Sébastien Loeb has been given a present by Peugeot Sport, being handed ownership of the 208 T16 with which he won the event in 2013 in record-breaking time.
Sébastien Ogier is on course to equal Markku Alen’s record of five Rally Portugal victories after he took advantage of a mistake by M-Sport team-mate Ott Tanak to lead the Vodafone Rally de Portugal at the end of day two. The Championship leader holds a 17 second lead over Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville.
Ott Tanak leads after a wild and action packed Day one of the Vodafone Rally de Portugal which saw three of the major contenders for victory eliminated on stage seven. The Estonian holds a narrow 4.6 second lead over Hyundai’s Dani Sordo, with Sébastien Ogier just 0.4 seconds behind in third.
The opening stage of Vodafone Rally de Portugal saw a tie between the Hyundai of Thierry Neuville and the privateer Fiesta WRC of Mads Ostberg with the top six seperated by one second.
The Vodafone Rally de Portugal celebrates it’s 50th running with a bumper 65 car entry list including 14 brand new WRC cars. Thierry Neuville is looking to make it a hat-trick of rally wins, but Sébastien Ogier is looking to equal Markku Alen’s record of five Rally Portugal wins.
Mirko Bortolotti set a stunning time to grab pole for the Qualifying Race at the second round of the Blancpain Sprint Series at Brands Hatch. The winner of the Monza Endurance round was half a second faster than anyone else to secure pole position for the first of tomorrow’s two races.
Last year’s Rally Islas Canarias winner Alexey Lukyanuk is on course to make it two from two on the second round of the European Rally Championship. Britain’s Chris Ingram leads the ERC Junior U27 Championship in his Opel.
Elfyn Evans dominated day one of YPF Rally Argentina, fastest on six stages in a row and carries a 55 second overnight lead in his Team DMACK Ford Fiesta WRC. Mads Ostberg makes a brilliant return to the series as he lies in second place on a day where most of the top runners hit trouble.