Friday’s early action began in Lousa (12.03km) and Kalle Rovanperä was given stage opening duties. Light fog patches and hanging dust under the trees hampered visibility for some drivers and Elfyn Evans set the fastest time by 6.1 seconds from Gus Greensmith, as the British duo moved into first and second overall.
Four-minute intervals for Rally1 cars. Visibility issues for the early runners with fog patches and hanging dust in places.
Car 69. ROVANPERÄ/HALTTUNEN
Started the stage with soft tyres all round.
Car 11. NEUVILLE/WYDAEGHE
Beats Rovanperä by 1.3 seconds and moves four seconds ahead of the championship leader.
Car 19. LOEB/GALMICHE
The nine-time World Champion only drops half a second to Neuville.
Car 8. TÄNAK/JÄRVEOJA
Three softs and a hard (front right) for the Estonian. Fastest of the first five drivers with a time of 9min
06.7sec and moved in front of Neuville in the overall standings.
Car 44. GREENSMITH/ANDERSSON
Fastest through the stage with a stunning time of 9min 05.0sec. “I woke up this morning and thought it
was time. I gave it what I have got. I am sure by the end of the rally I will have nothing left...” Moved into
the outright lead after seven cars.
Car 1. OGIER/VEILLAS
Set the same time as Tänak. “The grip is better. I started pretty bad in the stage. The drive was a bit
better at the end but I need to come in..”
Car 33. EVANS/MARTIN
A stunning run by Evans and the Welshman beats Greensmith’s time by 6.1 seconds (8min 58.9sec).
He is the new rally leader by 4.4 seconds. “It was just time more than anything. Everything was working
quite okay.”
Car 16. FOURMAUX/CORIA
“It’s okay for me to find the confidence back. I was a bit too careful on the braking.”
Car 7. LOUBET/LANDAIS
“I was too cautious in some places. I need to be more clean with my driving but it was a good start.
Let’s continue like this.”
Car 6. SORDO/CARRERA
Two hard and two soft tyres in a diagonal pattern. Sixth quickest on the stage. “Not a lot of grip. A lot of
dust in the stage. Many places not so good.”