Rally Portugal - 2nd Day - 2nd Loop: Sordo puts an end to Rovanpera's dominance, Neuville up to 3rd



At the end of Saturday, Kalle Rovanpera continues to lead Rally de Portugal with Dani Sordo and Thierry Neuville following him.

Kalle Rovanpera's lead is at seconds heading to the final day of the rally and was the fastest driver in all stages apart from SS13 and SS15.

Dani Sordo remains in second place overall, but he increased his gap from his chasing teammates as he set the fastest time on the longest stage of the rally (SS13) and on the superspecial stage and stopped Rovanpera's dominance today. In fact, the Spaniard beat the reigning WRC Champion for 0,7 seconds in SS13.

Thierry Neuville climbed to third overall after SS13 as Esapekka Lappi dropped major time in SS13 with their gap being at 2,7 seconds after Amarante.

The Finn driver dropped one place and is now fourth overall, but he got 0,5 seconds back in Stage 14 meaning that he started the superspecial stage with a 2,2-second gap over Neuville. Moreover, he reported understeer on the opening stage of the afternoon loop.

Ott Tanak completes the top five and lost many seconds on the first two stages of the afternoon saying that he could not do anything more. Last but not least, a flying rock damaged his Puma's windscreen on Martin Jarveoja's side in SS13 and this crack distracted Tanak during the stage as this incedent happened near the middle section while he lost the handbrake on the final stage of Saturday.

Takamoto Katsuta is still outside the top ten and his terget is to gain some places back with the intention of scoring manufacturers' points for Toyota after Elfyn Evans's retirement on Friday.


Watch below the stage times:







Watch the overall classification after SS15:




Photo Credits: Toyota

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