Rally de Portugal – Day One
A tantalising battle is emerging at Rally de Portugal, the fifth round of the 2023 FIA World Rally Championship season, where Hyundai Motorsport finishes the first day with two crews inside the top-three.
Dani Sordo and co-driver Cándido Carrera enjoyed a consistent run, registering a stage win and five further top-three times in the eight special stages to sit second heading into Saturday. Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe join them in the provisional podium positions in third, with Esapekka Lappi and Janne Ferm behind in fifth.
A gruelling itinerary saw the crews tackle the abrasive sandy stages without the respite of a midday service. A sole tyre fitting zone after the first runs of Lousã (SS1/4 12.03km) Góis (SS2/5 19.33km) and Arganil (SS3/6, 18.72km) was the only opportunity to regroup and refine strategies for the more treacherous second run. The repeat of the three stages was then followed by one attempt each of Mortágua (SS7, 18.15km) and Figueira da Foz (SS8, 2.94km).
Sordo demonstrated early strong form, finishing second in both of the morning’s opening stages. The Spanish crew briefly led the rally after SS4 and was in a close fight with rally leader, Kalle Rovanperä, but a small mistake at a junction in SS7 widened the gap between them. Sordo/Carrera finished the day with a stage win on the brand-new tarmac super special stage, SS8.
After a careful morning loop, the Belgian crew of Neuville/Wydaeghe moved into the top three after SS4 and finished second in stage in SS5. A cautious drive through SS7, in which the crew crashed in 2022, saw the pair drop time and fall to fifth overall, but they recovered to third with the final stage. Lappi and Ferm meanwhile struggled to find their feet on Friday morning and were down in seventh place. They responded with style in the afternoon loop, claiming stage wins on SS4 and SS7 to climb up the order to fifth.
Crew Notes: Dani Sordo/Cándido Carrera (#6 Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid)
- Spanish crew sealed stage win on SS8 Figueira da Foz
- The crew lies 10.8 seconds behind rally leader heading into Saturday
Sordo said: “Today was a really nice day – a long one, but I felt very comfortable the car. I made a small mistake in the hairpin of the final stage and locked my tyres, but I just tried to do my best as I have done all day and enjoy it. I am really happy; Kalle is the world champion and we are up there fighting with him at the front. It’s nice to be able to do that, so let’s see what we can achieve tomorrow. All in all we have had a good day. The plan is to try to maintain second place and to continue the fight.”
Crew Notes: Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (#11 Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid)
- Crew struggled to find traction on loose gravel with early running order
- Joint second-fastest time in SS8 saw Belgians regain third place
Neuville said: “A really tough, long day. I couldn’t find the confidence to go full attack. I was quite happy with the car but something was missing, so tomorrow we will make some small changes which will hopefully help us to push a bit more. I had two very worn tyres so I had to finish the loop with what I had left, which wasn’t easy. A lot of small things came together to make the day really challenging. The result isn’t so satisfying, we expected better, and now we have to find the confidence to do or we won’t be in the fight. It is a different profile of stages tomorrow; we’re expecting it to be smoother, so hopefully everything is working a bit better tomorrow.”
Crew Notes: Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (#4 Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid)
- Finns claimed two stage wins in afternoon loop, bouncing back from slow puncture on SS6
- Crew remains in contention for podium with gap to third just 1.3 seconds
Lappi said: “This morning was a struggle and clearly we made a mistake with my tyres, but on the other hand we only have a limited amount of hard tyres so it is not an easy decision to make. The afternoon was strong; we had the right tyres and the attack was good. Our puncture on SS6 slowed us down a little bit, but then we did a good job on SS7. We pushed hard and we managed to gain two places, which was really important for securing a good road order for tomorrow. It was so rough on some of the stages, but you still have to drive as fast as you can. If you try to minimise the speed then you will hit every rock, so you have to keep going.”
Hyundai Motorsport Team Principal Cyril Abiteboul said: “The most important point is that we have all three cars in one piece and working really well at the end of a tough day. We had no big problems, just a puncture for Esapekka and a bit of wheel damage here and there, but on balance we can be happy with how things have gone. Our three cars in the top five, one car that is in a position to push the leading car, and the other two have the potential to be on the podium. Overall, we can be happy with the result but we should not minimise the fact that pure pace was not fully convincing at the start of the day. We’re still chasing our first win, and it would be great to improve our championship position this weekend but today is only day one, so let’s see what happens.”
Saturday at a glance
- Saturday’s itinerary features seven special stages for crews to tackle, covering an increased competitive distance of 148.68km
- The day opens with Vieira do Minho (SS9/12, 26.62km), Amarante (SS10/13, 37.24km), and Felgueiras (SS11/14, 8.81km)
- All three stages are repeated at midday service, with an evening super special stage Lousada (SS15, 3.36km) closing out the day’s running.
Classification after Day One
| 1 | K. Rovanperä | J. Halttunen | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 | 1:22:27.7 |
| 2 | D. Sordo | C. Carrera | Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid | +10.8 |
| 3 | T. Neuville | M. Wydaeghe | Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid | +26.0 |
| 4 | P. L. Loubet | N. Gilsoul | Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid | +26.9 |
| 5 | E. Lappi | J. Ferm | Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid | +27.3 |
| 6 | O. Tänak | M. Järveoja | Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid | +1:04.7 |
