Sebastian Ogier and Vincent Landais completed the final four stages on Sunday to secure Ogier’s sixth victory at the renowned Rally de Portugal on gravel terrain. This win also marked Ogier’s 60th triumph in the World Rally Championship (WRC). Starting the day with an 11.9 second advantage over Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja from Hyundai, Ogier extended his lead by an additional 6.2 seconds in the opening stage of the day. This allowed the Toyota Gazoo Racing driver to dictate the pace in the foggy early morning stages. Tänak made a daring comeback in Fafe 1, reducing the gap by 4.5 seconds, and another 3.5 seconds in the penultimate stage. However, with only 11km remaining, Ogier had the victory secured unless any unforeseen last-minute incidents occurred. The final showdown took place at the Wolf Power Stage, which was won by Thierry Neuville and Martin Wydaeghe, just 0.1 seconds ahead of Tänak. Tänak claimed the Super Sunday victory and the seven points that come with it. While Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin maintained their second position in the standings, Tänak’s performance has intensified the competition as he trails by only seven points. Neuville’s third-place finish on the podium widened the gap in the championship standings over Evans, who was six points behind before the event. Adrien Fourmaux and Alex Coria continued their impressive performance, securing fourth place in the first stage of the day. They confidently navigated through the fog in their M-Sport Ford Puma, which was a challenge for Dani Sordo due to limited visibility. Evans had a lackluster sixth-place finish due to various issues, including Scott Martin misplacing his pace notes, a puncture, and an overheating engine. Nikolay Gryazin and Konstantin Aleksandrov were the first WRC2 car to finish, but they did not nominate the event for Driver’s Championship points. Jan Solans and Rodrigo Sanjuan celebrated their first WRC2 victory, also marking the first win for Toyota’s GR Yaris WRC2 machine. They narrowly beat Joshua Mcerlean and James Fulten in their Skoda Fabia RS, which was also Mcerlean’s first WRC2 podium finish. Lauri Joona and Janni Hussi, also in a Fabia RS, secured third place.
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