After the first pass through the three specials of the day in the Rally de Portugal, many drivers had doubts about the choice of settings for the second lap.
By admitting the return of rain, many of them chose to keep the bet on soft settings and the use of tires of the same type.
But at the end of the afternoon's first qualifying, the bet seems to be wrong, because those who opted for hard tires had better grip conditions, in a dry special, while those who used soft tires had to drive with the concern of saving them, to the following classifications.
The exception is Mikko Hirvonen who continues with soft tires and manages to keep them, having cemented the commander's position, having now 52,1 s. of advance on Mads Ostberg.
The biggest “dramas” happened with Dani Sordo, Patrick Sandell and Jari-Matti Latvala.
Sordo saw the exhaust break, the gases enter the cabin and had to stop to break a window for them to get out.
Patrick Sandell hit a tree and knocked out the right front wheel.
But Latvala was the most penalized, having refused to speak to reporters at the end of qualifying, in which he lost more than 12 minutes to Solberg, apparently due to lack of gas pressure.
Petter Solberg was fastest with 16.06,9 and beat Thierry Neuville by 17,5 sec.
Mikko Hirvonen registered the third time, with 16.25,8, 18,9 behind the winner.
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