Rovanperä reaches the last day in the lead
The Finn, leader of the championship at the start of this fourth race, ended the day Saturday with a time of 3:13.46.7 hours
Finnish driver Kalle Rovanperä (Toyota Yaris) finished the second day of the 55th edition of the Rally de Portugal at the top of the standings, after having won three of the seven stages contested today.
The Finn, leader of the championship at the start of this fourth race, ended the day Saturday with a time of 3:13.46.7 hours, having 5.7 seconds ahead of the British Elfyn Evans (Toyota Yaris), who had started the day in the British leadership and was the winner of the race in 2021.
Evans still won two stages, in Vieira do Minho 1 and Amarante 1, but Rovanperä jumped ahead after having won as two special stages, Vieira do Minho 2 and Cabeceiras de Basto 2, and having 13.9 seconds ahead of the Brit on the stage. longest of the Portuguese race, in Amarante 2, with 37.24 kilometres, a section that was won by the Belgian Thierry Neuville (Hyundai i20), who is now fifth.
Rovanperä had already been the fastest in the 22.03 kilometers at Cabeceiras de Basto 1 this morning and gained another 1.7 seconds in the Porto super special from the British driver.
Japan’s Katsuta Takamoto (Toyota Yaris) is third in the general standings, but already 1.50.1 minutes from the leader.
The Spaniard Dani Sordo (Hyundai i20) lost to the Japanese throughout the day, recovering now 5.7 seconds from the podium and Neuville 30.1 seconds, in fifth place.
In WRC2, the second category of the World Championship, the leader is the Finnish Teemu Suninen (Hyundai i20), in a category in which the Portuguese Armindo Araújo (Skoda Fábia) is sixth and Ricardo Teodósio (Hyundai i20) is seventh.
The day ended with a surprise, as Russian Nicolai Gryazin (Skoda Fábia) – who runs without a flag – was the fastest in the Porto super special, in which Armindo Araújo (Skoda Fábia) was third fastest, in a section dominated by cars of WRC2.
Toyota has this edition of the Rally de Portugal because, in addition to having three cars in the top three positions, its drivers have won 13 of the 17 specials so far.
Only Thierry Neuville (Coimbra and Amarante 2 super special), Sébastien Loeb (Arganil 1), with a Ford Puma, and Gryazin interfered in the Japanese domain.
Third and final Sunday of the Rally de Portugal, with 48.87 points away divided by four specials, including a “power stage” by Fafe 2, which distributes 15 extra points faster.
The day starts very early, at 7:08 am, with the 8.91 kilometers of Felgueiras 1.
This is followed by Montim (8.69 kilometers) at 7:57 and Fafe 1 at 8:38.
Felgueiras 2 starts at 10:08, with the final test in the sitting stone jump of Fafe 2, starting at 12:18.