Ogier leads WRC Rally Portugal after Fourmaux’s Friday frustrations

Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier (above) will carry a slender 3.7s lead over Thierry Neuville and Hyundai into Saturday’s penultimate day of WRC Rally Portugal after an incident-filled Friday afternoon reshaped the lead battle.

Neuville’s Hyundai teammate Adrien Fourmaux had looked in control for much of the day after moving ahead of overnight leader Oliver Solberg’s Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 on Friday morning, but the Frenchman’s rally took a hit on the afternoon loop’s second stage, 9.73-mile Gois 2, when an off-road moment left his i20 N Rally1 with front- and rear-right punctures.

Ogier, who’d spent the morning searching for pace and balance in his GR Yaris, avoided the trouble and surged into the lead of the FIA World Rally Championship’s first all-gravel European round of the season. The seven-time Portugal winner then reinforced his position with fastest time on the 4.39-mile Lousa 2 test before Neuville responded on the leg-ending, 9.07-mile Mortagua 2 stage to reduce the gap to just 3.7s overnight.

“I’m happy to finish the day,” said nine-time and reigning WRC champ Ogier. “Tomorrow is the start of a new rally. I think we can be happy with what we have done this afternoon as the morning was tricky.”

Friday had initially belonged to Fourmaux and another of the factory Toyota quintet, Sami Pajari. Pajari won Mortagua 1 and Arganil 1, moving from sixth to second overall, while Fourmaux’s consistent speed and very effective tire choice gave him a 7.7s lead by the midday remote service.

Fourmaux was still leading after the afternoon opener, but his rally turned on the following Gois stage. First, Solberg went off and rejoined after nearly rolling his Yaris, then Fourmaux suffered a near-identical moment at the same place and stopped after the finish to change two wheels. He fell from first to sixth overall, 34.3s behind Ogier.

“I lost the brakes, so I couldn’t slow down and we went wide,” said Fourmaux. “We checked everything with the car and we carry on. It is part of the rally.”

Neuville also endured an imperfect day, fighting the balance of his Hyundai through the morning, but the 2024 WRC champ stayed out of major trouble and found speed as conditions evolved, culminating in his fastest time on the final stage taking a 1.2s chunk out of Ogier’s lead.

"At least the performance is there now,” said Neuville. “I think we did OK.”

Thierry Neuville (above) was primed to step in as Hyundai’s best shot at a win after dramas for teammate Adrien Fourmaux.

Pajari completed the overnight podium, the 24-year-old Finn coming in 15.2s off the lead after one of his strongest gravel days in a Rally1 car. His morning pace lifted him firmly into contention, although a tire off the rim on the afternoon opener, a half-spin on the penultimate stage and a broken windshield on the final stage cost him a handful of seconds.

“It has been a really OK day,” said Pajari. “Unfortunately, we did lose a few seconds, but that is rallying. Two more days to go and we are in the fight.”

Solberg sits fourth, just 1.2s behind Toyota teammate Pajari, after a frustrating day in which he struggled for feeling in his Yaris and lost the lead on Friday morning. The Swede remained within reach despite his Gois moment, then took second-fastest time on the final stage.

WRC points leader Elfyn Evans ended the day fifth, 32.5s from the lead, after spending Friday first on the road on his GR Yaris and acting as road sweeper for the cars behind. The Welshman described the final Mortagua pass as “like a beach inside the ruts,” but completed the day without drama.

Fourmaux is just 1.8s behind Evans, with two-time 2026 rally winner Takamoto Katsuta seventh after a difficult day searching for grip and confidence in the fifth and final factory Toyota. Dani Sordo holds eighth in the third of the Hyundais after being hampered by what turned to be a less than optimal tire choice in the morning and losing further time through the afternoon.

Josh McErlean is ninth for M-Sport Ford, despite receiving a 50-second penalty after being delayed leaving remote service when his Puma Rally1 struggled to start. Teammate Jon Armstrong, meanwhile, wrestled his car through the afternoon loop without power steering, with co-driver Shane Byrne helping by changing gears and pulling the e-brake in slower corners.

Martins Sesks, making his second start of the season with M-Sport, had shown improved pace, including fourth-fastest and third-fastest times on Gois and Lousa 2, respectively, before a double puncture on the final stage cost the Latvian more than three minutes.

In WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, Nikolay Gryazin is highest placed of the Rally2-spec entries in 10th overall in his Lancia Ypsilon YF, but Jan Solans ended Friday as the best of the nominated points scorers one place further back. The Spanish had to work hard in his Skoda Fabia RS on a day when one of the category’s closest battles of the season unfolded.

Nikolay Gryazin is best of the Rally2 runners, but the Lancia driver hasn’t nominated Portugal as a WRC2 points-scoring round. Wasted opportunity?

Three different drivers led the points-chasing entries during the day, while six crews held podium positions at one point or another. By the finish, just 10.8s separated Solans from fifth-placed Andreas Mikkelsen.

Solans held the lead through the day’s opening test, but lost it one stage later when Teemu Suninen’s Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 went 3.8s faster than the rest of the field to climb from fifth overnight into first place. His stay at the top lasted only one stage, however, as the Finn could manage only the 15th-fastest time on the third test of the morning and slipped from first to fifth.

That handed the lead to another Spaniard, Alejandro Cachon, who continued the strong form he showed last month in the Canary Islands. He remained there until the afternoon’s second stage, when he was forced to retire his GR Yaris Rally2 before the start with an alternator issue. Adding to the frustration, the stage was later red flagged due to safety concerns.

Diverted to the start of the following stage, Solans capitalized on his compatriot’s misfortune and went quickest to return to the top of the leaderboard. He stayed there to complete a tumultuous day 3.7s clear of Roope Korhonen, who moved his Yaris into second place on the final stage.

Saturday’s penultimate leg is the longest day of the rally. Nine special stages add up to 90.65 competitive miles, with two passes each of Felgueiras, Cabeceiras de Basto, Amarante and Paredes before the short Lousada super special completes the leg.

WRC Rally Portugal, positions after Friday/Leg One, SS10
1 Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) 1h28m25.2s
2 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +3.7s
3 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +15.2s
4 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +16.4s
5 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +32.5s
6 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +34.3s
7 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +50.1s
8 Dani Sordo/Candido Carrera (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +1m23.3s
9 Josh McErlean/Eoin Treacy (Ford Puma Rally1) +2m20.7s
10 Nikolay Gryazin/Konstantin Aleksandrov (Lancia Ypsilon HF Rally2 – WRC2, non-points) +4m34.8s
11 Jan Solans/Rodrigo Sanjuan (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2 leader) +4m37.3s

Catch WRC action from all rounds of the 2026 FIA World Rally Championship on RACER Network and the RACER+ App.

Tune in on Monday, May11 at 9.00pm ET for full highlights from Rally Portugal. And for the latest happenings from the world rally scene, check out the WRC Magazine Show. New episodes air on the RACER Network on the Thursday before each WRC round.

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