Power steering plot Tanäk

Frenchman Sebastien Ogier (Toyota) is the new leader at the end of the second day of the Rally of Portugal.

Saturday morning featured three passes, starting in Vieira do Minho. Ogier gained 2.6 on Tanäk and Kale moved up to 3rd by swapping with Katsuta. Next came the Cabeceiras section where Ogier gained time on Tanäk again, this time by 2.4s and reduced the gap to the race leader to 2.0s. In turn, Rovanpera once again lost 3rd place to Taka, in a battle between the two Toyota men. To close the morning, Amarante where Ogier saw the Toyota's tires wear more than expected, losing 9.8s to Tanäk with the Estonian distancing himself in the lead of a rally where Katsuta punctured and gave up the position again to Kalle Rovanpera. In WRC 2, Solberg leads with an advantage of 46.9s over Greensmith and 50.6s over 3rd, Gryazin.

In the CPR, where only Friday counted towards the Portuguese race, Sordo retired in Góis 2, Meeke touched Sever do Vouga, which proved fatal for the Toyota driver, who saw the suspension give way and the consequent loss of the rear wheel of the Yaris, which prevented Meeke from reaching the closed park at Exponor, where Pedro Almeida celebrated victory ahead of Armindo Araújo by just 2.7s, with Pedro Meireles in 3rd place at 59.1s.

Tanäk even started well The afternoon began as the morning ended, with Tanak on the attack, winning Vieira do Minho 2 and Cabeceiras 2, leaving Ogier 13.9s behind, but the second run through Amarante was a tough one for Tanak, again, with a problem with the Hyundai's power steering throwing the Estonian to third place overall and forcing Tanak to do the Lousada special stage without power steering where he lost another 8.0s to the now leader of the Portuguese race, Seb Ogier, followed by Rovanpera 27.6s behind Tanak 36.1s behind the Frenchman in the Toyota.

In WRC2 nothing new, after Lousada, Solberg leads with an advantage of 50.1s over Greensmith and 55.6s over Rossel.

Tomorrow the sections in the Fafe area will be contested, with passages through Felgueiras, Paredes and Fafe, all contested twice with Fafe having the second passage being the Power Stage.