Esapekka Lappi continued to dominate the WRC-2 category in Rally de Portugal by winning all six stages today to extend his lead to more than four minutes in a Skoda Fabia S2000.
The young Finn has won all 11 stages so far and such is his pace that he lies eighth overall.
“It’s a shame that many of the fastest guys had problems but we had a perfect day. No punctures and no problems,” said Lappi.
Elfyn Evans, second after the opening day, retired his Fiesta RRC with transmission problems in the opening stage. Third-placed Edoardo Bresolin was sidelined on this morning’s final test when he went off and damaged his Ford Fiesta RRC’s suspension.
It left Robert Barrable in second, but the Irishman changed a rear right puncture on his Ford Fiesta S2000 in the final stage after running wide. He dropped 2min 30sec and lies third, 8min 44.4sec behind Lappi.
The beneficiary was Sepp Wiegand who completed a fine recovery after damaging a wheel in last night’s Lisbon street test to regain second in his Skoda Fabia S2000, despite intercom problems in the opening test.
Oleksii Kikireshko’s retirement in this afternoon’s opening stage, when the Ukrainian crashed his Mini JCW S2000 into a ditch, allowed Peruvian Nicolas Fuchs to climb to fourth in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X.
It proved another frustrating day for Robert Kubica in his Citroen DS3 RRC. A hydraulic issue meant the paddle shift, that he has dispensation to use because of his hand injury, failed this morning. He had to use the manual gear lever with his weaker right hand.
The problem recurred this afternoon and when the technical issues became too much, the Pole stopped 700 metres after the start of the final stage.