***The Official Rally Portugal Thread***

[Pwig]

Well then folks, what do we think?

Another VW walk through? Will Meeke be back on the pace again??

[SAGTAFF]

Pwig said:

Another VW walk through?

If shakedown is anything to go by then yes!!

I really hope the Fiesta RS can be competitive and Meeke can backup his Argentina performance

[Allyc85]

First stage is in 30 minutes or so!

I would like to see Meeke back up his win with a solid top 5, anything but a DNF! Elfyn you generally know you will get a solid drive!

[Pwig]

Elfyn has really impressed but he needs to find that extra tenth or two

[Pwig]

I see it was a VW 1-2-3 last night on the super special. They really are in a different league.

[GravelBen]

I never put much weight on times around a superspecial, especially when some of them are playing strategy games with their tyres for later. I guess we'll see if you're right.

[Pwig]

Top 10 on SS2!

Stage


Pos # Driver Time Diff Prev Diff 1st

1. 8 ESPD. SORDO 19:41.5
2. 6 ESTO. TANAK 19:42.8 +1.3 +1.3
3. 9 NORA. MIKKELSEN 19:44.3 +1.5 +2.8
4. 3 GBRK. MEEKE 19:45.0 +0.7 +3.5
5. 2 FINJ. LATVALA 19:47.7 +2.7 +6.2
6. 1 FRAS. OGIER 19:53.6 +5.9 +12.1
7. 20 NZLH. PADDON 19:53.8 +0.2 +12.3
8. 4 NORM. OSTBERG 19:54.1 +0.3 +12.6
9. 14 POLR. KUBICA 20:00.4 +6.3 +18.9
10. 7 BELT. NEUVILLE 20:13.2 +12.8 +31.7

[Allyc85]

Meeke going well, making the most of his road position. Looks really close at the front.

Disappointing to see Evans have car issues, and Breen have his Peugeot let him down once again...

SS5 cancelled due to nearby forest fires!

[Allyc85]

Latavla leads Meeke by 11 then, with Mikkelsen not too far behind either. With a few Rally 2 runners to go before Ogier, he will be on a charge tomorrow. Should be good!

Leg 1 - 2015 WRC Rally de Portugal - Best-of-RallyLive.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmFeAG0tICM

[Pwig]

Looks like Meeke is putting up a great fight!

Proper neck and neck with Jari Matti

[Allyc85]

Meeke now just 6.1 behind JML! Mikkelsen is just 15 off, and Ogier 19!

Fight on!

[Pwig]

Meeke winning SS10 too. Oh God

[Allyc85]

Ogier closing in.... he will win this!

[Pwig]

Doesn't look like Meeke is going to have a chance now

[Allyc85]

So Latvala leads by 10 going into the last stage, that SHOULD be enough! Shame to see Meeke down to 4th, but it's sensible to get another solid result under his belt.

Powerstage in around an hour or so. Shall post any live streams I see.

[Pwig]

Well I was right about the VW 123 but it was for more exciting than I expected!

[GravelBen]

Good to see Latvala take it out well deserved.

Sensible drive from Meeke to consolidate and build confidence instead of going all out, and glad to see Paddon back on form too - got to be happy with that pace from the old-spec car.

Edited by GravelBen on Sunday 24th May 11:57

[Alex Langheck]

A VW 1-2-3, and a PowerStage 1-2-3 for VW. Pretty dominating. Good solid drive from Kris, best of the rest.
Good to see Rallye Portugal back 'home' in the north. Other events take note.

[Allyc85]

Great rally, really close all the way through! Shame there isn't more interest really as it's been the most interesting season for a long time.

Kudos to Latvala for keeping his head and no cracking under the pressure of the closing pack. Hopefully this will give him confidence for the rest of the year.

Great drive by Meeke to be best of rest behind the VWs to get a solid 4th place. Hopefully he will go more for the win at Sardinia when I am there D

[HD] WRC Rally Portugal 2015 - @BunningsVideo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8KHeutK7Fc&in...

[Alex Langheck]

Allyc85 said:

Great rally, really close all the way through! Shame there isn't more interest really as it's been the most interesting season for a long time.

This worries me. The last event had a British win - and still the interest is lukewarm. This thread has barely 1 page of comments, the Autosport forum had a handful of comments, Crash even less.
F1, BTCC are far more popular, and now even the WEC is seemingly more popular. Why?