Late Rally Portugal drama as Sebastien Ogier drops from rally lead to sixth
10th May 2026Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier suffered a puncture on the penultimate stage of the World Rally Championship’s Rally de Portugal and has dropped from first to sixth, overall.
Feature image credit: Jaanus Ree // Red Bull Content Pool
The rain had begun to pour on Sunday, causing worsening conditions for the Rally1 runners, but it wasn’t the weather that dampened Ogier’s chances at an eighth victory at the European event.
Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville now leads the Portuguese event with a 14.8-second lead over Toyota’s championship contenders, Oliver Solberg and Elfyn Evans in second and third, respectively.
Ogier had opened up Sunday with a 21.9-second advantage over Neuville, of which the Belgian driver slashed the deficit down to 14.3 seconds.
Rally Portugal given €15,000 suspended fine after tow truck incident
However, during the second pass of Vieira do Minho, both Ogier and Sami Pajari were forced to stop to change tyres after both Toyota drivers suffered punctures.
By the end of the stage, Ogier finished 2 minutes and 1.3 seconds adrift of Adrien Forumaux’s (Hyundai) best time, down in 27th on the stage time. Pajari finished 29th, a further 48.6 seconds slower.
As a result, it means Ogier and Pajari finished 6th and 7th, falling from first and third, respectively.
Next up is the Wolf Power Stage, which will get underway at 1:15pm local time for the iconic Fafe test.
WRC Rally Portugal Leaderboard:
- Thierry Neuville, Hyundai – 3hr 46m 9s
- Oliver Solberg, Toyota +14.8s
- Elfyn Evans, Toyota +27.7s
- Adrien Fourmaux, Hyundai +55.4s
- Takamoto Katsuta, Toyota +1m 9.7s
- Sebastien Ogier, Toyota +1m 23.9s
- Sami Pajari, Toyota +2m 43.1s
- Dani Sordo, Hyundai +3m 53.3s
- Martins Sesks, M-Sport Ford +6m 28.9s
Joshua McErlean, M-Sport Ford, currently occupies 18th overall, 17m 30.9s.
WRC 2026 Rally de Portugal: The full WRC stage guide and times
Read more WRC here:
- Rally Portugal given €15,000 suspended fine after tow truck incident
- Sebastien Ogier regains Rally Portugal lead ahead of Thierry Neuville
- Sebastien Ogier profits from Adrien Fourmaux mistake at Rally Portugal
- Adrien Fourmaux takes over WRC Rally Portugal lead
- Solberg takes early Thursday lead at WRC Rally Portugal
- WRC 2026 Rally de Portugal: The full WRC stage guide and times
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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.
