Kris Meeke leads a chaotic and bumpy Rally of Portugal

the first stage of The Rally of Portugal has been put on the robe of the bewilderment and chaos. Although the pilots have faced six special and two urban roads in the streets of Porto, it is true that few have been those who have been spared the problems, one way or another. All in all, Kris Meeke is the leader of the Rally of Portugal after you circumvent all of these issues, and take advantage of their delayed because of output to gain an advantage. Sebastien Ogier is second to 31.9 seconds, while Dani Sordo occupies the third position with the i20 WRC.

In the day yesterday, in which you only played a stretch show at the Eurocircuit of Lousada, avisábamos of the leading role that it could have Meeke for your place of departure, and by its status as a pilot you don’t have to think in ratings due to its program in part. And what is true is that the british has not disappointed, as Kris Meeke started the day with scratch in ‘Ponte de Lima’, a time which was to be placed as leader. This first special began to build the drama of Thierry Neuville, Jari-Matti Latvala and Mads Ostberg.

In the SS3 Kris Meeke repeated scratch before a Sebastien Ogier who pretty much had to drag the cross, open track, , while Dani Sordo and he was able to stay in the third position of the general. However and aside from the three riders strong, the first pass ‘Caminha’ charged the first victims of the rally. Kevin Abbring had to leave after suffering a track output and break one of the arm of the suspension. However, Kris Meeke ended the loop morning with a puncture slow, while that Dull, dragging problems in the differential. In short, no one was safe from the problems.

The clearest example of this feeling came in the second
passed by ‘Ponte de Lima’. They had just played a stretch of six or seven
pilots when Hayden Paddon had a strong accident. The pilot new zealand
it trickled down a small embankment with such bad luck that the turbo of your Hyundai
i20 WRC incendiaba vegetation, leaving the vehicle completely burned.
Ott Tanak went off at the same point and although they also suffered a heavy blow,
the Estonian managed to save his car from the flames. The stretch was
neutralized and with some intrigue, Kris Meeke has scored a new scratch after
give back the lost time.

Kris Meeke repeated quick time on SS6, although this
special was marked by , the problems of power steering of Jari-Matti
Latvala, that made him lose almost two minutes, descartándole of the struggle for
positions of privilege. Dani Sordo managed to overtake on this stretch
Sébastien Ogier, who, however, regained its second position in ‘Viana do
Castelo’. Although the Spanish curdled a great stretch, Dani Sordo suffered a
puncture in the left front wheel, which also played Thierry
Neuville. In addition, Henning Solberg was left out of the game.

The double special in the streets of Oporto in addition to being
backed by thousands of fans turned in an impromptu parade
damage. Ostberg and his gearbox, Latvala and its power steering or Evans
who suffered a puncture in the own urban stretch. Topping off this runway,
Thierry Neuville was brought into port with the front of his i20 WRC shattered, but that didn’t stop her from logged the two scratch. All in all, Kris
Meeke closes the day with half a minute advantage over Ogier and Sordo,
while behind both stood Mikkelsen, Neuville and a bright
Stéphane Lefebvre.

Pontus Tidemand has been the master and lord of the category WRC2, to such an extent that it has landed among the top ten of the rally, taking advantage of the numerous issues between the World Rally Car. The finn has 35.5 seconds ahead of Nicolas Fuchs and nearly a minute over Elfyn Evans. Out of the game have been Teemu Suninen after playing 500 meters and break the arm of the support of its Fabia R5 and Jan Kopecký. Either things have gone much better to the Spanish riders. José Antonio ‘Rocket’ Suarez suffered a rollover in the loop morning and although he could follow, closed the day 6 minutes of the head.

, Gustavo Sosa left by a breakage of the stub axle of his Ford Fiesta R5, although it may rehook on the second day of the rally. Finally, it should be noted the interesting struggle that are keeping Martin Koci and Simone Tempestini for the lead of the Junior WRC and therefore the category WRC3. Less igualada is a Drive DMACK Fiesta Trophy in the Bernardo Sousa is making use of his experience to add, a great advantage in your rally home against Osian Pryce and Max Vatanen.

Classification after SS9 of the 50th Rally of Portugal

The second stage of the Rally of Portugal will start this Saturday at 10:42 hours. The riders will contest two loops of three stages in a second stage, which is the hardest of the test. In total will be played 165,28 kilometres against the clock.

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