Sébastien Ogier grew to become the primary driver in historical past to attain six Vodafone Rally de Portugal victories when he powered to glory on spherical 5 of the 2024 FIA World Rally Championship by 7.9 seconds over Ott Tänak.
Co-driven by Vincent Landais, the Frenchman is now essentially the most profitable driver within the 56-year historical past of the occasion, which was a founding spherical of the FIA WRC again in 1973. Ogier beforehand shared the report with Finnish legend Markku Alén earlier than his triumph at present.
5 totally different drivers led the gruelling gravel counter, which ran on roads close to the northern Portuguese cities of Porto and Matosinhos and attracted 1000’s of passionate followers to observe the motion from the phases.
Ogier seized the highest spot on an action-packed Saturday, throughout which his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid team-mate Kalle Rovanperä rolled out of the lead and Takamoto Katsuta retired his related automotive with damaged rear suspension.
The eight-time world champion headed the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid of Tänak by 11.9s heading into Sunday’s four-stage finale and stayed cool to maintain the Estonian at bay, hovering excessive over the legendary Fafe soar to spherical out this fifth spherical of the season in model.
“I had nothing in opposition to being tied with Markku Alén,” stated Ogier, who now has 60 FIA WRC occasion wins to his identify. “He’s a legend, however I heard for a few years ‘when will you beat this report?’
“It was a not an excellent weekend for the entire workforce, nevertheless it was an excellent rally for us and I’m glad we might convey some factors.”
Second place marked Tänak’s finest outcome since re-joining Hyundai at the start of the yr. The extra seven factors he earned for topping the Tremendous Sunday classification helped transfer him forward of Adrien Fourmaux to 3rd within the provisional standings.
It was additionally a powerful weekend for Belgian Thierry Neuville, who stuffed the ultimate podium spot 1m1.9s behind his Hyundai colleague and prolonged his Drivers’ sequence result in 24 factors over Elfyn Evans. The Welshman endured a torrid occasion, ending down in sixth having overcome a coolant leakage by means of the ultimate day.
Fourmaux climbed from fifth to fourth, passing the Hyundai of Dani Sordo on SS19 and pulling greater than a minute away from the Spaniard by the tip. The M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid driver has completed all 5 rallies thus far this yr, gracing the highest 5 on all however one event.
Evans’ points compelled him to crawl out of SS21 in EV mode and exacerbated what had already been a difficult outing for the GR Yaris driver. On Friday his co-driver Scott Martin resorted to studying pacenotes from a cell phone after misplacing his bodily guide, and the crew didn’t publish a single top-three stage time.
Citroën C3 Rally2 driver Nikolay Gryazin took seventh general forward of Jan Solans, who was the best-placed WRC2-registered competitor in eighth. Solans, who additionally clinched high WRC2 Challenger honours, edged Josh McErlean by simply 3.2s for his maiden WRC2 win and the primary for Toyota’s new-for-2024 GR Yaris Rally2. Lauri Joona accomplished the highest 10 and joined his fellow Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 driver McErlean by visiting a WRC2 podium for the primary time.
Diego Domínguez gained FIA WRC3 in a Ford Fiesta Rally3, one place forward of Mattéo Chatillon (Renault Clio Rally3). Jean-Michel Raoux triumphed within the WRC Masters’ Cup aboard a GR Yaris Rally2.
The WRC continues on Rally Italia Sardegna, which is predicated in Alghero from 30 Could – 2 June.
