Neuville wins WRC Rally Portugal after late Ogier puncture

Thierry Neuville and Hyundai ended their FIA World Rally Championship win drought after a penultimate-stage puncture dashed Sebastien Ogier’s hopes of a record-extending eighth Rally Portugal victory.

Heading in to Portugal, 2024 WRC champ Neuville was winless in ’26 and sitting only seventh in the drivers’ standings after a difficult early-season run that included a final-stage crash while leading Rally Croatia. Hyundai, meanwhile, had watched Toyota win all five rallies so far this year.

Portugal looked set to continue that pattern until the penultimate stage, when Ogier stopped to change a right-rear puncture on the 13.42-mile Vieira do Minho 2 test. The nine-time and reigning WRC champ had started Sunday with a 21.9s lead over Neuville and seemed locked in for that eighth Portugal win. But his victory hopes disappeared in the rutted, rock-strewn conditions as he lost almost two minutes changing the wheel on his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1.

Neuville, who’d kept himself in the fight throughout a weekend of rain, mud and constantly changing grip on the Portuguese gravel, moved into the lead with only the Fafe Wolf Power Stage remaining. Far from backing off in the 6.95-mile closer, he and co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe posted second-fastest time behind Hyundai teammate Adrien Fourmaux to win the rally by 16.3s from Toyota’s Oliver Solberg.

It was Neuville’s 23rd WRC victory and his second in Portugal, eight years after his previous success on the Matosinhos-based gravel classic. More importantly, after seeing Neuville’s Croatia hopes dashed and then looking like also-rans last time out on the Canary Islands asphalt, it gave Hyundai the breakthrough it badly needed after Toyota’s dominant start to the season.

“It’s a very special one,” said Neuville. “After what happened to me in Croatia and the struggles we have had for a while, this one comes very well. Not only for me and Martijn, but for the whole team. We never give up, and that paid off this weekend. We were always up there, always on a good rhythm. Nothing was really perfect, but we always somehow got through.”

Victory for Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville and co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe in Portugal curtailed Toyota’s five-rally 2026 win sweep. Diogo Cardoso/Getty Images

Ogier, who plummeted to sixth, said: “There are things you can’t control. Everything we could control this weekend, we did pretty well. It was hard luck today. Of course, we deserved a little bit better.”

Sami Pajari was also caught out on the same stage as his Toyota teammate Ogier. The Finn had been on course for a fifth consecutive podium, but stopped to carry out a wheel change and dropped from third to seventh in his GR Yaris.

Solberg inherited second after a turbulent rally of his own. The Swede led after Thursday, briefly reclaimed the lead on Saturday morning, and then lost ground with tire trouble and a spin. But he stayed close enough to benefit from Sunday’s late drama and secured his first podium since winning the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally.

“It was a big ping-pong result all weekend,” said Solberg. “After two tough [asphalt] rallies, I’m just very happy to be back on the podium with some good points. Relieved, really.”

Oliver Solberg’s second-place finish in Portugal put the Toyota driver on a WRC podium for the first time since winning the season opener.

WRC points leader Elfyn Evans completed the podium, 29.1s behind Neuville. The Welshman admitted he had not fully delivered the pace he wanted, but third place in his GR Yaris still increased his championship lead to 12 points over teammate Takamoto Katsuta after six rounds.

Fourmaux finished fourth after a rally that promised much more. The Frenchman led earlier in the event before a Friday off and resulting double puncture in his i20 N Rally1 dropped him down the order, but he ended with that fastest time on the Wolf Power Stage and the bonus points that come with him. He moves up to fourth in points, best of the non-Toyotas.

Katsuta completed the top five, ahead of Ogier and Pajari, as Toyota’s final-day damage count mounted. Dani Sordo brought the third factory Hyundai home in eighth after a difficult weekend, with M-Sport Ford’s Martins Sesks ninth in another weekend when the trio of Puma Rally1s couldn’t come close to the leaders.

In WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, Teemu Suninen claimed the eighth WRC2 victory of his career and put his 2022 heartbreak on the event firmly behind him.

The Toyota GR Yaris Rally2-driving Finn started the final day with the narrowest of margins, just 0.9s clear of Jan Solans’ Skoda Fabia RS. But Suninen kept his nerve and focus to avoid any repeat of 2022, when he crashed out on the rally-ending Fafe Wolf Power Stage, to eventually win the class by 45.6s from fellow Finn Roope Korhonen in another GR Yaris.

This time, it was Solans who hit trouble on Sunday. With Suninen extending the gap to more than 18s through the opening loop, the Spaniard’s victory hopes ended on the penultimate stage when he went off the road. He lost more than two minutes and dropped to fourth.

After starting the day fourth in WRC2, Teemu Suninen put on a charge in his GR Yaris Rally2 and now leads by a minscule 0.9s. Diogo Cardoso/Getty Images

Next up, the WRC is back on asphalt when it heads east for Rally Japan, May 28-31. The event has moved from its traditional late-season slot, switching from the damp, leaf-covered roads of the Japanese fall to what could be drier, faster conditions on the narrow, twisty roads of the Aichi and Gifu prefectures.

WRC Rally Portugal, final positions after Sunday/Leg Three, SS23
1 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) 3h53m01.7s
2 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +16.3s
3 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +29.1s
4 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +54.8s
5 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +1m12.6s
6 Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +1m26.6s
7 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +2m50.9s
8 Dani Sordo/Candido Carrera (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +4m10.0s
9 Martins Sesks/Renars Francis (Ford Puma Rally1) +6m49.2s
10 Teemu Suninen/Janni Hussi (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 – WRC2 winner) +11m13.8s

WRC Drivers’ Championship after 6 of 14 rounds
1 Evans 123 points
2 Katsuta 111
3 Solberg 92
4 Fourmaux 79
5 Pajari 78
6 Ogier 67

WRC Manufacturers’ Championship after 6 of 14 rounds
1 Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT 311 points   
2 Hyundai Word Rally Team 218 
3 Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT2 86
4  M-Sport Ford 71

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