While Dani Sordo celebrated his third place at the WRC Rally in Portugal, there was disappointment for Ott Tänak – Hyundai was beaten by Toyota
“There is no other way to describe our weekend than frustrating,” said Ott Tänak after his sixth place finish in the World Rally Championship (WRC) round in Portugal. The Estonian finished behind his Hyundai team-mates Thierry Neuville and Dani Sordo. The latter celebrated third place on his first start of the 2022 season behind Toyota drivers Kalle Rovanperä and Elfyn Evans.
“We did all the stages and tried to learn a few things and hopefully we can take something from here that will make us a bit better for the next rally,” said Tänak, who is fourth overall, 99 points behind Rovanperä. “We are quite far but there is still a lot to do and a lot of things are still open. It was generally difficult to get the confidence we needed.”
Tänak struggled with several punctures on Friday, so he did damage limitation with a strong comeback on Saturday and Sunday. While the Estonian finished in frustration, there was every reason for Sordo to celebrate. The Spaniard had already finished second in Portugal in the 2021 season and made a brilliant start to his part-time 2022 season.
“I am very happy to have finished this rally on the podium,” said Sordo. “It was not easy for us to contest our first event in the new Hyundai i20 N Rally1. I did my best throughout the weekend, but I had to learn a lot about the car stage by stage and adapt my driving style to the car’s characteristics. “
The Spaniard managed to do that: Sordo only passed Toyota driver Takamoto Katsuta on the final special stage of the Rally Portugal – the Powerstage – to secure third place. The two were separated by just 2.1 seconds at the end. Neuville followed behind Sordo and the Japanese in fifth place. The Belgian had to watch his gap in the overall standings grow.
“We gave everything on the power stage to score the maximum points this weekend,” said Neuville, who finished third on the power stage behind Rovanperä and Sordo, earning three bonus points. “It was not a good weekend for us. We still scored 13 points and are still in second place, but the gap has widened.”
Rovanperä won his third rally in a row to become the clear title favourite. Neuville is 46 points behind the Finn, who is just 21 years old, in first place. The Belgian felt comfortable in the car and expected more from the rally, but he lost a wheel on a liaison stage, damaging the driveshaft. “If we are slowed down by technical problems, there is nothing we can do,” said Neuville.
