In 2023, Kalle Rovanperä deprives Dani Sordo of victory at Rally Portugal

Published by The team in News the 14/05/2023 at 18:25

Kalle Rovanperä took his first victory of the season in Portugal, ending a run of six consecutive rallies without success. The win came just in time to propel him to the top of the world standings, having yet to win a rally this year.

Unfortunately for Dani Sordo, this win came at the least opportune time for him. Although he was the second fastest driver in the rally at the wheel of his Hyundai, he was beaten by a Rovanperä in great form. However, Sordo managed to step onto the podium for the first time since Greece last year.

Dani Sordo returns to the podium with a second position in Portugal

The time Rovanperä achieved in Portugal was undeniably impressive. The champion progressed from last to first place but set a steady pace on Saturday, denying any attempt by Dani Sordo to claim victory.

Rovanperä is now the new leader in the world rankings, mainly due to the serious accident suffered by the only driver who regularly preceded him, Elfyn Evans. The Welsh driver damaged his Toyota in an accident on Friday, luckily without injury to him and his co-driver. However, they were unable to take part in the Power Stage, nor join the rally afterwards.

The question arose as to what Hyundai was going to do with the second place achieved in the rally. Although Sordo won that spot, Esapekka Lappi was close behind him and was in contention to win the championship. Sordo eventually finished second on the Power Stage and Hyundai stuck to his runner-up position.

This was largely because Hyundai's main driver in the world championship, Thierry Neuville, had a poor rally. The Belgian rider could never find his rhythm and finished in fifth place, however, benefiting from the accidents of the other riders, but also being passed by some who had mishaps, such as Ott Tänak.

Tänak, who was crowned champion in 2019 and is the leader of the Ford team, had a difficult weekend. He was confronted with several problems such as defective tires, a broken water pump, problems with the parking brake and even an impact with a stone. Despite these numerous setbacks, he managed to finish in fourth place, ahead of Neuville, which is almost a miracle. The rally was therefore not a success for the Ford team.

Pierre-Louis Loubet had an accident which destroyed the Ford Puma, while Takamoto Katsuta lost considerable time due to an alternator problem on his Toyota. However, it allowed Gus Greensmith, competing in the WRC2 class with a Skoda Fabia, to finish the rally in sixth place thanks to some luck.

Results Rally Portugal 2023

POSITION	DORSAL	PILOT	CO-PILOT	CAR	CATEGORY	TIME	DIFFERENCE
1	#69	K. ROVANPERÄ	J. HALTTUNEN	GR Yaris Rally1 HYBRID	m	3:35:11.7
2	#6	D. DEAF	C. CAREER	i20 N Rally1 HYBRID	m	3:36:06.4	+54.7
3	#4	E. LAPI	J.FERM	i20 N Rally1 HYBRID	m	3:36:32.0	+1:20.3
4	#8	O. THANK YOU	M. JÄRVEOJA	Puma Rally1 HYBRID	m	3:37:15.8	+2:04.1
5	#our	T.NEUVILLE	M WYDAEGHE	i20 N Rally1 HYBRID	m	3:43:34.2	+8:22.5
6	#twenty	G. GREENSMITH	J. ANDERSSON	Fabia RS	WRC2 (T/D/C)	3:44:55.1	+9:43.4
7	#twenty-one	O.SOLBERG	E. EDMONDSON	Fabia RS	WRC2 (J/D)	3:43:56.3	+9:44.6
8	#24	A. MIKKELSEN	T.ERISEN	Fabia RS	WRC2 (T/D/C)	3:45:38.1	+10:26.4
9	#26	Y. ROSSEL	A.DUNAND	C3	WRC2 (J/D)	3:46:04.9	+11:33.2
ten	#23	T. SUNINEN	M. MARKKULA	i20N	WRC2 (T/D/C)	3:47:28.0	+12:16.3
our	#35	M. BULACIA	M. VALLEJO	Fabia RS	WRC2 (DC/CC)	3:48:02.4	+12:50.7
12	#37	J.MCERLEAN	J. ROWAN	i20N	WRC2 (T/DC/CC)	3:50:03.4	+14:51.7
13	#7	P. LOUBET	N.GILSOUL	Puma Rally1 HYBRID	m	4:36:40.7	+1:01:29.0
14	#18	T.KATSUTA	A. JOHNSTON	GR Yaris Rally1 HYBRID	m	4:37:06.5	+1:01:54.8

General classification WRC

Kalle ROVANPERÄ (Toyota-FIN), 98 points
Ott TÄNAK (Ford-EST), 81 points
Sebastien OGIER (Toyota-FRA), 69 points
Elfyn EVANS (Toyota-GBR), 69 points
Thierry NEUVILLE (Hyundai-BEL), 68 points

keywords : CMR, DANI SOURD, KALLÉ ROVANPERA, OTHER COMPETITIONS, RALLY DU PORTUGAL, TOYOTA