Rally of Portugal: Fourmaux crashes and leaves Tänak more comfortable in the lead

French driver Adrien Fourmaux (Hyundai i20) retired today in the first stage of the 58th edition of the Rally of Portugal, fifth round of the World Championship (WRC), when he was in second place, after crashing on the Arganil stage.

Formaux, who started the eighth special stage of the Portuguese race just 0.8 seconds behind the leader, Estonian Ott Tänak (Hyundai i20), touched the front of the car on a dirt hill on the inside of a left-hand bend and came to a standstill, with the transmission damaged.

The section ended up not being interrupted, but the Japanese Takamoto Katsuta (Toyota Yaris), who lost some time when passing through the incident site, still rose to second place in the classification, 3.5 seconds behind.

Frenchman Sébastien Ogier (Toyota Yaris) returned to third place, 3.9 behind the leader, followed by Finn Kalle Rovanperä (Toyota Yaris), but now 14.7 behind.

Also among the participants in the Portuguese Rally Championship (CPR), the top finishers had problems this afternoon.

In the sixth section of the race, in Lousã, Northern Irishman Kris Meeke (Toyota Yaris) punctured his front right tire and lost more than 30 seconds.

“The thing I hate more than bad tyres is tyres that have no consistency. This is rubbish,” said the Briton, visibly upset at the prospect of losing the lead in the race.

However, Spaniard Dani Sordo (Hyundai i20), who was right behind, had problems with the alternator on his Hyundai and stopped 500 meters from the end of the special, losing more than half an hour.

In this way, Armindo Araújo (Skoda Fabia) rose to second place in the CPR, being the best Portuguese in the race, around 48 seconds behind Meeke.

“It’s the Rally of Portugal. This is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. I regret their position, but it’s part of the game,” said the driver from Santo Tirso.

The Portuguese race continues to the new sections of Águeda/Sever and Sever/Albergaria.