Lisbon (AFP)

Ott Tänak dominated the rally of Portugal before being stopped dead by a broken suspension in the penultimate special on Saturday, leaving the way clear for Elfyn Evans while Sébastien Ogier followed in 3rd position, one minute behind.

New leader of the provisional classification, the Welshman and his Toyota Yaris were around ten seconds ahead of the Hyundai i20 of the Spaniard Dani Sordo at the end of the second day of this fourth round of the World Rally Championship (WRC ).

Before Tänak's fatal mistake, Ogier, leader of the championship after his successes in Monte-Carlo and Croatia, had already approached the podium by gaining a position against the Japanese Takamoto Katsuta, his teammate at Toyota.

The Estonian had dominated the debates of the day but ended up suffering the same fate as the other strongman of Hyundai, the Belgian Thierry Neuville, who violently hit an embankment in the penultimate stage of the day before, so that he was in 2nd position.

2019 world champion and last winner in Portugal the same year, Tänak was unable to cross the finish line of SS14 Amarante, the longest stage run on the demanding dirt tracks in the center and north of country.

"I think it's over for him today", reacted Hyundai Team Principal Andrea Adamo, while Tänak and his co-driver were stopped at the edge of the track, bustling around a right rear wheel. dislocated.

It was another blow for Hyundai, led by Toyota in the constructors' standings and whose hopes now rest entirely on the shoulders of Sordo, a driver whom the Korean brand had not called on since Monte-Carlo.

- New abandonment of Neuville -

Dauphin d'Ogier in the league from Portugal, Neuville left Saturday morning but had to retire again at midday, to repair his chassis still damaged by the accident the day before and give himself a chance to glean some points during the "power stage" Sunday at the end of the rally.

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Thanks to the setbacks of the Hyundai drivers, Elfyn Evans will have another opportunity to achieve the fourth success of his career, provided he does not repeat the type of mistake made in the last corner of the Rally Croatia, which allowed Ogier to him steal the victory in extremis for six tenths of a second.

Before setting off on Lusitanian soil, Evans was third in the championship, ten points behind the Frenchman, who is aiming for an eighth title in his last full-time year in the WRC.

The debate will be settled Sunday during five specials over a total distance of 49.5 km, with two passages on the legendary Fafe route and its famous bump.

"Tomorrow the day will be long", has already warned the Frenchman who, after having to open the road on Friday, tried Saturday to spare his soft tires to regain the advantage in the last kilometers of a rally which he has already won five times, tying in 2017 the historic record of the Finnish Markku Alén.

"Tomorrow will be a tough day," Evans confirmed.

© 2021 AFP