Sébastien Ogier claimed victory on the Atlantic coast for the seventh time in his career. For Toyota, it marked a sixth consecutive win in Portugal.
The Japanese team has now won all five WRC rounds held so far this season. Acting team principal Juha Kankkunen admitted that this time, a bit of luck was needed. Hyundai’s Ott Tänak was undoubtedly the fastest driver of the rally, but a power steering issue on Saturday’s penultimate stage forced him out of the fight for the win.
Although Tänak launched a fierce attack on Sunday and managed to overtake Kalle Rovanperä for second place, he ultimately fell 8.7 seconds short of Ogier’s winning time.
“We had a bit of luck, and Ott had some bad luck. Otherwise, our cars performed really well. Everyone made it to the finish without major mistakes,” Kankkunen told RallyJournal.com.
“Seb (Ogier) really knows how to get it done. Hyundai had the edge here. If things aligned for us with car setup and tyres in the Canary Islands, this time it was the other way around. But the boys drove well. It just means we’ve got some work ahead of us.”
Kankkunen offered Rovanperä a full pardon for finishing third, 3.5 seconds behind Tänak. According to the rally legend from Laukaa, Toyota was clearly behind Hyundai as a team this weekend, even if the final result turned out favourably.
“It just wasn’t quite enough, but that’s not on Kalle. He shouldn’t blame himself. The car simply wasn’t where it needed to be. As I’ve said a million times, Kalle is very sensitive to tyre and setup compatibility,” Kankkunen explained.
“The setup needs to be spot-on – then everything clicks. The new tyre is so different, and he just can’t drive the car the way he’d like to.”
Toyota’s other Finnish driver, Sami Pajari, also had a solid rally, finishing seventh overall, just over two and a half minutes off the lead.
“It was a good performance. Sami is improving rally by rally. His stage times are now in the mix with the others. It just takes time – and he still has plenty of it. The speed is there, and so is the consistency. Even though he had a small off in the Canary Islands, those things happen early on before everything falls into place,” Kankkunen concluded.
