Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle produced a near-perfect display to end the opening day of Rally de Portugal more than thirty seconds clear of their closest challengers. Abu Dhabi Total WRT team mates Stéphane Lefebvre and Gabin Moreau were sixth and Khalid Al Qassimi and Chris Patterson ended the day in sixteenth position.
Following Thursday
evening’s ceremonial start in front of the Castelo de Guimarães, the crews
contested the opening super special stage on the Lousada rallycross circuit.
More than five months
after his last gravel rally, Kris Meeke was fastest over the Ponte de Lima and
Caminha stages (SS2 and SS3) to grab and then consolidate the overall rally
lead. The Northern Irishman then increased his lead on Viana do Castelo to head
back to Porto some 11.5s clear of Sébastien Ogier. Stéphane Lefebvre was ninth
overall having lost around twenty seconds on SS3 due to a loose tyre.
After the midday
service, the cars completed second runs on the three stages. Unlike most of
their rivals, the Abu Dhabi Total WRT drivers opted to go with hard compound
Michelin tyres.
The second run on Ponte
di Lima (SS5) saw a series of incidents, including a heavy crash for Hayden
Paddon that left his car burnt out and led to the breakout of a fire in the
surrounding forest. Ott Tanak also crashed out of the rally. Jari-Matti
Latvala lost 45 seconds when his VW Polo struck a hole in the same stage which
broke the power steering.
Unsurprisingly, the
stage was cancelled before Kris Meeke came through, but he was later handed the
stage-winning time by the stewards based on his run in the morning loop.
Taking full advantage of
his tyre choice, Kris set the fastest times on the next two stages to extend
his lead to over half a minute. Stéphane Lefebvre benefited from racing incidents,
seventh after SS5, he claimed another place to grab sixth position.
The day ended in a
festive atmosphere, in front of thousands of spectators gathered in the streets
of Porto. The crews had to complete two runs on a stage held on the paved
streets of the Portuguese city. The standings remained unchanged, Kris Meeke
ending the day ahead of Ogier, Sordo, Mikkelsen, Neuville and Lefebvre.
Particularly delighted with the performances of his team-mates, Khalid Al Qassimi
ended the leg in 16th position after having made up five places in the
afternoon.
Kris Meeke said: “I’m very pleased at
the end of this day, we were quick from start to finish. Perhaps spending the
last few months away from the rallies has just whetted my appetite! We made the
right call on tyre choice for the afternoon loop. After SS5 was cancelled, we
just drove slowly through the stage and there was a really nasty section where
Hayden went off. Fortunately, I had set a good time this morning and the time
awarded by the stewards didn’t penalise me. The flip side of our strategy was
being a little bit less comfortable with the hard tyres on the street stages in
Porto, but it was still the best decision for the loop overall. I wasn’t
expecting to finish the day with such a big lead. Having said that, it’s only
Friday and there’s still a long way to go! I’m going to keep driving the same
way and we’ll see where we are come Sunday…”
On to Day 2 - a case of fingers, toes and everything
else crossed, and don’t walk under any ladders or kick any black cats.
OVERALL STANDINGS AFTER DAY 1:
1, Meeke / Nagle (DS 3 WRC) 1:28:53.3
2, Ogier / Ingrassia (VW
Polo-R WRC) +31.9
3, Sordo / Marti
(Hyundai i20 WRC) +37.3
4, Mikkelsen / Jaeger
(VW Polo-R WRC) +52.3
5, Neuville / Gilsoul
(Hyundai i20 WRC) +1:12.2
6, Lefebvre / Moreau (DS 3 WRC) +1:33.5
7, Ostberg / Floene
(Ford Fiesta RS WRC) +1:46.0
8, Camilli / Klinger
(Ford Fiesta RS WRC) +1:49.7
9, Latvala / Anttila (VW
Polo-R WRC) +3:50.9
10, Prokop / Tomanek
(Ford Fiesta RS WRC) +4:06.4
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