Tänak now leads the rally by 11.8 seconds over Toyota’s Sébastien Ogier. His most aggressive attack came on the final stage of the morning loop, just before midday service.
Tänak had suffered a puncture on the previous stage and no longer had a spare tyre in the car. Despite that, he launched an all-out attack and beat his fiercest rival at the moment, Ogier, by nearly ten seconds.
“At the first stage, it was still quite a bit of fighting with the car. Not really in a good rhythm and struggling a bit to get a good feeling with the car. But then we made quite a big step for the second one, which surprisingly was a very good, positive step,” Tänak said during midday service.
“So we had a good rhythm as well, but unfortunately, we picked up a puncture in the middle of the stage. In one way, we were lucky that the last part was so slow and twisty, but we still dropped quite a bit of time there. And yeah, the last stage, we also had a good feeling in the car, it was a clean stage,” he continued.
Tänak’s Hyundai teammate Thierry Neuville wasn’t as fortunate. The Belgian complained in the morning that the rear end of the car wasn’t working properly – a problem Tänak is well familiar with.
“That’s the thing. The window where the car is working is so small, and when the surface changes character, it behaves very differently. So yeah, from time to time, it’s not so easy to know what to do,” Tänak admitted.
So far, the Amarante stage has been Tänak’s highlight in Rally Portugal. He set the fastest time by nearly five seconds on the longest stage of the event – all while knowing he had no spare tyre left. The attack came purely from instinct. All other thoughts faded away.
“It depends on the situation. But at that moment, we were fighting for the victory – so yeah, that’s it. We had higher priorities,” Tänak stated with full confidence.
Sébastien Ogier acknowledged that the situation is now somewhat difficult – but far from impossible. The Frenchman’s plan for the afternoon was straightforward.
“We have to keep trying, for sure. Obviously, ten seconds at once is tough – usually we fight with very small gaps all the time. But we need to keep putting pressure. And yeah, it’s still long – tomorrow is still a very long day,” Ogier outlined.
There are four more stages to be run on Saturday in Rally Portugal. The rally will conclude on Sunday.
