Sébastien Ogier set a time of 13min 18.1sec to claim the stage win through Cabeceiras de Basto and move to within two seconds of leader Ott Tänak. But the Estonian had been quicker than his rival through the early part of the stage before sustaining a rear-left puncture in the closing kilometres.
Thierry Neuville started the stage just 4.1 seconds behind Takamoto Katsuta but the Japanese was in no mood to relinquish his fourth place and he beat the Belgian by 4.2 seconds. A stunning time of 13min 18.3sec didn’t just move him 7.4 seconds ahead of Neuville but he managed to repass Kalle Rovanperä and snatch third overall by nine-tenths of a second.
Sami Pajari continued to fend off his Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans. The flying Finn beat the Welshman by 3.2 seconds and extended his advantage to 13.1 seconds in the tussle for sixth overall.
M-Sport Ford’s Josh McErlean increased his lead over team-mate Grégoire Munster to 10.3 seconds in the battle for eighth.
Oliver Solberg struggled on hard compound tyres and Gus Greensmith reduced the Swede’s lead by 8.9 seconds to 45.4 seconds. Yohan Rossel had begun the stage on the same time as Greensmith but dropped 7.5 seconds behind the Briton in this stage.
Car 33. EVANS/MARTIN
“Pretty okay but quite low grip. Nothing special.”
Car 1. NEUVILLE/WYDAEGHE
“I did a nice stage but I cannot keep the rear in the lines. You always lose a bit of time, a tenth here, a tenth there.”
Car 8. TÄNAK/JÄRVEOJA
Rear-left puncture at the stage finish. “Last six or seven kilometres we had an immediate flat tyre. I was nursing it through so we wouldn’t take it off the rim.”
Car 17. OGIER/LANDAIS
“I know with Ott it is going to be tight. This one was not as good for me. It was a bit rougher in places.”
Car 16. FOURMAUX/CORIA
“Difficult to be opening the road. Traction is quite difficult and a lot of loose on the road. I try to see what
we can do in these conditions. That’s all I can do today.”
Car 69. ROVANPERÄ/HALTTUNEN
“A little bit more difficult than the first one, It felt quite slippery.”
Car 18. KATSUTA/JOHNSTON
“I just keep my rhythm. Nice to hear (quick time) but I don’t know why…”
Car 5. PAJARI/SALMINEN
“Was extremely tricky in some places. Some places no line, nothing.”
Car 13. MUNSTER/LOUKA
“We are too stiff with the car. We cannot do anything. As soon as it gets narrow, we slide wide and we
cannot afford to do a mistake. I made a decision last night and it wasn’t good.”
Car 22. SESKS/FRANCIS
“We are trying things. It’s fine and we are learning. Nothing seems to be working this morning. We will keep trying anyway.”
Car 55. MCERLEAN/TREACY
“It was quite okay. The stage we remember from last year. It was quite loose compared to running 15th (in 2024). It has been a nice morning so far.“
Car 2. SALVI/CORONADO
“If I was first on the road, can I ask Mads (Østberg) about my lines? Would they be like from a guy from Mars or Jupiter?”
Car 20. SOLBERG/EDMONDSON
“In this stage the tyres were horrible. I had a stall in a hairpin and it was so slippery. I lose some times in there with four hard tyres.”
Car 39. GRYAZIN/ALEKSANDROV
“No mistakes from our side.”
Car 25. SOLANS/SANJUAN
Lost around 30 seconds in the first stage of the morning.