Ott Tänak was concerned about ‘a message’ he’d received from the Hyundai but he still increased his lead over Adrien Fourmaux to eight-tenths of a second through Góis 2.
Sébastien Ogier admitted that the stage surface was cleaning and he set the third quickest time but Toyota team-mate Takamoto Katsuta went quickest and pushed the Frenchman out of third place. Just 5.2 seconds separated first and fourth overall. Kalle Rovanperä was a distant fifth.
Elfyn Evans had struggled with his road position on the first pass through this stage but he was 5.1 seconds quicker on his second run. Even so, he was unable to make in-roads into Thierry Neuville’s hold on sixth place. The Belgian headed to Arganil with an 8.6-second cushion.
In WRC2, Oliver Solberg put the spin on the previous stage to the back of his mind and increased his lead over Yohan Rossel to 2.7 seconds.
In the Portuguese National Championship battle, early pace-setter Kris Meeke dropped a minute in SS6 and rival Dani Sordo stopped near the stage finish.
Car 33. EVANS/MARTIN
“It’s okay. Quite hard. Not a lot of feeling again. This stage is always a tricky one. There is a lot of bedrock and this upsets the balance of the car quite a lot.”
Car 1. NEUVILLE/WYDAEGHE
“It’s just always the balance. I get understeer. I do what I can. The road conditions are changing too much and it’s difficult to find the rhythm.”
Car 17. OGIER/LANDAIS
“It’s cleaning in there. Let’s see what comes behind!”
Car 16. FOURMAUX/CORIA
“It’s a really great fight. It was quite difficult in that stage. I did not get the feeling like the morning.”
Car 69. ROVANPERÄ/HALTTUNEN
“I think this stage is going to clean more on the second pass.”
Car 18. KATSUTA/JOHNSTON
“Everything is fine. It felt a bit more comfortable in there. I feel so sorry for the car, crashing in places.”
Car 5. PAJARI/SALMINEN
“Not so bad, let’s say. I was just too careful in some places but I am trying to have some consistent speed.”
Car 13. MUNSTER/LOUKA
“It is the stage with the most cleaning. It is really rough out there.”
Car 22. SESKS/FRANCIS
“It was a bit rough. It was actually the first drive for us on full hards. It was demanding and quite slippery actually.”
Car 55. MCERLEAN/TREACY
“It was enjoyable. Any stage in Portugal is enjoyable. We are on the hard tyres but it was quite okay. It was better than I expected.”
Car 2. SALVI/CORONADO
“It was better but still slow. Enjoying a lot, a tremendous car. The stages are magnificent and a lot of spectators.”