WRC2: Greensmith secures win in Portugal after Solberg penalty
14th May 2023Gus Greensmith has secured the win in Portugal by 1.2 seconds over Oliver Solberg despite both drivers facing their own set of problems on the last day.
Greensmith secured the WRC2 win, in Portugal, by the merest of margins as the Briton was faced with an uphill battle to maintain the gap over Solberg.
On the final day, Greensmith inherited the rally lead by 24.6 seconds following a one-minute penalty for Solberg. However, Greensmith bled time throughout the final stages after the Briton lost his front bumper and power steering. By the Wolf Power Stage, only 8.7 seconds separated the two drivers.
In the power stage, Solberg went first and put in a six-minute and 44.4-second time. Despite the problems hindering Greensmith, the Briton still managed to blast through the Fafe Power Stage to edge out Solberg for the rally win by 1.2 seconds.
Following the news, Greensmith immediately got out of his car to give Solberg a consolidating hug.
Solberg was in the lead ahead of the final day with 34.5 seconds in hand over his closest rival, Greensmith. But the Swede was handed a one-minute time penalty after Solberg performed doughnuts following the super special stage, on Saturday.
The doughnuts performed breached Article 12.21 of the Supplementary Regulations which stipulates that exhibition driving is strictly forbidden everywhere because there is no suitable place to conduct such activities.
Solberg, and co-driver Elliot Edmondson, apologised for the incident stating they did not know the regulations in relation to the matter.
That’s all for the article; WRC2: Greensmith secures win in Portugal after Solberg penalty!
What do you think of the close finish by Gus Greensmith and Oliver Solberg? Let us know in the comments!
Read more WRC here:
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
