Difficult terrain promises to make life difficult for drivers and machines. Ogier more leader, while Hirvonen bet on the «unforeseen» to gain ground on the last day.
Nothing stops Sébastien Ogier, not even a viral infection. The Frenchman from the Volkswagen team is on his way to his third consecutive victory in the WRC and also his third victory on Portuguese soil. By winning four of the day's six specials, Sebastien Ogier extended the advantage over his teammate Jari-Matti Latvala by 34.8s, making it virtually impossible for the Finn at this distance to be able to put pressure on Ogier on the final day of the competition.
However, the history of rallies is made up of setbacks and Rally de Portugal is no exception. That is said by the various drivers who have had difficulties in managing their tires – the tire sets are limited and the Portuguese race has punished drivers and machines without any appeal or grievance. One slip is enough to compromise the full advantage. And tomorrow will be marked by the dreaded 52.3 km of the Almodôvar section, which will stage the Powerstage awarding extra-points. All care will be little.
Volkswagen dominates, Citroen waiting for error
The best “non-Volkswagen” was once again Mikko Hirvonen at the wheel of the Citroen DS3 WRC. With no progress to keep up with the German armada, Hirvonen concentrated on bolstering third place and saving mechanics for tomorrow. All his "chips" were placed on the possibility of his rivals having problems in the decisive stage tomorrow.
Out of the podium is M-Sport representative Evgeny Novikov, still without arguments to mix with the "cream" of the world champions. The Russian is 3m15s off Hirvonen and is 1m55s ahead of Nasser Al-Attiyah, also driving a Ford Fiesta RS. Andreas Mikkelsen is sixth on his debut with the third Volkswagen.
Highlight, but in the negative for Dani Sordo, who was threatening Ogier's leadership but ended up giving in, when he crashed in the first section of the day, in Santana da Serra.
Santana da Serra was the executioner for the «Portuguese armada»
The Portuguese contingent suffered two more casualties with the abandonment of Pedro Meireles and Ricardo Moura. The first, with the suspension arm of his Skoda Fabia S2000 broken. Meireles was runner-up in the category, but he couldn't resist the tough second spell at Santana da Serra.
Ricardo Moura also did not resist the demanding stage of Santana da Serra due to the breakdown of the chassis of the Mitsubishi Lancer. A problem that eventually originated in the form with the Portuguese driver attacked yesterday, forcing the pace and the machine to make up for lost time.
To follow the results of all drivers and categories click here. Summary video of steps 5 and 6: