Overnight, Kalle Rovanperä got the car settings right and launched an aggressive attack right from the morning. For a while, it seemed that Rovanperä would irresistibly speed away, but then the worst possible scenario occurred.
On the 11th special stage, Rovanperä crashed out, and his dreams of a rally victory crumbled.
His experienced teammate and multiple champion, Sebastien Ogier, thanked and acknowledged the situation as he moved into the rally lead. Experience spoke.
“Kalle was on a very high level on the first stage. Shit happens when you push that hard, for sure,” Ogier commented on his teammate’s misfortune.
“It happened to him and also to Taka (Takamoto Katsuta) on the next stage. Obviously, not so good news for the team this morning, so now we have to deliver,” Ogier lamented.
Ogier was reasonably satisfied with his own driving.
“That was okay. In the first stage, I could have taken a little bit more risk, but at the end, I did a clean loop without any mistakes. I think the consistency was good,” Ogier analyzed.
“I was also losing a bit of time on the tarmac section from the long one, trying to save my tyres, and it looks like it paid off at the end of the loop.”
In the afternoon loop in Portugal, the nearly 40-kilometer-long Amarante special stage will be run for the second time. Ogier will naturally try to avoid all loose stones while maintaining his lead.
“Normally, it’s not the roughest one, but it’s still very long. The temperature is high and the kilometers make it difficult for the tyres to survive,” Ogier anticipated the afternoon’s stages.
