was a good stage," says Ostberg, "I saved it all day. It's a long time since I did a rally at this level but I'm really pleased to see when I go for it I still have the pace. I'm sorry for the fans for the small jump, it was too important to the team to make it to the end."
Ostebrg sets a 6m38.1s, 0.3s off MIkkeslen, second and pushing Ogier down another place.
Quote
"Not so good," says Breen on his rally, "I enjoyed it but like I said when you're the opener when you're the championship leader it's nice but when you're not it isn't!"
A 6m41.2s for Breen, 3.4s off Mikkelsen's pace.
Next up is Breen, for the first time in two days not providing road-sweeping services.
Stopwatch
Mikkeslen pips Ogier by 0.6s, with a 6m37.8s. He does team-mate Neuville a big favour.
The last of our Rally2 competitors is Andreas Mikkelsen - he's 1.2s quicker than Ogier at the final split.
Quote
"With this position [on the road] I couldn't go faster," says Ogier.
Stopwatch
After some big air on the Fafe jump, Ogier sets a 6m38.4s, 2.6s under Latvala to lead
Quote
"It's not really the weekend we hoped for," says Mikkelsen, "the car is working well, a big thanks to the team, I really enjoyed driver, really looking forward to Sardinia and I hope Thierry can take the win for the team."
Ogier is 0.8s under Latvala at the second split.
Quote
"It's [the time] going to be OK but I think the fastest time is doing to be 39, 38 today," says Latvala, "the first section is still a little loose, I'm sure it will clean up. If we can can get two or one point I will be very happy."
Stopwatch
Latvala sets our first WRC time - 6m41.1s.
Stopwatch
Tideman is fastest and wins Rally Portugal WRC2 - 2.9s quicker than Lefebvre on the last run.
The first of our WRC runners, Latvala, is away - after power stage points. He, Ogier and Mikkelsen have been tooling around for a day and a half waiting for this moment...
By: Matt Beer
Published:
Lap:
