The 46th season of the World Rally Championship continued May 17-20 with the sixth round of competition, the 52nd annual Rally de Portugal.
Thierry Neuville and co-driver Nicolas Gilsoul won the 20-stage, 357.75-kilometer (222.30 miles)event, based in Matosinhos, Porto, for their second victory of the 2018 season. Neuville topped Elfyn Evans and co-driver Daniel Barritt by 40 seconds, the winning pair taking the WRC points lead from Sebastien Ogier and co-driver Julien Ingrassia, who retired after the sixth stage but later re-entered the rally with a time penalty.
Here are some statistics related to Rally de Portugal as well as the 2018 season after six rounds.
2018 Rally de Portugal Statistics
- Overall Winner (Driver): Thierry Neuville
- Overall Results (WRC Classic/Eligibility M Only): Thierry Neuville, Elfyn Evans, Teemu Suninen, Dani Sordo, Esapekka Lappi, Mads Ostberg, Craig Breen, Pontus Tidemand, Lukasz Pieniazek, Stephane Lefebvre
- Overall Winner (Manufacturer): Hyundai
- Overall Winner (Tire): Michelin
- Overall Winner (Country): Belgium
- Total Stages/Distance Contested: 20 stages/357.75 kilometers (222.30 miles)
- Longest Stage: 37.60 kilometers/23.36 miles (Amarante)
- Shortest Stage: 1.85 kilometers/1.15 miles (Porto Street Stage)
- Stage Winners (By Driver): Thierry Neuville (5), Jari-Matti Latvala (3), Kris Meeke (2), Elfyn Evans (2), Sebastien Ogier (2), Esapekka Lappi (2), Ott Tanak (1), Hayden Paddon (1), Dani Sordo (1), Craig Breen (1), Teemu Suninen (1)
- Stage Winners (By Country): Finland (6), Belgium (5), United Kingdom (4), France (2), Estonia (1), New Zealand (1), Spain (1), Ireland (1)
- Stage Winners (By Manufacturer): Hyundai (7), Toyota (6), Ford (5), Citroen (3)
- Stage Winners (By Tire): Michelin (21)
- Total Time: 3:49:46.6
- Margin of Victory: 40.0 seconds
Notes of Interest (Rally de Portugal):
- This is Thierry Neuville’s second WRC victory of the season and the eighth of his career. Neuville, driving the No. 5 Hyundai i20 Coupe, also won Rally Sweden earlier this year.
- This is Neuville’s first victory in the Rally de Portugal. All eight of Neuville’s WRC wins have come in different events; six of them have come in Europe (Germany, Italy, France, Poland, Sweden and Portugal).
- Neuville is the second driver to win two WRC events this season. Sebastien Ogier has a season-best three victories this season. Ott Tanak also has a single WRC win.
- Neuville has now won at least two WRC events in each of the last two seasons. He won four WRC events in 2017.
- Neuville won five stages in Rally de Portugal, the most of any driver. Neuville has now won 20 stages this season, second only to Ott Tanak’s 28 stage victories.
- This is Neuville’s WRC-best fourth podium of the season, including third straight, and 31 in his career. He hasn’t finished any worse than sixth position this season.
- Neuville now has two podiums in Rally de Portugal. He finished second in the event in 2017.
- Neuville earned the points lead, and now leads by 19 points over Sebastien Ogier, who retired from the event. Neuville has now led the points standings after each of his two victories this season, while Ogier has led the points standings following four different events.
- Neuville shared his victory with Nicolas Gilsoul. All of Neuville’s eight career WRC victories have come with Gilsoul.
- Neuville gave Hyundai (manufacturer) and Belgium their second WRC victories this season.
- Belgium moved to sole possession of ninth all-time in WRC manufacturer wins, breaking a 10th-place tie with Kenya and Estonia.
- Hyundai moved into an 11th-place tie in manufacturer event wins with Datsun/Nissan, with nine wins apiece.
- Elfyn Evans and co-driver Daniel Barritt finished second, marking their first podium of the 2018 season. Their previous best finish was fifth in the Tour de Corse.
- Evans finished on the podium for the first time since winning the 2017 Wales Rally.
- Evans won two stages, doubling his total heading into the event, and now has four stage wins in 2018. It marked Evans’s first podium in Rally de Portugal.
- Evans was the highest-finishing Ford driver, and gave Ford its fourth podium this season, driving the No. 2 M-Sport Ford WRT Ford Fiesta. A fifth-podium finish was added by third-place finisher Teemu Suninen – who claimed his first career WRC podium in 33 events – with No. 3 M-Sport Ford WRT Ford Fiesta co-driver Mikko Markkula.
- Dani Sordo was fourth, marking his fourth finish of fourth or better in five WRC events in 2018. Sordo co-drove with Carlos del Barrio, in the No. 6 Hyundai i20 Coupe.
- Esapekka Lappi and No. 9 Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota Yaris co-driver Janne Ferm were fifth, marking their second top-five finish of the season (finished fourth in Rally Sweden).
- Sebastien Ogier dropped to second in the points standings after retiring from the event. It marked Ogier’s first retirement of 2018 and first retirement in the last 10 events (last retirement was Rally Finland in July 2017).
- Hyundai’s seven stage wins lead all manufacturers in Rally de Portugal, pushing its stage victory total to 33. Toyota has a season-high 40 stage wins.
- A total of 22 drivers have earned points in WRC competition this season.
- The seventh round of the 2018 World Rally Championship is the 20-stage, 317.32-kilometer Rally Italia Sardegna, based in Alghero, Sardinia, from June 7-10.
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2018 World Rally Championship Statistics
- Total Rallies Contested: 6
- Total Distance Covered: 2,102.96 kilometers (1,306.72 miles)
- Most Victories (Driver): Sebastien Ogier (3)
- Overall Winners (By Driver): Sebastien Ogier (3; Monte Carlo, Mexico, France), Thierry Neuville (2; Sweden, Portugal), Ott Tanak (1; Argentina)
- Overall Winners (By Manufacturer): Ford (3; Monte Carlo, Mexico, France), Hyundai (2; Sweden, Portugal), Toyota (1; Argentina)
- Overall Winners (By Tire): Michelin (6; Monte Carlo, Sweden, Mexico, France, Argentina, Portugal)
- Overall Winners (By Country): France (3; Monte Carlo, Mexico, France), Belgium (2; Sweden, Portugal), Estonia (1; Argentina)
- Most Podiums: Thierry Neuville (4)
- Stage Winners (By Driver): Ott Tanak (28), Thierry Neuville (20), Sebastien Ogier (15), Kris Meeke (8), Esapekka Lappi (8), Sebastien Loeb (6), Dani Sordo (6), Andreas Mikkelsen (4), Craig Breen (4), Elfyn Evans (4), Jari-Matt Latvala (4), Hayden Paddon (3), Teemu Suninen (2)
- Stage Winners (By Manufacturer): Toyota (40), Hyundai (33), Ford (21), Citroen (18)
- Stage Winners (By Tire): Michelin (112)
- Stage Winners (By Country): Estonia (28), France (21), Belgium (20), Finland (14), United Kingdom (12), Spain (6), Norway (4), Ireland (4), New Zealand (3)
- Most Rallies with One Stage Win: Ott Tanak (6)
- Total Stages Contested: 108 (average of 18.0 per rally)
- Longest Stage: 55.17 kilometers/34.28 miles (Vero to Sarrola-Carcopino; won by Ott Tanak)
- Shortest Stage: 1.11 kilometers/.69 miles (Street Stage Leon – Rally Mexico; Teemu Suninen and Andreas Mikkelsen each won one of the two contested stages)
- Drivers to Lead Points Standings: 2 (Sebastien Ogier – 4 races; Thierry Neuville – 2 races)
- Longest Distance Covered, Single Rally: 394.74 kilometers/245.28 miles (Rally Monte-Carlo; won by Sebastien Ogier)
- Shortest Distance Covered, Single Rally: 314.25 kilometers/195.266 miles (Rally Sweden; won by Thierry Neuville)
- Most Stages in a Single Rally: 22 (Rally Mexico)
- Fewest Stages in a Single Rally: 12 (Tour de Corse)
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All-Time World Rally Championship Statistics
- Total Rallies Contested: 576
- Drivers With At Least One Win: 77 (First: Jean-Claude Andruet; 77th: Elfyn Evans)
- Manufacturers With At Least One Win: 21
- Nations With At Least One Win: 17
- Most Victories (Driver): Sebastien Loeb (78)
- Most Victories (Manufacturer): Citroen (98)
- Most Victories (Nation): France (188)
- Most Championships (Driver): Sebastien Loeb (9)
- Most Championships (Manufacturer): Lancia (10)
- Most Championships (Nation): France (15)
Sources
- Wikipedia: Rally de Portugal; List of World Rally Championship Drivers’ championships
- World Rally Championship website: http://www.wrc.com
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