Portugal podium as Elfyn extends WRC lead

Strong Sunday helps Welshman claim valuable championship points.

Elfyn extended his lead at the front of the FIA World Rally Championship by 10 points thanks to another podium and a strong final-day performance on a wet and wild Rally Portugal.

With an amended format, which saw three competitive stages kick the action off on Thursday, Elfyn spent a day and a half opening the road in mixed conditions. He delivered a solid drive on some classic Portuguese gravel stages, some of which ran in reverse for this edition, battling the changing conditions to hold fifth for most of Friday.

With a limited number of soft tyres available during the event, it was a weekend of strategic tyre choices and when the rain hit Saturday’s stages there were mixed times for many crews as conditions changed quickly.

Elfyn fared well on Saturday morning but struggled more in the afternoon as rain showers moved across the stages. While dropping time on a couple of stages, he slipped out of the podium fight but, importantly, stayed out of trouble to finish the day in fifth.

Super Sunday brought more sporadic rain showers making conditions slippery and inconsistent with roads drying quickly and localised rain over parts of the stages making it unpredictable.

He delivered a solid drive to seal extra points for finishing second in the Super Sunday standings and third on the Power Stage.

But punctures for two of his team-mates helped elevate him to third, securing his fourth podium of the season. The result extended Elfyn’s championship lead to 12 points with the series now heading back to asphalt for the Toyota team’s home event in Japan on 28-31 May.