Evans won two of the day’s six stages in his Ford Fiesta, one more than Neuville, and the Welshman looked increasingly secure in second as the day progressed. He struggled for confidence in both passes through Amarante but had a 17.4sec margin over Dani Sordo. The Spaniard stiffened his i20’s set-up following the morning’s opening test but slipped back into the clutches of Teemu Suninen with a final stage spin. The margin between them narrowed to 4.7sec. The young Suninen had a stellar day in his Ford Fiesta, holding off fellow Finn Esapekka Lappi in a furious fight. Both were on the limit throughout as they traded seconds in every stage and Lappi ended 11.1sec adrift in his Toyota Yaris.Very very pleased to say that I’ve just had a chat with Kris and Paul and they are both sounding and looking fine and have no after effects from this huge crash. Kris saying he’s very happy the roll cage did exactly what it was designed to do. pic.twitter.com/EvbcoPPOff
— Colin Clark (@voiceofrally) May 19, 2018
Mads Østberg was a distant sixth, the Norwegian conceding almost a minute after sliding onto a bank at a muddy corner. The Citroën C3 driver was almost 1min 40sec clear of team-mate Craig Breen. There was more disappointment for Kris Meeke in the French squad’s third C3. He slid wide on a fast left bend and his C3 rolled heavily down a bank and into trees. Both Meeke and co-driver Paul Nagle were unhurt. Five more stages covering 51.53km lie in wait on Sunday, including two passes through the classic Fafe test and its famous jump. The second pass forms the Power Stage with bonus points on offer to the fastest five drivers. Leading positions: 1. T Neuville / N Gilsoul BEL Hyundai i20 3hr 16min 30.0sec 2. E Evans / D Barritt GBR Ford Fiesta + 39.8sec 3. D Sordo / C del Barrio ESP Hyundai i20 + 57.2sec 4. T Suninen / M Markkula FIN Ford Fiesta + 1min 01.9sec 5. E Lappi / J Ferm FIN Toyota Yaris + 1min 13.0sec 6. M Østberg / T Eriksen NOR Citroën C3 + 3min 14.1sec#WRC - Check out what happened this afternoon during the #RallydePortugal 🇵🇹 in the video below ⬇ pic.twitter.com/HRUjxLhN6D
— FIA (@fia) May 19, 2018
All going to plan: stage win + leading @rallydeportugal but then it deviated from that plan. Big impact, but @HaydenPaddon & I are ok, if a little sore. Sorry/thanks to @HMSGOfficial for all their efforts. It felt great to be back on the pace…aim to carry that to next event 💪🏻 pic.twitter.com/NEpDXYvndI
— Seb Marshall (@sebmarshall) May 19, 2018
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