This time, however, Toyota’s win didn’t come in dominant fashion like it had a few weeks earlier in the Canary Islands. Hyundai – led by Ott Tänak – showed that it wouldn’t make life easy for Toyota on gravel.
Tänak’s power steering failure ultimately handed victory to Toyota veteran Sébastien Ogier. For the French star, it marked his seventh win in Portugal.
Toyota’s top boss, Akio Toyoda, sent warm congratulations to Ogier and co-driver Vincent Landais.
“It was a rally where we were all impressed once again by Seb’s adaptability. This was Seb’s first gravel rally in a long while, and his first event with the Hankook gravel tyres,” Toyoda marvelled.
“Moreover, he had only one day of testing in the rain prior to the rally. He had a hard time in the early stages this weekend, but he quickly found a way to improve and moved up to the top positions.”
All five rounds of this year’s WRC season so far have ended with Toyota victories. In Portugal, the team extended its lead over Hyundai in the manufacturers’ championship – the gap now stands at 55 points.
“I’m very grateful to all the engineers and mechanics who immediately responded to Seb’s feedback. His feedback gave new insights to everyone, and the whole team became even stronger,” Toyoda said.
“There are six more gravel rounds coming including Rally Finland, which is an important home event for us. We hope to make use of what we learned here in Portugal and drive our new silver-coloured GR Yaris Rally1 through the summer gravel rallies that await us from here on,” he added.
The next round of the season takes place in just over two weeks’ time in Sardinia.
