Aurélie Sacchelli, Media365 Posted on Friday, May 12, 2023 at 1:17 p.m.
Ott Tänak leads the Rally of Portugal after three stages, three seconds ahead of Cale Rovanpera. The winner of the first special race, Frenchman Pierre-Louis Loubet, then fell down the hierarchy.
Let's move on to the fifth round of the World Rally Championship, which is being held this week in Portugal. And it was Ott Tänak who got the best start! The Estonian took the lead from the M-Sport team at the end of the first half of the day, winning the second of three stages on the list. He is three seconds ahead of world champion and defending champion Kalle Rovanpera (Toyota) at the midday breakand 3″6 over Dani Sordo (Hyundai). Tänak had no problems on the track, even if he had to pay attention to his tires, like almost all drivers, with the exception of Sordo among those with hard tyres. He had to open the door on the road, Elfyn Evans (Toyota) is struggling in the Portuguese dust and is already 18 seconds behind the leaders.
Loubet was off to a good start, but…
Sebastien Ogier, co-leader of the championship with Evans after winning two of the three rallies he has participated in this season, is absent from Portugal, but he is already a Frenchman who was at the top of the classification after the first of Pierre-Louis Loubet, rushed behind the wheel of his Ford Puma. Then he took a lot of precautions in the second stage and lost first place, before he faced problems at the end of the third stage, with smoke rising from his car. It now has time for repair before SS4, but here it is in sixth place overall with the 18-inch 8. There is also an issue for Takamoto Katsuta (Toyota), it stopped on the link before SS3. There are still five stages on the program on Friday between 2:35 p.m. and 8:05 p.m.
Rally – WRC / Portugal
Ranking after 3 special offers (out of 19) – Friday, May 12, 2023
1- Ott Tänak – Martin Järvioja (EST-EST/Ford M-Sport) with a time of 33’56”4
2- Kalle Rovanpera – Jun Halttunen (Vin-Ven/Toyota) by 3 inches
3- Dani Sordo – Candido Carrera (ESP-ESP/Hyundai) by 3 inches and 6 inches
4- Thierry Neuville – Martijn Widge (Belgium / Hyundai) with a distance of 14 inches 6
5- Elvin Evans – Scott Martin (Britain – United Kingdom / Toyota) 18 inches
6- Pierre-Louis Loubet – Nicolas Gilsoul (FRA-BEL/M-Sport) with a distance of 18 inches 8
…
Special stage winners
Loupe: 1 (ES1)
Tank: 1 (SS2)
Rovanpera: 1 (SS3)
