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Sebastian Ogier and Vincent Landais completed the last four stages on Sunday to secure Ogier’s sixth victory in the renowned Rally de Portugal on gravel terrain. This win also marked Ogier’s 60th triumph in the World Rally Championship (WRC). Starting the day with an 11.9-second advantage over Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja from Hyundai, Ogier extended his lead by another 6.2 seconds in the first stage of the day. This allowed the Toyota Gazoo Racing driver to set the pace in the early stages of the foggy morning. Tänak made a bold comeback in Fafe 1, reducing the gap by 4.5 seconds, and another 3.5 seconds in the penultimate stage. However, with only 11 km remaining, Ogier secured the win, unless unforeseen last-minute incidents occurred. The final showdown took place in the Wolf Power Stage, won by Thierry Neuville and Martin Wydaeghe, just 0.1 seconds ahead of Tänak. Tänak secured the win in the Super Sunday and the seven points that come with it. While Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin maintained second place in the standings, Tänak’s performance intensified the competition as he is only seven points behind. Neuville’s third place on the podium widened the gap in the championship standings over Evans, who was six points behind before the event. Adrien Fourmaux and Alex Coria continued their impressive performance, securing fourth place in the first stage of the day. They navigated confidently through the fog in their M-Sport Ford Puma, which was a challenge for Dani Sordo due to limited visibility. Evans had a lackluster performance in sixth place due to various issues, including Scott Martin losing his pace notes, a tire puncture, and an engine overheating. Nikolay Gryazin and Konstantin Aleksandrov were the first WRC2 car to finish, but they did not enter the event for scoring in the Drivers’ Championship. Jan Solans and Rodrigo Sanjuan celebrated their first WRC2 victory, also marking the first win for the Toyota GR Yaris WRC2. They narrowly beat Joshua Mcerlean and James Fulten in their Skoda Fabia RS, which was also Mcerlean’s first time on the WRC2 podium. Lauri Joona and Janni Hussi, also in a Fabia RS, secured third place.
