Kalle Rovanpera kickstarted his WRC title defence with a dominant first win of the season 🏆 Full RallydePortugal report ⬇️
A first victory since Rally New Zealand last October, where he sealed the 2022 title, has propelled Rovanpera to the top of the championship standings with a 17-point margin over Ott Tanak.
Sordo briefly led the rally after stage four but once Rovanpera took the lead on stage five he remained in second position for remaining stages. The experienced Spaniard chalked up three stage wins on his way to a best result to date driving a Rally1 car, finishing second.Photo by: Red Bull Content Poolclaimed the final spot on the podium, 1m20.3s adrift of winner Rovanpera, but ended the rally with smoke pouring from the rear of his i20 N. Lappi initially struggled to make the most of his advantageous road position on Friday but improved as the rally continued.
M-Sport’s Tanak endured an eventful rally to finish fourth overall, 2m04.1s adrift. The Estonian impressed in the early stages to lead the rally on Friday morning with a 3.0s margin over Rovanpera. However, his event unravelled when a front right tyre came off the rim costing him 50s, dropping him from the lead to seventh.
Tanak struggled to find the set-up sweet spot with his Puma and battled a hybrid issue on Sunday to recover to fourth overall.
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