The Portuguese World Cup Rally culminated for the sixth time with the celebration of Frenchman Sebastien Ogier.
12.5. 15:29•Updated 12.5. 15:55
French Sebastien Ogier won the World Rally Championship in Portugal and made history in the process. Racing for Toyota, Ogier has now won the Portuguese Rally six times as the only driver. Markku Alén was number one in Portugal five times.
– Markku Alén was my big idol, he is a legend. For a long time I have been able to answer questions about when I will break his record. Now it happened, said Ogier, who has now won 60 MM rallies in his career.
Hyundai’s Ott Tänak finished second and his teammate Thierry Neuville third. However, Tänak won Sunday’s rally. Neuville, on the other hand, was number one on the Power Stage.
The final results of the Portuguese World Rally Championship are below:
Neuville took an overwhelming lead in the World Cup situation, while Toyota’s Elfyn Evans failed in Portugal. Neuville tore a 24-point gap over Evans (Neuville 110, Evans 86).
On Saturday, the Toyota that stopped for the outing Kalle Rovanperä returned to the rally on Sunday. Rovanperä finished sixth in Sunday’s rally, but reached third place in the Power Stage.
– A difficult weekend and certainly not what we expected. Thanks to the team for this weekend, and sorry for the WC points we lost. It’s a big disappointment, Rovanperä said honestly.
Rovanperä to the roof on Saturday morning
Rovanperä crashed out on the 11th special stage on Saturday morning and had to stop from the top spot. The exit took place in a fast right-hand corner.
– Shadows falling straight on disturbed my field of vision. I didn’t know exactly where we were, so I hit the brakes too late, Rovanperä said.
The elimination was Rovanpera’s second this season. The previous crash happened in the World Rally Championship in Sweden.
A big back pack for Evans’ championship fight
Toyota’s For Elfyn Evans The World Cup Rally in Portugal was full of pain. Evans, who is fighting for the world championship, lost his points from Portugal when his rally went down already on Friday.
Hopes for additional points faded on Sunday, when the car’s engine started to travel during Sunday’s penultimate special test.
Evans had big setbacks already on Friday, when his map reader To Scott Martin there was a rare blunder. Martin forgot his sheet music at the time control station and had to read the sheet music of several clips to Evans from his phone.