The Finnish Mikko Hirvonen (Citroën) this Saturday kept the command of the Rally de Portugal, which he has led since the sixth special of the race, ahead of Ostberg. Hirvonen is thus just a day away from winning the Portuguese competition for the first time.
Once the storm that was felt in the Algarve and Baixo Alentejo on the second day of the Vodafone Rally de Portugal had been overcome, this Saturday the calm arrived during the third stage of the fourth round of the World Cup in this specialty.
The day dawned cloudy, but meanwhile the clouds disappeared and the sun reigned for most of the day.
Despite this, many teams and drivers were not sure what conditions they would find on the sections and that's why many made mistakes in choosing the tires and settings of their cars.
There were also several teams that lost time with mechanical problems in their vehicles, such as the Ford men Jari-Matti Latvala and Petter Solberg.
Most of the teams present started the day with caution. None were sure which tuning to choose. With rain falling on the service park, most opted for a softer suspension setup and softer mixture tires to ensure better levels of traction on wet-soaked specials.
But those who left for the first section in these conditions soon realized that they would have difficulties, because the sun came up and the qualifiers began to dry up. There were those who chose to take hard tyres, like Petter Solbeg, while others, like Nasser Al-Attiyah, decided to take two of each.
In special 11 (Almodôvar 1), the first of the day, the pilots realized what was waiting for them. Almost dust-free, a lot of traction and almost perfect visibility conditions. An excellent way to start the penultimate stage of the Vodafone Rally de Portugal.
Mikko Hirvonen maintained the lead in the event, while Mads Ostberg closed the gap between first and second placed.
In the next qualifying (Vascão 1), the rain started to fall but there was no incident.
In the third leg of the day (Loulé 1), the emotion increased and problems arose. Most drivers focused on managing tire wear, while others such as Novikov and Ostberg had engine problems in the Fiesta WRC. That is why a large part of it focused, above all, on reaching assistance in safety.
In the afternoon, on the second pass through Almodôvar, Daniel Sordo had to stop in the middle of the special because the Mini's exhaust broke and filled the interior of the cabin with gases.
Pilot and co-pilot had to break the bumper to prevent it from burning completely.
Patrik Sandell, for his part, was not even able to finish the section. The Swede hit a tree and knocked out the front right wheel of his car.
Jari-Matti Latvala was also forced to stop. His Fiesta WRC stopped working because he ran out of gas pressure and the Finn took 12 minutes to fix the problem. Thus, it dropped to 19th place overall.
For those who had started 14th for the stage after giving up the day before, this was another setback in their attempt to score in Portugal.
Armindo Araújo was another unlucky one in the third stage of the Vodafone Rally de Portugal. The Portuguese pilot retired during the afternoon section after crashing into a rock. This accident resulted in the breakage of the suspension arm and, later, the wheel came loose from the Mini. The Portuguese driver will continue in the race on Sunday, but in a super rally.
Hirvonen, who has been leading since the sixth special of the race, kept first place ahead of Ostberg. The Finn explained that he was concerned about going fast but without excesses to save his tyres.
The Norwegian opponent attacked and even asked for rain when the last section of the morning was over. Only then did the Ford driver believe he was in a position to force Hirvonen to slow down and put pressure on the lead.
Unfortunately for Ostberg, his request was not accepted and, thanks to an engine failure in the Fiesta during the No. 13 special and a problem he was unable to identify three sections later, his hopes of ascending to the top of the standings were dashed.
So, at the end of today's stage, Hirvonen leads with a lead of 1m11,9s over Ostberg, who remains in 2nd.
For Petter Solberg, the goal of the day was to reach 4th place and the Nordic managed to reach that position even in the penultimate qualifying. But on the last stretch, the power steering of the Fiesta WRC stopped working and the driver eventually dropped to 5th position, 6m26,5s off Hirvonen.
The difficulties of the official Ford driver were good news for Nasser Al-Attiyah, who thus returned to 4th place, after a day in which he rode without taking any risks. Evgeny Novikov occupies the last position on the podium, 1'41,2s off the leader.
On Sunday, the 4th and final stage of the Rally de Portugal takes place, divided into six special qualifying tests, to be run twice and with a total of 115,08 timed kilometers.
Classificação:
1. Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen, Fin (Citroen DS 3), 2:59.33,6 hours
2. Mads Ostberg/Jonas Andersson, Nor/Sue (Ford Fiesta RS), at 1.11,9 minutes
3. Evgeny Novikov/Denis Giraudet, Rus/Fra (Ford Fiesta RS), at 1.41,2
4. Nasser Al-Attiyah/Giovanni Bernaccini, Qat/Ita (Citroen DS 3), at 6.10,1
5. Petter Solberg/Chris Patterson, Nor/GB (Ford Fiesta RS 3), at 6.26,5
6. Martin Prokop/Zdenek Hruza, Che (Ford Fiesta RS), at 6.47,5
7. Dennis Kuipers/Robin Buysmans, Hol/Bel (Citroen DS 3), at 7.29,8
8. Sebastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia, Fra (Skoda Fabia), at 8.00,2
9. Peter Van Merkstejn/Eddy Chevallier, Hol/Bel (Citroen DS 3), at 8.38,7
10. Jari Ketomaa/Mika Stenberg, Fin (Ford Fiesta RS), at 11.36,7
...
16. Armindo Araújo/Miguel Ramalho, By (Mini John Cooper Works), to 17.24,2
Rally de Portugal program for Sunday, April 1:
:SS17 Silves 1 (07:59)
:SS18 Santana da Serra 1 (08:52)
:SS19 Sambro 1 (09:42)
:SS20 Silves 2 (12:23)
:SS21 Santana da Serra 2 (13:16)
:SS22 Sambro 2 (14:10)
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