Sebastien Ogier celebrates his 60th victory in the World Rally Championship at the Rally Portugal: Thierry Neuville pulls clear of Elfyn Evans in the WRC standings
Anniversary victory for Sebastien Ogier in the World Rally Championship (WRC): The Toyota driver won the 2024 Rally Portugal on Sunday, triumphing for the 60th time in a WRC round. At the finish of the second gravel rally of the season, Ogier had a lead of 7.9 seconds over Ott Tänak (Hyundai) after 22 special stages covering a total of 337.04 kilometers
Thierry Neuville (Hyundai, + 1:12.1 minutes) finished third, extending his lead in the WRC standings. Fourth place went to Adrien Fourmaux (Ford) after another consistent and faultless performance, with Daniel Sordo (Huyndai) in fifth. WRC runner-up Elfyn Evans (Toyota) was unable to finish higher than sixth after a rally characterized by problems.
Nikolai Gryasin (Citroen) finished seventh, making him the best Rally2 driver, although he had not entered for the WRC2 classification. This class was won by Jan Solans (Toyota) in eighth overall, with Joshua McErlean and Lauri Joona (both Skoda) completing the top 10 (to the results).
Three of four Toyota drivers run into problems
After Neuville had won the opening spectator stage on Thursday evening, he dropped back on Friday as expected due to his starting position one. Takamoto Katsuta (Toyota) initially took the lead, but over the course of the day Ogier and reigning world champion Kalle Rovanperä, who benefited from their fifth and seventh starting positions as part-time drivers, fought their way forward.
Rovanperä led a Toyota trio on Saturday morning that only lasted until the eleventh special stage. Distracted by a wrong call from his co-driver Jonne Halttunen, the Finn lost the rear of his GR Yaris in a fast right-hand bend, hit a tree, overturned and came to rest on its side against a tree. Just one stage later, team-mate Katsuta, who was not entered for the manufacturers’ classification in Portugal, retired with a broken left rear suspension.
Following the problems of the two Toyota drivers, a duel developed at the front between Ogier and Tänak, in which the Estonian briefly had the upper hand, but fell a good ten seconds behind Ogier after a slow puncture on the 13th special stage. Despite his best efforts, Tänak was unable to close this gap by the finish, meaning that Ogier celebrated his second win of the season
Ogier now sole record winner in Portugal
With six victories to his name, Ogier is now also the sole record winner at the Rally Portugal. “It wasn’t a great weekend for the whole team, but it was a good rally for us,” said the Frenchman
For Tänak, his first podium finish since returning to Hyundai after a difficult start to the season was a sense of achievement. “It was a difficult weekend, but we tried our best,” said the Estonian. “Normally it doesn’t work in a rally like this if you’re always on the attack, but it paid off this weekend. We improved our pace and everything else.”
Neuville was also among the winners of the Rally Portugal. Despite the starting disadvantage on Friday, the Belgian finished on the podium for the third time at the fifth round of the season, won the Power Stage and scored a total of 24 WRC points, 18 points more than his rival Evans. “That was a clean ride. I tried to push as hard as I could, but my tires were no longer the best,” said Neuville.
Neuville now clearly in front in the WRC
Evans experienced a rally to forget in Portugal. Right from the start, the Welshman did not feel comfortable in his GR Yaris. Before the seventh special stage, his co-driver Scott Martin had a mishap. The Briton left his logbook on the time control table and had to navigate Evans by smartphone. This was compounded by a puncture, which had already left Evans hopelessly behind on Friday
As a result, the Toyota driver’s self-confidence was shaken and he made several minor driving errors on Saturday. To make matters worse, his car’s drivetrain switched to electric mode on the penultimate stage on Sunday morning due to a temperature problem, which cost him even more time.
Neuville now has 110 points in the WRC standings after five of 13 rounds of the season, 24 points ahead of Evans (86). Tänak improved to third place with 79 points ahead of Fourmaux (71) and Ogier (70). Hyundai took the lead in the manufacturers’ standings with 219 points ahead of Toyota (215) and M-Sport-Ford (116).
The 2024 World Rally Championship continues from May 31 to June 2 with the Rally Italy in Sardinia. There, the WRC will test a new compact format for the first time, with the rally not starting until Friday afternoon and the 16 special stages covering a total of 266.12 kilometers being held within 48 hours.
