RALLYGP: SHATTER POINT
Tosha Schareina, the only man who had managed to beat Daniel Sanders this week, started the special with an overall lead of 1′42″. The Spaniard was leading the charge following his stage win yesterday, so he played it safe and managed to limit the damage to a 50-second deficit to the Australian 248 km into the 274 course. All that changed when he took the wrong turn a few minutes later, a blunder that came with a hefty price tag of 4′54″ lost to Sanders, who moved back into the hot seat. 3′12″ now separate „Chucky“ and Schareina going into the finale, where the Spaniard faces an almost unsurmountable task. The man from Oz could be hours away from securing the RallyGP world championship. He just needs to finish on the podium of the race.
Another point of interest is the scrap for third place in the bp Ultimate Rally Raid Portugal, with Luciano Benavides and Ricky Brabec just 10 seconds apart this morning. The Argentinian was 5′11″ slower than his teammate Sanders today, but it was still better than the American, who lost 5′52″ and now sits 51 seconds from Benavides in the standings. KTM hold the advantage over Honda in the battle for both the top and the bottom steps of the podium.
RALLY2: A DAY TO REMEMBER FOR PORTUGAL
Portugal, which had never even won a Rally2 stage before, scored a one-two finish today! Honda’s fresh recruit Martim Ventura showed the skills that made him national todo-o-terreno champion on the road to Lisbon. Meanwhile, his countryman Bruno Santos (BS Frutas Patrícia Pilar) left nothing in the tank in his quest to make national history, but he lost by 11 seconds after coming up 59 seconds short yesterday. Portuguese competitors have now triumphed in all W2RC classes bar quads. Argentina remains the only country to have won in every class. Third on the day at 1′16″, Edgar Canet still holds a margin of 4′52″ over Santos and 7′56″ over Michael Docherty (BAS World KTM). A victory tomorrow would catapult the Spaniard to the championship lead.
RALLY3: 5-STAR PERFORMANCE BY ZOLDOS
Edgar Canet let slip the opportunity to complete a whitewash in Rally2, but Thomas Zoldos has no intention of letting that happen to him in Rally3. The Frenchman scooped up yet another win today despite Salvador (+2′38″) and Gonzalo Amaral (+4′05″) throwing everything but the kitchen sink at him on their return home. Zoldos sits atop a buffer of almost an hour and a half over his closest pursuer in the overall, the Italian Carlo Cabini (RS Moto).
QUADS: SHARING IS CARING
Teammates Gaëtan Martinez and Antanas Kanopkinas have been divvying up the stage wins since the race got under way. The Lithuanian had two victories to his name (the prologue and stage 3) as the convoy set course for Portugal this morning. The Frenchman, who had already prevailed in stages 1 and 2, romped home with 2′49″ to spare and added another notch to his belt. CFMoto remain in control of the standings, with Martinez 24′27″ ahead of Kanopkinas and 1 h 19′57″ clear of Alexis Varagne (Drag’On Distribution).
ULTIMATE: DACIA PLAY FOR PRIDE AS TOYOTA GUN FOR VICTORY
An excursion on Thursday and a mechanical on Friday disabused Nasser Al Attiyah of the notion that he could still defend his Portuguese title. Instead, the three-time (and reigning) world champion shifted his focus to shielding his W2RC lead from Henk Lategan. Al Attiyah went back to his winning ways today, getting his first taste of glory since the prologue and bringing his W2RC tally to 47. This victory also earned him his first 5 stage points of the week, his sole line of defence against the massive haul Lategan is expected to land tomorrow. His championship arch-rival stands second overall, a mere 33 seconds off the pace.
Starting the day with a 57-second buffer, Lucas Moraes withstood the onslaught of the winner of the previous round in South Africa. The final stage will be decisive. Toyota have almost got it in the bag, whereas Dacia found some solace in their eleventh W2RC success, also their first one-two finish thanks to Sébastien Loeb (+2′07″). Moreover, Cristina Gutiérrez came in fifth at 4′57″, ensuring that the marque had three cars in the top 5 for the first time. The Frenchman spent a long time in a tug of war for second place with Seth Quintero (Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC), who only faltered at the very end. Loeb also vaulted past Carlos Sainz (Ford M-Sport) and onto the overall podium (+10′42″) after the Spaniard suffered an excursion during the special.
CHALLENGER/SSV: IF IT’S NOT ONE, IT’S THE OTHER
Mattias Ekström picked up his third stage win, his second in as many days, by 4′19″ over the ever-consistent Gonçalo Guerreiro. The Portuguese driver had nabbed the other two stages held this week and remains ensconced in the overall lead, with Dania Akeel (BBR Motorsport) trailing by 20′50″ and Adam Kuś (Akpol Recykling Team) lagging by 23′25″. In SSV, Alexandre Pinto put in another virtuoso performance to claim the stage and take another step towards the title ahead of his teammate Enrico Gaspari.
