On Friday, April 4, a total of six stages (SS2 to SS7) were held, covering a distance of 146.06 kilometers. In the Lisbon city street stage (SS1) held on Thursday evening, Ogier set the fastest time and led the field. However, Friday's race was not as simple as everyone expected, with several drivers engaging in fierce competition and taking turns in the lead.
Due to yesterday's rainfall, most of the mountain stages today remained damp or even muddy. Ogier, who bore the task of "road sweeping," was not troubled by loose dirt and his performance remained at the forefront of the field. However, the most outstanding performer this morning was Hyundai driver Sordo from Spain, who took the fastest time in two stages (SS2 and SS3) and occupied first place overall. In the battle for the SS4 stage, Ogier set the second-fastest time and returned to first place overall. However, the gap between the top six drivers was only 9 seconds, and the gap between the top three—Ogier, Latvala, and Hirvonen—was only 2.3 seconds, which shows the intensity of the competition.
In the repeated stages in the afternoon, Volkswagen driver Latvala, who was second overall, rolled over again. The Finn was only 0.4 seconds behind his teammate Ogier after the three stages in the morning. In the SS5 stage, Latvala was 1.3 seconds faster than Ogier at the 9.2-kilometer timing point. Unfortunately, he encountered trouble shortly after passing the timing point. Due to excessive speed, his car understeered in a left turn, and the rear wheels hit a puddle formed by rainwater on the side of the road, causing his car to lose control and crash directly into the roadside barrier, forcing him to regretfully withdraw from Friday's race. This is the fourth time in six years that Latvala has rolled over at the Rally de Portugal.
Although Latvala's pursuit was gone, Hirvonen remained close behind Ogier. As the SS5 track gradually dried out, Ogier, who chose hard tires, gained a certain advantage and extended his lead. However, in the following two stages (SS6 and SS7), the track was relatively damp, and M-Sport driver Hirvonen, who had been following closely and chose soft tires, gained an advantage and overtook Ogier to take first place overall.
Estonian driver Tänak, who had been absent from WRC competition for a year, performed very well today and remained at the forefront of the field during the morning's race. In the afternoon, choosing soft tires, he successfully occupied second place overall.
Citroën driver Østberg trailed Hirvonen by 25.6 seconds to sit in fourth place overall; Hyundai driver Sordo trailed Østberg by 0.1 seconds to sit in fifth place overall; Sordo's teammate Neuville performed well today, taking the fastest time in the SS6 stage, and is currently 16.3 seconds behind Sordo (42 seconds behind Hirvonen) in sixth place overall; Norwegian driver Henning Solberg, competing as an individual, finished the first day in seventh place overall despite a tire blowout in the morning.
Volkswagen's second team driver Mikkelsen drove very cautiously today. He admitted that he did not want to repeat the tragedy of rolling over in Mexico and is currently in the stage of rebuilding his confidence. He eventually finished the first day in eighth place overall. Czech driver Prokop is in ninth place overall; Finnish driver Ketomaa, competing in the WRC2 category, is in tenth place overall.
The treacherous Portugal stages also buried the dreams of some drivers. Former F1 driver, Pole Kubica, crashed and lost a wheel in the SS4 stage, withdrawing from today's race. M-Sport's young driver Evans also had an accident in the SS4 stage; due to missing the braking point, Evans' car rushed off the track and rolled several times before coming to a stop. Fortunately, neither the driver nor the co-driver were injured. Citroën driver Meeke rolled over and retired in the SS7 stage due to a pace note error.
