When Mikko Hirvonen topped the overnight
leaderboard today, he became the third different driver to lead during this opening
day of Rally Portugal and leads the similarly Ford Fiesta of the remarkable Ott
Tanak by 3.7 seconds. Sebastien Ogier lies third in his Polo though, just 6
seconds behind the rally leader, with two days to go. Mads Ostberg is top
Citroen in fourth place but the drive of the day was surely put in by Dani
Sordo who set two fastest stage times this morning, the first for the Hyundai
i20. Thierry Neuville added to Hyundai’s joy completing the top six at the end
of Day 1.
And those are the lucky ones. Stage 4 wasn’t good for the Brits.
Young Elfyn Evans rolled his Fiesta in there and on the second run, Kris Meeke
rolled his Citroen at more or less the same point. That same corner also
accounted for Robert Kubica who tore a wheel off his Fiesta and Jari-Matti
Latvala rolled his Polo in the same stage.
At close of play, Mikko reflected: “It was really
slippery and tricky for us out there, but I have a really good feeling with the
car and the pace has been good. The more time I have behind the wheel, the
better it's getting. I don't have to think so much about the driving any more,
it just works.
"The most
difficult thing from this morning was that although the surface looks similar
from one corner to the next, the grip level is changing all the time. It's
really tricky to find a consistent rhythm.”
“The tyres moved about a lot in the final
stage, but it’s fantastic to be ahead,” said Hirvonen. “We’re
in a good fight but Ogier won’t be happy with the situation, so I’m sure he’ll
attack tomorrow.”
Leaderboard
|
1.
|
M. HIRVONEN
|
M
|
1:25:05.6
|
||
|
2.
|
O. TANAK
|
1:25:09.3
|
+3.7
|
+3.7
|
|
|
3.
|
S. OGIER
|
M
|
1:25:12.1
|
+2.8
|
+6.5
|
|
4.
|
M. OSTBERG
|
M
|
1:25:31.2
|
+19.1
|
+25.6
|
|
5.
|
D. SORDO
|
T
|
1:25:31.3
|
+0.1
|
+25.7
|
|
6.
|
T. NEUVILLE
|
M
|
1:25:47.6
|
+16.3
|
+42.0
|
|
7.
|
H. SOLBERG
|
1:26:47.9
|
+1:00.3
|
+1:42.3
|
|
|
8.
|
A. MIKKELSEN
|
T
|
1:27:21.8
|
+33.9
|
+2:16.2
|
|
9.
|
M. PROKOP
|
T
|
1:28:04.8
|
+43.0
|
+2:59.2
|
|
10.
|
J. KETOMAA
|
WRC2
|
1:28:52.8
|
+48.0
|
+3:47.2
|
|
20
|
R Barrable
|
WRC2
|
1:32:49.6
|
+16.4
|
+7:44.0
|
|
23.
|
M. McCORMACK
|
WRC2
|
1:33:50.6
|
+17.5
|
+8:45.0
|
|
30.
|
A. FISHER
|
WRC3
|
1:36:28.6
|
+21.8
|
+11:23.0
|
|
33.
|
K. MEEKE
|
M
|
1:37:06.7
|
+8.3
|
+12:01.1
|
|
57.
|
T. CAVE
|
1:42:24.0
|
+8.6
|
+17:18.4
|
|
|
63.
|
E. EVANS
|
M
|
1:45:18.4
|
+7.7
|
+20:12.8
|
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