Neuville takes the opening WRC stage win in 2024 Rally de Portugal
9th May 2024Feature Image Credit: Red Bull Content Pool
The World Rally Championship returned to Portugal this weekend and it was a good start for Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville who secured victory on the opening stage.
Only one stage was lined up on Thursday: Figueira da Foz. The 2.94km street stage stood as the appetiser ahead of the rest of the weekend and it consisted of a looped run with tight hairpins and doughnuts for crews to navigate.
While the teams and drivers would’ve wanted to put on a show for the fans who flocked to the streets, only one thing was on the teams and driver’s minds: tyres.
“It’s a difficult weekend ahead of us, and I’d like to be clean in there,” said championship leader, Neuville after the stage. “I don’t know if it was too much or not but I don’t want to be the one who brings down the great atmosphere which we have here.
“A stage like this with only doughnuts, ahead of 70km of stages tomorrow, with the same tyres is absolutely nonsense. We have said it many times but nobody listens.”
Of the top-level Rally1’s, the all-Belgian crew of Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe was the last car to hit the track and took the stage win with a 2m 24.2s time. Toyota’s eight-time world champion Sebastien Ogier finished P2, only 0.6s behind.
Hyundai’s Ott Tanak rounded out the top three to give Hyundai a provisional 1-3 position. The All-Estonain crew found themselves a full two seconds behind Neuville’s best time.
Takamoto Katsuta, of Toyota, found himself best of the rest down in P4 ahead of teammate Kalle Rovanpera in P5.
Adrien Fourmaux was the leading M-Sport Ford as the French driver put his Rally1 Puma sixth. Fourmaux’s teammate, Gregoire Munster could only best P18 in the overall timing boards.
In his return to the top class of the WRC, this season, Daniel Sordo finished opening special stage with Hyundai down in P7. This left Toyota’s Elfyn Evans in P8, 4.3s behind Neuville – his championship rival.
Yohan Rossell and Pierre-Louis Loubet completed the overall top 10, leading the way for the WRC2 class, down in P9 and P10 respectively.
Read more WRC here:
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- FLAT OUT: WRC heads to Croatia as the championship heats up
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- Rovanpera takes lead of Safari Rally Kenya with clean sweep
- Neuville takes early lead of 2024 Safari Rally Kenya
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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.
