Friday final stage classification in Portugal - Neuville takes lead 18.05.2018: WRC RALLYES 2018 Vodafone Portugal Rally Porto Street Stage 2 (SpecialStage) (1.95 km) Friday, May 18th 2018 SS9: Neuville 1m 46.8sec for him this time round - 1.9sec faster than his last effort. "We are really happy, we made some improvement i

WRC RALLYES 2018
Vodafone Portugal Rally
Porto Street Stage 2 (SpecialStage) (1.95 km)
Friday, May 18th 2018




SS9: Neuville

1m 46.8sec for him this time round - 1.9sec faster than his last effort. "We are really happy, we made some improvement in the car and I was able to push really hard. Finally the tyre choice, probably not the best, but it seems to have worked here. It is a good day for us with Ogier out, but obviously it is a shame for them."



Fri 19:15 - SS8: Neuville

Neuville weaves his way through the Porto streets and he comes into stop control now. He says: "Today is not finished, we have to do this stage one more time. This day was tough and we managed to stay out of trouble - a risky tyre choice which was maybe not great but we made it work."



1.     5     BEL T. NEUVILLE     1:37:30.7        
2.     2     GBR E. EVANS     1:37:48.4     +17.7     +17.7
3.     16     ESP D. SORDO     1:37:55.0     +6.6     +24.3
4.     3     FIN T. SUNINEN     1:38:05.1     +10.1     +34.4
5.     9     FIN E. LAPPI     1:38:16.5     +11.4     +45.8
6.     12     NOR M. OSTBERG     1:38:19.0     +2.5     +48.3
7.     10     GBR K. MEEKE     1:38:49.4     +30.4     +1:18.7
8.     11     IRL C. BREEN     1:39:58.0     +1:08.6     +2:27.3
9.     32     GBR G. GREENSMITH     1:44:27.8     +4:29.8     +6:57.1
10.     37     POL L. PIENIAZEK     1:45:02.1     +34.3     +7:31.4
11.     42     FRA S. LEFEBVRE     1:45:02.6     +0.5     +7:31.9
12.     33     CHL P. HELLER     1:45:56.2     +53.6     +8:25.5
13.     31     SWE P. TIDEMAND     1:46:12.4     +16.2     +8:41.7
14.     38     ESP N. SOLANS BALDO     1:46:27.4     +15.0     +8:56.7
15.     39     FRA P. LOUBET     1:46:33.8     +6.4     +9:03.1
16.     40     JPN H. ARAI     1:46:40.6     +6.8     +9:09.9
17.     81     PRT A. ARAÚJO     1:47:34.0     +53.4     +10:03.3
18.     83     PRT M. BARBOSA     1:47:43.3     +9.3     +10:12.6
19.     21     SAU Y. AL RAJHI     1:48:44.2     +1:00.9     +11:13.5
20.     47     MEX B. GUERRA     1:49:44.0     +59.8     +12:13.3




Fri 20:07 - WRC standings after SS9

Following is a provisional top six, but this doesn't include drivers like Suninen and Østberg who are waiting for notional times to be awarded after the stoppage of SS7. This could all turn around after the confusion has been resolved!



Fri 19:57 - SS9: Evans

Evans flies into stop control 4.5sec slower than Neuville. "We definitely have to try but Thierry has taken a lot in two stages with his soft tyres. We need to push harder tomorrow, hopefully the road order should be similar to today for us."




Fri 19:53 - SS9: Lappi

Esapekka onto the final stage of the day and he finishes 5.5sec down. "Safely and safely! It has been one of the roughest rally afternoons of my career, even Argentina was no match for this. It is really nice to be here, for sure not the best day in the end but we will try and improve tomorrow."




Fri 19:49 - SS9: Meeke

Kris Meeke is back out in his three-wheeled C3. He can't donut as well as the others but he's through to the end of the stage now 32.2sec slower than Neuville. A remarkably small gap all things considered. "I don't know what I have to do, nothing is going for me at the minute."



Fri 19:45 - SS9: Sordo


Wafer thin margins in this one! Sordo is just 0.1sec slower than his team-mate on the final stage of the day. He said: "I think it is important for tomorrow now I'm third. Like I say before it was difficult with the tyres but we are here now."




Fri 19:41 - SS9: Neuville

1m 46.8sec for him this time round - 1.9sec faster than his last effort. "We are really happy, we made some improvement in the car and I was able to push really hard. Finally the tyre choice, probably not the best, but it seems to have worked here. It is a good day for us with Ogier out, but obviously it is a shame for them."






Fri 19:34 - SS8: Breen

Breen with the third fastest time now, 4.4sec slower than Neuville. "Just gutted, another opportunity to lead a rally and we lost it. Just need to focus on tomorrow now."




Fri 19:31 - SS8: Evans

Next onto the cobbles is Elfyn Evans. He puts in the third fastest time, 5.9sec off the fastest time. "No it's been very high attrition. We kept out of trouble, okay we haven't been perfect everywhere but we're here. The boys on softs are making us look stupid now!"




Fri 19:25 - SS8: Lappi

The only Toyota running powers through the stage at the hands of Esapekka Lappi. The rear damper damage is causing the car to bump up and down quite badly and a spin loses him some more time, but he makes it through 7.3sec down on Neuville.




Fri 19:23 - SS8: Meeke

Understandably he's quite slow through this one, 34.9sec off the pace. He doesn't stop to chat this tome round.


Meeke doesn't have any rubber on that rear-left tyre! He's going round the streets on just the rim



Fri 19:19 - SS8: Sordo

He knocks a few obstacles out of the way on that run, but Sordo completes the test 0.4sec down on Neuville: "I made a mistake in the tyre choice, I looked at the tyres after the first stage this afternoon and I can't believe I'm here."



-full results, photos and more on www.wrc.com    photo Willy Weyens