Ogier grabs Rally Portugal lead after Tanak hits trouble

WRC Rally Portugal continued to be a tale of Hyundai's Ott Tanak and Toyota's Sebastien Ogier on Saturday...but with the order swapped after a dominant Tanak was dealt a cruel hand by fate, handing a big lead to Ogier heading into tomorrow's final leg.

Tanak’s hopes of a long-awaited victory at the gravel event were dashed by a power steering failure late on Saturday afternoon, after he led decisively since Friday morning. Ogier had cut into his lead at the start of Saturday's leg, but Tanak (pictured above) rebounded to win three consecutive stages and rebuild his big lead. However, halfway though the penultimate test, Amarante 2, a power steering issue forced Tanak to wrestle his i20 N Rally1 to the finish. He dropped over 45s and fell to third overall.

Eight-time world rally champ Ogier, who admitted Saturday morning he was not quick enough to match Tanak, now leads the rally by 27.6s with his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 heading into Sunday’s six-stage finale and sees the prospect of a record-extending seventh Rally Portugal triumph.

“It’s not the way you want to win any fight,” said Ogier. “We were both pushing really hard – that’s the game. We tried to keep the pressure on, even if he was a bit quicker. At the end of the previous stage, I actually said to my engineer, ‘Honestly, anything can happen – it’s rough out there. He’s pushing really hard, we need to keep the pressure on.’”

“I’m not happy,” he continued. “I don’t want to celebrate this way. I just hope he can still recover as many points as possible – it’s not over. Tomorrow is a long day.”

Hyundai's Tanak was comfortably ahead on pace but ran out of luck late Saturday. Massimo Bettiol/Getty Images

Tanak, who scored a milestone 400th WRC special stage win yesterday, took his disappointment in stride. “It’s part of the game, I guess," he said of the mechanical issue. "Very unfortunate, but we gave everything from our side.”

His troubles enabled Kalle Rovanpera moved up to second, 8.5s clear of Tanak. The Toyota star had started the day in fourth but overtook Takamoto Katsuta during the morning and gradually pulled clear as the day progressed.

Katsuta’s pace faded in the afternoon, and he dropped behind Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville, who climbed to fourth on the penultimate stage. The Belgian now trails Rovanperä by 17s, with Katsuta a further 2.2s back in fifth.

With title leader Evans struggling, it was Rovanpera who also gained from Tanak's trouble, moving up to second for Toyota. Qian Jun/MB Media/Getty Images

Championship leader Elfyn Evans endured another difficult day and sits seventh overall behind Sami Pajari. After losing time as Friday’s road opener, Evans struggled again to find a rhythm despite a better starting position on Saturday and now trails Pajari by 17.5sec.

Josh McErlean moved up to eighth, edging past M-Sport Ford colleague Grégoire Munster on the opening stage. The Irishman ended the day 28.5s ahead in their intra-team duel.

In WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, Oliver Solberg continued his masterclass with his GR Yaris Rally2, maintaining a 50.1s margin over Gus Greensmith. The Swede continues to run 10th-place overall.

WRC Rally Portugal, positions after Saturday/Leg two, SS24
1 Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +3h01m04.7s
2 Kalle Rovanpera/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +27.6s
3 Ott Tanak/Martin Jarveoja (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +36.1s
4 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +44.6s
5 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +46.8s
6 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +1m58.4s
7 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +2m15.9s
8 Josh McErlean/Eoin Treacy (Ford Puma Rally1) +4m13.2s
9 Gregoire Munster/Louis Louka (Ford Puma Rally1) +4m41.7s
10 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 – WRC2 leader) +7m07.5s

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