Most liked posts in thread: WRC: Rally de Portugal

Steve · Mar 30, 2012

Loeb's off yesterday:

â€œI thought it was a left-handerâ€¦â€ (best-of-rallylive.com)

The car of the provisional world championship leader left the road on SS3. It was midnight when SÃ©bastien Loeb returned to the service park to talk about the incident.

30/03/2012 8:23
by HervÃ©

â€œAbout seven kilometres into the stage, there was a blind crest,â€ said the Frenchman after a quick debriefing with his engineers and mechanics. â€œDaniel [Elena] called out a â€˜rightâ€™ but the road appeared to go to the left. I got the angle of the turn correct in my head, but not the direction. It was all something of a surprise. It was night, so we couldnâ€™t see much. The corner seemed to turn naturally to the left. I wasnâ€™t pushing particularly hard, the conditions were fine and there was no dust or mud. I donâ€™t really have an explanation. I just misunderstood the pace note and went to the leftâ€¦ There wasnâ€™t a big impact, but the front part of the roll cage which runs up the windscreen pillar is too badly damaged for me to re-join the rally under the â€˜Rally2â€™ ruling tomorrow [Friday].â€

Mikko Hirvonen, who posted the third-fastest time on that stage (five seconds slower than fellow Finn Latvala) is now CitroÃ«n WRTâ€™s only remaining hope against the factory Ford Fiestas. There is a chance that SÃ©bastien Loeb will now fly out of Portugal earlier than planned in order to be at Le Castellet, in the south of France, to oversee the debut of his new endurance racing team.
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[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGwNQIY0bTM]Leg 1: Loeb's crash - 2012 WRC Rally Portugal - Best-of-RallyLive.com - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Mar 30, 2012

A little perspective on today's drama, written before they started today:

Rain, rain and more rainâ€¦ (best-of-rallylive.com)

It rained throughout the night in the Algarve and forecasters predict it will continue to rain all day and tonight. The top three drivers overall â€“ Latvala, Solberg and Hirvonen â€“ are covered by just three seconds.

30/03/2012 12:07
by HervÃ©

Yesterday evening, the early drivers on the road, like Mikko Hirvonen and Ott Tanak (who claimed his first â€˜realâ€™ fastest time in the WRC), escaped the heavy rain which affected the performances of those running further down the field.

Factory Ford stars Solberg and Latvala, who were respectively 16th and 17th on the road, had to cope with muddy conditions while running on hard compound Michelin â€˜H1â€™ tyres. â€œWe didnâ€™t expect so much rain,â€ admitted Jari-Matti at last nightâ€™s service halt. â€œThe first four kilometres of SS4 were very slippery.â€ A spin on the same stage saw his team-mate Petter Solberg lose a handful of seconds.

The two Ford/Michelin drivers consequently failed to reap the benefit of their late running order which had helped them post quick times on SS2 and SS3. The pair still top the provisional leaderboard, however, with Latvala in front, 2.6s and 5.0s clear of Solberg and Hirvonen respectively.

Todayâ€™s programme features two attempts at a loop of three stages. Tavira (25.01km) and Alcarias (25.15km) are both new and particularly rough tests, while San Bras de Alportel (16.18km) is one of the modern Rally de Portugalâ€™s classics.

Dani Sordo (Mini/Michelin) decided to stop on SS3 after running without headlights, although the Mini/Michelin driver will re-join today. He will be first on the road ahead of fellow Mini driver Armindo Araujo and Ford privateer Martin Prokop. Hirvonen, Solberg and Latvala will be 14th, 15th and 16th on the road.
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Steve · Mar 30, 2012

... and more drama:

Solberg the latest driver to strike trouble as he follows Latvala's example and crashes out of lead (AUTOSPORT.com)

By Matt Beer and David Evans | Friday, March 30th 2012, 12:31 GMT

Petter Solberg has become the latest driver to strike trouble while leading the Rally of Portugal - crashing out and putting Mikko Hirvonen in front.

Ford driver Solberg had only led for one stage after his team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala went off the road amid extremely treacherous wet conditions in Portugal.

Solberg held a 25-second advantage over Citroen driver Hirvonen going into SS6, but slid off and got stuck in a ditch two kilometres from the finish.

Hirvonen now leads by half a minute over Mads Ostberg (Adapta Ford), with Evgeny Novikov (M-Sport Ford) third.
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Steve · Mar 30, 2012

Latvala is definitely out, broken suspension.

Steve · Mar 30, 2012

Sordo wins another stage, and by nearly a minute again! Sometimes it's best to be the first out on the road. Araujo is also doing well, 3rd on the stage!

SS6: Trouble for Solberg in Portugal (WRC.com)

30 Mar 12

Wrc.com stage summary

Stage data: SS6, Alcarias 1 (25.15 kilometres)

Stage description:
By WRC Team MINI Portugal co-driver Miguel Ramalho: â€œLike the previous stage, Alcarias is very twisty but actually more narrow and again you have to be careful for the cuts and to save your tyres.â€

How the action unfolded:
The drama continues on Vodafone Rally de Portugal with Petter Solberg suffering a similar fate to Ford team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala by going off the road and getting stuck in a ditch in the increasingly treacherous conditions.

Solberg, who had inherited the lead when Latvala retired on the previous run, was 2.4s from the stage finish when he went off the road and got stuck in a ditch. With no spectators on hand to help haul his Fiesta RS WRC back onto the stage, Solberg is unlikely to go any further on round four of the FIA World Rally Championship powered by Nokia.

Citroenâ€™s Mikko Hirvonen was fifth fastest through the stage and now leads the event by 31.4s over Adapta Fiesta driver Mads Ostberg. â€œIâ€™m sure these are the most difficult conditions Iâ€™ve been driving,â€ said Hirvonen. â€œIn some places I canâ€™t see 10 metres but youâ€™re supposed to be going flat out. I donâ€™t like these conditions.â€|

Dani Sordo, running first on the road and benefitting from slightly less muddy road surface, was fastest for the second stage running in his MINI John Cooper Works WRC. â€œTheyâ€™re really tough conditions, with the fog,â€ said Sordo. â€œI have problems with the screen - it is too hot inside the car and the temperature outside is too different.I get to the middle of the stage and I only have a small part of the screen where I can see. I am happy with the car. It is difficult to know where the grip is but itâ€™s okay. I have nothing to lose so I just drive and enjoy.â€

Martin Prokop was second fastest with Portuguese hero Armindo Araujo clocking the third quickest time in his MINI.
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Steve · Mar 30, 2012

Ouch! Quote of the day: "... we had it on a silver tray and we have put the tray in the bin and then buried the bin."

Ford technical chief Christian Loriaux furious with Jari-Matti Latvala and Petter Solberg over crashes (AUTOSPORT.com)

By David Evans | Friday, March 30th 2012, 13:35 GMT

Ford World Rally Team technical director Christian Loriaux says his drivers Jari-Matti Latvala and Petter Solberg squandered a huge opportunity with their Rally of Portugal crashes.

The team had a chance to make up much of its 38-point gap to Citroen in the championship with Latvala and Solberg running one-two, until both drivers went off the road on successive stages.

Citroen's attack, blunted by Sebastien Loeb rolling out of the event last night, is now headed by new rally leader Mikko Hirvonen.

Loriaux said: "We were given a big, big lifeline and we have cut it off. Twice. The championship was over for us really and then we are given this massive life when Seb throws his rally away and all our guys had to do was go steady. They knew they could control Mikko, they knew they could. All they had to do was stay on the road.

"OK, it's easy to say all they had to do was stay on the road and I'm sure it was like Indonesia in the old days, but a load of our other cars managed to get through. It was just survival.

"After Jari went off, Petter had 20 seconds on Mikko, he could have backed off more. It's just such a waste of a turnaround in the championship, we had it on a silver tray and we have put the tray in the bin and then buried the bin."

Loriaux added that the pain was even worse after the Fords' pace had improved with some new gear ratios for this rally.

"We knew when we came here the car was really, really quick and we knew that, in the dry, Jari could beat Seb fair and square," said Loriaux. "We were confident, there was no way they would get away with this one."
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Steve · Mar 30, 2012

Dani is 3 for 3 so far today!

SS7: Three in a row for Sordo (WRC.com)

30 Mar 12

Wrc.com stage summary

Stage data: SS7, S Bras de Alportel 1 (16.18 kilometres)

Stage description:
By WRC Team MINI Portugal co-driver Miguel Ramalho: â€œThis is an old stage, we have done this stage sometimes before but our knowledge is not better than the other drivers. There is one small watersplash but it is completely dry. You have one fast part from the middle until the end but the average speed is not so high.â€

How the action unfolded:
Dani Sordo has made it a hat trick of stage wins on day two of Vodafone Rally de Portugal, round four of the FIA World Rally Championship powered by Nokia.

Driving a latest-specification, Prodrive-run MINI John Cooper Works WRC, Sordo completed the fog, mud and rain-affected stage 21.8s faster than M-Sport Ford Fiesta driver Evgeny Novikov as he continues to benefit from running first on the road.

â€œIt was really, really difficult conditions, more difficult than the other stages,â€ said Sordo. â€œIt was impossible to see the road.â€

Mikko Hirvonen was third quickest in his factory Citroen DS3 WRC to increase his overall lead to 36.3s over Novikov, who has moved ahead of Mads Ostberg after the Norwegian was slowed by a left-rear puncture on his Adapta Fiesta.

â€œIt is so slippery, so muddy,â€ said Hirvonen. â€œThe changes of grip are so sudden that anything is possible. I am leading but that doesnâ€™t mean it is easy.â€

Czech Ford National Team driver Martin Prokop climbed from seventh to fifth in his Fiesta, despite reporting worsening stage and weather conditions. â€œIt was the most incredible. I didnâ€™t think it could be worse than the first two stages. So much heavy rain and fog, I could see nothing. There was no chance to go faster. I had some big moments in the muddy places. The car is perfect, the team did a good job with the set-up. The only problem is the conditions.â€

The surviving crews are now heading to Faro for a 30-minute service halt. Stage eight, the repeat of the 25.01-kilometre Tavira test, gets underway at 15:56hrs local time.
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Nathan · Mar 30, 2012

Could we be on the verge of a MINI on the top step of a podium here!

Steve · Mar 30, 2012

I can't wait to see video from today (will post when I find them), road conditions described as crazy. MINI drivers are taking advantage and moving up the standings.

Even though Dani Sordo dropped out yesterday and had to restart under Rally 2 rules today, he won all 3 of the stages the first time through. They repeat the same 3 stages later today and though he will again be the first on the road those stages have been destroyed the first time through. Still, probably best to be first than last.

To show how they've been climbing, here are the overall standings for MINI drivers as they progressed through Stages 5-7.

Start of the day:
11th - Sandell
32nd - Araujo
43rd - Sordo

After Stage 5:
7th Sandell
17th Araujo
31st Sordo

After Stage 6:
4th - Sandell
13th - Araujo
18th - Sordo

After Stage 7 (not all drivers have finished but these look fairly firm already):
4th - Sandell
11th - Araujo
13th - Sordo

Steve · Mar 30, 2012

Nathan said: ↑

Could we be on the verge of a MINI on the top step of a podium here!
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Probably not, but anything seems possible given the conditions. If so, it would be Sandell. Sordo is doing great but he had to retire before the end of the day yesterday because he had an electrical problem and didn't have any lights...and all 3 full stages yesterday were run in the dark. He started today more than 12 minutes out. Even with 3 stage wins he's still 8min 45sec behind Hirvonen. Araujo went off the road yesterday and lost about 4:30, he's almost 6 minutes behind Hirvonen. Sandell has been consistent and gaining places because of others' mistakes/misfortune and though he's 4th he's more than 3min behind Hirvonen.

Steve · Mar 30, 2012

Portugal survivors round-up (MaxRally.com)

30th March 2012

Three stages ago, Ford held a one-two in Portugal with Jari-Matti Latvala and Petter Solberg, Citroen was just about hanging on with Mikko Hirvonen, Ott Tanak and Thierry Neuville were having brilliant top five runs, Patrik Sandell and Nasser Al-Attiyah were outside the top 10, and Martin Prokop was a delayed 18th.

Then it rained. A lot...

Biggest casualty of the first Friday loop was undoubtedbly Ford - which went through the misery of seeing Latvala crash out of the lead on SS5 and then Solberg do exactly the same on SS6.

The young guns didn't last long either, as Neuville stopped due to post-watersplash overheating in his Citroen Junior DS3, and Tanak also halted on SS5. There were issues for S2000 class leaders Hayden Paddon and Craig Breen too, with the latter also delaying Sebastien Ogier as he blocked the road after stopping after a watersplash.

So where are we now?

Hirvonen leads, but is finding the going "f***ing slippery" and not keen to push too hard, even though Evgeny Novikov and Mads Ostberg are not far behind.

"It's very, very foggy and very, very muddy as well, and you can't even believe how slow we are driving - but it's so slippery that if you don't get it right at one corner, that's it," he said. "It's unbelievable. Very difficult. We are driving very slowly. I don't want to take any risks or make mistakes. It's all about surviving now and keeping the car on the road. We'll try to have a race as well, but it's very difficult. They are not far behind, but we'll try to control the pace and make sure we don't make any mistakes."

Novikov moved up to second on SS7, 36 seconds behind the leader, having taken 20s off Ostberg - partly due to the Adapta Ford getting a puncture, but also because Novikov was putting his foot down, somehow going quicker and quicker in the fog despite intercom problems!

Several minutes behind, Sandell was amazed to find himself up to fourth.

"I'm trying to do my rally not looking at the times, just finding a feeling and staying on the road. My plans for this morning have worked very well: just calm, calm," he said.

Prokop produced an incredible surge to go from an overnight 18th to fifth, taking time out of the leaders as he benefited from running third on the road in conditions when being late in the order was a bad thing.

Not far behind, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Peter van Merksteijn Jr's Citroens have appeared in sixth and seventh, ahead of Dennis Kuipers' M-Sport Ford.

"We must have good pace for today, because I'm sure if we pushed, we'd do mistakes," said Al-Attiyah.

Van Merkstein's view: "Oh my God, at the start you don't see five metres in front of you. In the notes, I had no watersplash, but they are just [water-filled] dips! Unbelievable! I'm sure my times are ridiculous, but it doesn't matter to me, I'm very happy I'm here."

Ogier is ninth, but expects to get around a minute and a half back from the organisers to make up for being delayed behind Breen, which would put him ahead of Kuipers.

Jari Ketomaa was another man out of luck: as the mayhem unfolded, his DMACK-shod Autotek Ford rose to fifth, but then its engine wilted and he slid back to 10th.

All three stages in the loop were won by Dani Sordo - running an ideal first on the road in the Prodrive Mini following his Thursday night troubles. That has brought him up from 43rd to 13th in the standings.
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Steve · Mar 30, 2012

I've been trying to figure out why only 22 cars were shown as finishing the last stage run so far, #7. Apparently one driver, Craig Breen, was stopped on the stage in such a way that no one else could get past. The other drivers were rerouted back to the start and on to the mid-day service and will be given "notional" times, whatever that means.

Another report says Stage 10 has been cancelled. Stage 10 was to be the repeat run of Stage 7 so I assume they've decided Breen's issue proves the stage is unusable. That leaves 2 stages left to complete the day rather than 3.

Steve · Mar 30, 2012

Sometimes it pays to wait for the official word:

Changes made to Portugal itinerary (WRC.com)

30 Mar 12

Stage eight of Vodafone Rally de Portugal will run approximately 60 minutes behind schedule, while stage 10 has been cancelled, the organisers of round four of the FIA World Rally Championship powered by Nokia have confirmed.

In a statement the organisers confirmed: â€œThe car of Craig Breen became stuck in a small water crossing on the road section between stage six and stage seven. The following cars could not get past so were unable to get to the start of stage seven, so the stage was cancelled for them. They then had to drive the road section back to service so the second loop was delayed to allow them to reach service and have the required service time. To avoid a possible repeat on the second loop, the organisers have decided to cancel the second running of the S. Bras de Alportel stage, which would have been stage 10. Therefore, SS9 will be the last stage of the day.â€

After seven stages, Mikko Hirvonen leads in a Citroen DS3 WRC. Evgeny Novikov is second with fellow Ford Fiesta RS WRC driver Mads Ostberg in third position.
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Nathan · Mar 30, 2012

I liked your educated speculation...

Was pretty much spot on too.

Steve · Mar 30, 2012

Things got bad ...

Bad weather halts Rally of Portugal (AUTOSPORT.com)

By David Evans Friday, March 30th 2012, 15:42 GMT

The Rally of Portugal has been stopped due to the bad weather, with the leading crews being held at the service park in Faro.

The event is expected to restart in the next hour, with the delay caused by the flooding of a river crossing after the sixth stage of the event. The day's final stage has been cancelled. Many crews at the back of the field have been re-routed away from the river and directly back to service.

An additional headache for the organisers is a refuel which was situated after the river crossing. Unable to reach the refuelling point, some of the cars would have run out of petrol before arriving back on the Algarve. In order to avoid this, a four-wheel drive vehicle has been sent into the area with fuel tanks and a hand pump to dispense fuel and keep the event running.

A spokesman for the rally said: "We will not let the leading cars go out again until we have all the cars back in from the first loop of stages."

There had been some concern that all three of the afternoon's stages might have been lost, but the spokesman said: "This is very unlikely. Because we have cancelled the final stage, we have enough time to get the cars out and running on the next two stages."

The re-run Tavira and Alcarias stages are still shrouded in fog and rain. The river crossing after Alcarias and before the Sao Bras de Alportel test is still too deep to cross, which is why the final stage has been cancelled.

The spokesman added: "These conditions have been very difficult and they continue to be so, but we will have the event running again very soon."

When the event is running, Citroen's Mikko Hirvonen will lead the event from private Ford driver Mads Ostberg.
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... and then they got worse:

Friday's remaining stages cancelled (WRC.com)

30 Mar 12

Vodafone Rally de Portugal organisers have confirmed the cancellation of stages eight and nine, the 25.01-kilometre Tavira test and the 25.15-kilometre Alcarias run, due to safety reasons. Stage 10 had already been cancelled due to earlier delays.

Round four of the FIA World Rally Championship powered by Nokia will now resume at 09:49hrs local time on Saturday 31 March with stage 11, the 26.22-kilometre Almodovar test.
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Steve · Mar 30, 2012

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00iWnCS8o50]Super Stage - 2012 WRC Rally Portugal - Best-of-RallyLive.com - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Mar 30, 2012

Here's a pic that hints at the conditions on the stages today.

MINI pace pleases Prodrive (WRC.com)

30 Mar 12

Prodrive's Richard Taylor says the British team has been massively encouraged by Dani Sordo's performance in the uprated version of the MINI John Cooper Works WRC after the Spaniard won three stages on Vodafone Rally de Portugal today.

Sordoâ€™s MINI is utilising Prodriveâ€™s latest engine and aerodynamic developments. Coupled with running first on the road, which turned out to be an advantage due to the increasingly slippery nature of todayâ€™s stages, Sordo was unstoppable on Fridayâ€™s opening trio of tests alongside co-driver Carlos del Barrio.

â€œHad we not lost the time yesterday, then we wouldnâ€™t have been running first on the road and we probably wouldnâ€™t have been taking a minute out of people,â€ commented Taylor. â€œHaving said that, todayâ€™s performance was massively encouraging. Not only has Dani been extremely fast but weâ€™ve also got Patrik [Sandell] up to fourth place in the other car. Considering that itâ€™s only his second event with us, and heâ€™s got a new co-driver here, thatâ€™s a great performance. So weâ€™re all very pleased.â€

Sordoâ€™s is the only MINI running the full version of the latest specification, while Sandellâ€™s car has uprated dampers only. The MINI John Cooper Works WRC has been on the podium three times on asphalt, but it is still chasing its first podium on gravel, having previously scored a fastest stage time on Wales Rally GB last season.

Meanwhile, Sordoâ€™s exit on Thursday night was traced to a fatigue fracture on a new lead that stopped the battery from charging.
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Steve · Mar 30, 2012

Drive of the day: Dani Sordo (MaxRally.com)

30th March 2012
By Anthony Peacock

Today was a good day at work for Dani. On the first stage, he took 57 seconds out of the next fastest driver. On the second stage, a mere 48 seconds. He had to be content with a mere 21-second advantage on the next stage. And then, rather unsportingly, the organisers cancelled the rest of the dayâ€™s action.

It made the 12 minutes he had lost on Thursday night, due to an electrical problem (a fatigue crack in a brand new lead, to be precise) all the more galling. Because otherwise he would have been leading the rally by more than three minutes. Of course, things arenâ€™t quite as simple as that, as had he not had the problem, he wouldnâ€™t have been first on the road today â€“ with all the advantages that entailed in the sort of muddy conditions more reminiscent of Paschendale than Portugal.

The MINI has always been quick out of the box on asphalt â€“ with three podiums to its name already â€“ but now it looks capable of providing a similar turn of pace on gravel, thanks also to the engine and aerodynamic evolutions fitted to Sordoâ€™s car. Which makes the uncertainty over the programmeâ€™s future all the more of a pity.
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Steve · Mar 30, 2012

Armindo AraÃºjo edges towards top 10 goal (RallySportLive.com)

By RSL Staff â€“ March 30, 2012

Armindo AraÃºjo and co-driver Miguel Ramalho powered through the field today at Rally de Portugal, making up some of the time they lost due to yesterdayâ€™s misfortunes. The WRC Team MINI Portugal duo started the day with their heads clear and still focused on taking a Top 10 finish. They made fantastic progress climbing the leaderboard from 32rd to 11th overall, even clocking a third fastest time overall on SS6.

It was a drama filled morning today at Rally de Portugal. The already treacherous stages were made even more challenging by the heavy rains which made it pure endurance for both drivers and cars. Focused on finding a good rhythm from the very beginning, AraÃºjo never lost concentration and successfully navigated his MINI John Cooper Works WRC through the morning loop and safely came back to the Motorsport Italia service after a trouble free morning.

Due to continuing adverse weather conditions, the organisers of Rally de Portugal decided to cancel Section 4 of the event for safety reasons. Going into the third competitive day of the event, AraÃºjo lies in 11th place overall, only 6.6 seconds behind 10th placed Jari Ketomaa.

Armindo AraÃºjo: â€œThis morning the conditions were quite challenging with fog, mud and rain on the stages. It was really slippery and very easy to make a mistake. We left this morning with the objective of making up some of the time we lost last night and everything went according to the plan. We found a good and consistent rhythm, we set some good times and weâ€™re now up to 11th place so very close to the Top 10, which is still our aim for Rally de Portugal. The rally is still very long and with these conditions anything can happen but Iâ€™m pretty confident at the moment. Iâ€™m very satisfied with my MINI and tomorrow weâ€™ll try to keep up the good work we did this morning. Iâ€™m very happy because I made my fans proud this morning, their support is essential to me and itâ€™s a huge boost of onfidence.â€
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Steve · Mar 30, 2012

Rally Portugal leader Mikko Hirvonen criticises decision to cancel stages due to bad weather (AUTOSPORT.com)

By David Evans | Friday, March 30th 2012, 20:36 GMT

Rally of Portugal leader Mikko Hirvonen has criticised the decision by event organisers to cancel Friday afternoon's three stages due to the heavy rain and fog in the area.

Amid claims by officials that there is not likely to be any further cancellations in spite of more bad weather predictions for the rest of the Faro-based event, the Finn believed that the road conditions had not been unduly dangerous.

"Why did we cancel?" he said. "Sure, it would have been difficult, but I would like to have gone and done a couple more stages. It wasn't dangerous for the drivers. It was very, very difficult, but it wasn't dangerous.

"I understand the other side, if it's difficult to get the ambulance or something into the stage, then I understand it. But the road was so difficult and you had to be driving so slowly all of the time that in that way for the drivers it wasn't dangerous."

The weather made for an exceptionally tough morning for the organisers of the Faro-based event, with the field split up when a watersplash became flooded and left half of the field stranded before stage seven.

Fuel had to be driven out to those crews in order for them to make it back to the Faro service area.

While the organisers waited for the cars at the back of the field to return, Hirvonen and the leaders were held in service for an hour before the decision was taken to cancel the rest of the day.

Rally of Portugal clerk of the course Pedro Almeida said: "I appreciate his [Hirvonen's] opinion, but if he was involved in an accident and, of course, I hope this isn't the case, but I think he would like to have the ambulances and the doctors near to him as soon as possible. Under these conditions today, it would take very long for them to get there.

"There is a limit, I must have ambulances and doctors in the stage to get to the accident place in a maximum of 10 minutes and under these conditions that would have been impossible - this is why we cancelled the stages."

Almeida added that he is confident the storms which have hit the event won't force any more cancelled stages.

"We don't estimate so many problems in tomorrow's area," he said. "We sent a crew to check the conditions of the roads and the stages are in a better condition and we are sure everything will be okay.

"It will be slippery on the roads tomorrow, but not so bad as today. Today the roads were down to the bedrock, because don't forget we don't have rain in this area for three months and then today the storm comes. The weather is expected to be the same until Sunday, when the storms will move north through the country."
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