Toyota Gazoo Racing had a successful day at the Rally de Portugal, with Kalle Rovanperä leading the pack, followed by Sebastian Ogier and Takamoto Katsuta. The team was pleased with their performance and eagerly awaited the next stages of the day.
Saturday started well for Toyota, with Ott Tänak showing great skill in his i20 N and moving up to fourth place. The team maintained their 1-2 position, with Rovanperä in the lead and Ogier close behind. However, things changed in the second stage of the day.
Rovanperä made a mistake and hit a tree, causing his Toyota GR Yaris to roll over. Meanwhile, Oliver Solberg, who was leading in the WRC2 category, also rolled over. Tänak, Neuville, and Evans all spun out in the same corner. These events shook up the standings, with Ogier taking the lead and Tänak close behind.
In the next stage, Takamoto had to retire due to damage to the rear suspension, while Tänak put on an impressive performance and won the stage. He became the fifth different leader in 12 stages, but only by a slim margin of 0.2 seconds. The rally became even more unpredictable as Toyota’s challenge faltered.
The attention then turned to Hyundai and specifically to Ott Tänak, who suffered a puncture in the left rear tire and lost 20 seconds. This gave Ogier a slight advantage, but Tänak was determined to recover from the setback. He won the next stage, reducing Ogier’s lead by 3.2 seconds. Tänak continued to press on and cut another 2.6 seconds off Ogier’s lead in the following stage. However, Ogier reacted and widened his lead by defeating Tänak in the final stages of the day.
Detrás del dúo líder, Dani Sordo mantuvo la cuarta posición, seguido por Adrien Fourmaux de M-Sport. Evans, por otro lado, enfrentó dificultades y no tuvo un momento de suerte. Al final del día, Ogier tenía una ventaja de 11,9 segundos sobre Tänak, con Neuville detrás por casi un minuto, pero aún por delante de Sordo.
En la categoría WRC2, Yohan Rossel asumió el liderazgo después del vuelco de Solberg, con Gus Greensmith justo detrás. Sin embargo, el día de Greensmith empeoró en la etapa 14, cuando quedó atrapado en un banco, permitiendo que Nikolay Gryazin tomara la delantera.
El domingo traería cuatro etapas más y 62km de carrera, manteniendo la emoción viva en el Rally de Portugal.
