With the best time of the three stages in the morning loop programme, Calle Rovanpera isolated himself at the helm of the Rally Portugal. In the race for the podium, Pierre-Louis Loubet made a mistake on his SS10 and saw his day end prematurely.
There is Calle Rovanpera and the others in Portugal this Saturday! The contested rally leader in the north of the country at the end of the first day but with just ten seconds left, the reigning world champion caused action throughout the three contested stages during the episode on the Saturday morning programme. In fact, with the best time of these three timed sectors, he pushed Finnish driver Dani Sordo back to 52 seconds. “We had some good mornings but this will still be very good, Kali Rovanpera said at the end of SS11. The whole episode went really well and we’ll try to keep that momentum going. » The Spaniard was down significantly by thirteen seconds on SS9 and then nearly twenty-two seconds during SS10.
Loubet, the bug that stains
In the fight for the podium, it was Esapekka Lappi who took the lead. The Finn took advantage of Thierry Neuville’s difficulties to advance the Belgian by only nine hundredths of a second. Indeed, it is a three-way match between the two Hyundai drivers that promises to be on the podium. Indeed, there are only five and a half seconds between Dani Sordo and Thierry Neuville while Ott Tanak has already fallen more than a minute and a half clear of Calle Rovanpera. The Estonian is the Ford M-Sport team’s last chance because Pierre-Louis Loubet, fourth on Friday after winning the weekend’s first special, made a mistake during SS10. The French driver hit the side of the track in a left-hand turn, damaging his Ford Puma Rally1’s suspension and having great difficulty getting it off the line and avoiding a breakout.
Rally – WRC / Portugal
Ranking after SS11 (out of 19) – Saturday 13 May 2023
1. Kali Rovanpera – John Haltonen (FIN-FIN / Toyota) at 2h09’48”9
2- Dani Sordo – Candido Carrera (ESP-ESP/Hyundai) at 52 in 4
3- Esapekka Lappi – Janne Ferm (FIN-FIN / Hyundai- in 57”0
4- Thierry Neuville – Martin Wedaigui (Bill Bell/Hyundai) at 57’9
5- Ott Tänak – Martin Järveoja (EST-EST / Ford M-Sport) at 1’34”1
…
Stage winners
Lobit: 1 (ES1)
Tanak: 1 (SS2)
Rovanpera: 6 (ES3, ES5, ES6, ES9, ES10, ES11)
Lapi: 2 (ES4, ES7)
Sordo: 1 (SS8)
