Juho Hänninen counted himself lucky to finish the opening 13.83km Loulé (SS14) after swiping a tree on co-driver Tomi Tuominen’s side of their Hyundai i20 and putting a big dent in the door.
“I went wide close to the start and hit a tree. We were lucky to be able to continue,” explained the Finn.
Henning Solberg, up to fourth after the demise of Dani Sordo, was cryptic about something that bothered him in the stage. “I have to do some work on the car myself,” said the Norwegian, who wouldn’t expand further on what the issue was with his Ford Fiesta RS.
Solberg is just 2.7sec ahead of Andreas Mikkelsen after the VW Polo R pilot took 12.2sec back in the stage.