“It’s not been my specialty up to now,” stated Evans of his possibilities of successful. “If I will be driving nicely and have feeling with the automobile, that’s the precedence for me.”
Ogier and Tänak had been tied for second place, with the latter highlighting that having a set of tires purely to be used on the Figueira da Foz superspecial modified the stability of threat for this yr.
“We positively had extra enjoyable than final yr after we needed to save the tire,” stated Tänak. “It’s a bit of Mickey Mouse however you continue to should hold the main target. On one aspect it’s enjoyable however on the opposite we nonetheless want a automobile for tomorrow.”
Hyundai rounded out the highest 5 locations with Adrien Fourmaux and Thierry Neuville, each lower than a second off Evans’ tempo.
Behind them, Kalle Rovanperä was 1.6s off the tempo in sixth and was extra involved about how early he’d be waking up for Friday morning’s motion: “I believe my alarm is about for 5am tomorrow,” he stated. “I’m not completely happy about that, however that’s life.”
Takamoto Katsuta was an extra 0.3s behind Rovanperä however Sami Pajari within the fifth Toyota was a lot additional again, 4.1s off Evans’ tempo.
There was purpose why: Pajari wrecked his rally on the Figueira da Foz superspeical final yr, hitting a concrete barrier that broke the front-right nook of his Toyota GR Yaris Rally2.
Now aboard a Rally1-spec Yaris, avoiding a repeat was entrance and heart of Pajari’s thoughts.
“This stage was a bit private for me,” admitted Pajari. “Final yr with not so nice reminiscences, so I used to be simply making an attempt to ensure we obtained by means of it.”
Mārtinš Sesks was the lead Ford Puma driver in ninth, 5 seconds off the tempo, with WRC2 chief Gus Greensmith finishing the highest 10 total.
M-Sport’s remaining trio struggled; Josh McErlean and Grégoire Munster each went 6.9s off the tempo and ended up amongst the WRC2 frontrunners on the scoreboard.
Munster felt the change in design of donuts – with the concrete roundels which had caught out Pajari final yr gone and changed with smaller-radius foam roundels – didn’t assist his trigger.
“The donuts are a bit completely different from final yr,” stated Munster. “Usually you attempt to be clear and tidy however right here you want some rotation. I lacked a bit extra handbrake pulling in a single or two [of the donuts].”
