KRIS MEEKE BECAME THE FOURTH DIFFERENT WINNER IN FIVE WRC ROUNDS THIS SEASON AFTER TRIUMPHING AT VODAFONE RALLY DE PORTUGAL ON SUNDAY AFTERNOON.

The Northern Irishman, returning to the championship after missing the previous two rallies in the Americas, shook off the rust to win the four-day rough road event by 29.7sec in Citroën’s DS 3. It was his second success after victory in Argentina last year.

Thirty-six-year-old Meeke followed Sébastien Ogier, Jari-Matti Latvala and Hayden Paddon onto the top step of the WRC podium this year after building a lead of almost a minute during the first part of the rally and measuring his pace through the final day-and-a-half.

He took the lead in the second stage on Friday morning and remained troublefree on the rocky mountain roads in the north of the country, making the most of clean, grippy conditions courtesy of a low start position.

“It was nearly a perfect weekend, a text book performance. It’s another step for me as a driver. This year is all about gathering experience and I couldn’t have done any more. We’ll use these rallies this year for our benefit and try to mount a title challenge next year,” said Meeke, who is driving a part-programme as Citroën develops a new car for 2017.

After an overly-cautious opening day, a rejuvenated Andreas Mikkelsen upped his pace to grab second from team-mate and championship leader Sébastien Ogier. Set-up changes to his Volkswagen Polo R inspired the Norwegian who won today’s opening two stages and finished 4.8sec ahead.

Ogier suffered two punctures today. With just one spare wheel in his Polo R, he compromised his pace to ensure he completed the final Power Stage and reach the Matosinhos finish after topping up one of the flat tyres with air.

Dani Sordo finished fourth after his hopes of a podium ended yesterday due to stability issues with the rear of his Hyundai i20.

Eric Camilli claimed a career-best fifth in only his fifth start in a World Rally Car. The Frenchman had a broken handbrake in his Ford Fiesta RS today and a final stage spin almost allowed Jari-Matti Latvala to catch him. The gap was 5.3sec.

Latvala completed the rally with blistered and bandaged hands after wrestling his Polo R through the twisty mountains on Friday with broken power steering.

Mads Østberg was almost three minutes behind in seventh in another Fiesta RS after downshifting problems and a broken driveshaft cost several minutes. Martin Prokop, WRC 2 winner Pontus Tidemand and Nicolas Fuchs completed the leaderboard.

PONTUS TIDEMAND ENHANCED HIS WRC 2 TITLE CREDENTIALS AFTER A STRONG RECOVERY DRIVE NETTED VICTORY IN THE FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP’S PRINCIPAL SUPPORT CATEGORY AT VODAFONE RALLY DE PORTUGAL ON SUNDAY.

Tidemand, who finished second in his only previous outing in Sweden, won the four-day rough road event by 1min 28.8sec in a Skoda Fabia R5 from Peruvian Nicolas Fuchs.

The Swede built a comfortable lead before a puncture yesterday afternoon undid all his hard work and allowed Fuchs ahead. Tidemand regained the initiative on the next stage and rebuilt his advantage in today’s final leg in the hills east of the rally base of Matosinhos.

“It’s been a hard rally but I had a good car, co-driver and pace notes, and along with the atmosphere here it all helps. It was more or less the perfect rally, I would say. A great start for the championship in WRC 2 and the title remains the target,” said Tidemand.

With no pressure from behind, Fuchs adopted a safety-first strategy today and climbed to second in the points in his Fabia R5 following victory in Argentina last month.

A thrilling fight for third ended with Marius Aasen edging Scott Pedder by two-tenths of a second in a Ford Fiesta R5.

Australian Pedder stormed back up the leaderboard after losing three minutes with a puncture on Friday and overhauled Aasen for third this morning. However, a final stage spin allowed the Norwegian back onto the podium.

Local hero Miguel Campos finished fifth in another Fabia R5 with Belgian Ghislain de Mevius completing the top six in a similar car.

Elfyn Evans retained the championship lead despite a miserable weekend. His Fiesta R5 lacked power on Friday and a roll ended his challenge yesterday morning. He restarted today but finished out of the points in 15th.

SIMONE TEMPESTINI COMPLETED A DETERMINED RECOVERY FROM BRAKE PROBLEMS TO WIN THE OPENING ROUND OF THE JUNIOR WRC AT VODAFONE RALLY DE PORTUGAL ON SUNDAY AFTERNOON.

The Italian’s opening leg lead was wiped out when a leaking brake pipe left him trailing Martin Koci by 1min 40sec. But a charging fightback brought him back into contention by Saturday night and it was Koci’s turn to suffer disappointment today.

The Slovakian damaged his Citroën DS 3 R3’s front suspension in the opening stage to allow Tempestini back in front. This time there were no problems and Tempestini headed home Koci by 36.3sec.

“Conditions were hard for the car and crew but our pace notes were perfect,” said Tempestini. “I thought it wouldn’t finish well but I never gave up and this is a great start to the championship. We came here with the target to win and although we had problems with the brake pipe we came back to achieve that.”

Terry Folb finished third, just 10.2sec behind Koci with Vincent Dubert fourth. Ole Christian Veiby claimed fifth while Fréderic Hauswald overhauled Romain Martel to complete the top six.
Junior Championship drivers also filled the top three positions in the FIA WRC 3 class in Portugal. With scores on four rounds this season, France’s Michel Fabre continues to head the WRC 3 standings.