Oliver Solberg and Elliott Edmondson led after three special stages of the 59th Vodafone Rally of Portugal on Thursday afternoon.
Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT’s Adrien Fourmaux and Alexandre Coria snatched the early initiative with the quickest time through the opener but Solberg hit back strongly in his Toyota GR Yaris on the longer second special to gain the lead. Even though nine-time WRC champion Sebastien Ogier and series leader Elfyn Evans were fastest on the final super special of the day, Solberg took a 3.4-second lead over Fourmaux into the night halt.
Ogier managed to pass Thierry Neuville on the last stage at Figueira da Foz to snatch third with Evans rounding off the top five. His Toyota team-mate Sami Pajari held sixth, ahead of Hyundai’s Dani Sordo and Japan’s Takamoto Katsuta.
Irishman Joshua McErlean was the fastest of the three M-Sport Ford Rally Team drivers in ninth overall, with team-mate Jon Armstrong holding 10th.
Spaniard Jan Solans led both the WRC2 and WRC2 Challenger categories in a Skoda Fabia RS.
Although he wasn’t registered for points in Portugal, Lancia’s Nikolay Gryazin was second in the hotly-contested WRC2 category with Alejandro Cachon in third and second of the WRC2 Challenger runners. WRC2 series leader Yohan Rossel was handily-placed in fourth.
Frenchman Eric Camilli had a rear differential problem and was struggling to stay in contention. Italy’s Roberto Dapra also had technical issues, while Briton Gus Greensmith complained of turbo woes. Teemu Suninen slipped to sixth after leading through stage one.
Cars were flagged away from the ceremonial start in Coimbra on Thursday afternoon on the left bank of the Mondego River by Ana Abrunhosa, president of Coimbra City Council, and Carlos Barbosa, president of the Automovel Club de Portugal.
Evans was then first on the road in dry and dusty conditions for the opening 15.08km stage between Agueda and Sever. He had the unenviable task of carrying out surface cleaning duties and carded the target time of 11min 06.7sec. He got the better of team-mates Takamoto Katsuta and Sami Pajari and also pipped Oliver Solberg.
Fourmaux beat Evans by just one-tenth of a second to take the lead and the stage win but a struggling Ogier dropped five seconds to the Frenchman. Neuville also struggled with his pace on the deteriorating stage surface and ceded 6.3 seconds to Fourmaux.
Suninen drew first blood in WRC2 but there was disappointment for Estonian Robert Virves: he retired his Toksport Skoda early in the stage after shedding a wheel.
The next special two ran between Sever and Albergaria for 20.24km. Evans resumed cleaning duties but still managed to beat Katsuta by 3.8 seconds. Cleaning was more prevalent in this stage, however, and the Welshman began to lose time to his other rivals.
He retained a 2.1-second lead over Pajari in the overall classification but slipped from second overall to fifth behind a flying Solberg, Fourmaux, Neuville and Ogier. Sordo dropped 10.3 seconds to the stage-winning Solberg, who snatched the outright lead.
Solans and Gryazin topped the times in WRC2 and moved in front of Cachon and Rossel in the overall rankings heading to the short 1.93km super special at Figueira da Foz, where Andreas Mikkelsen was quickest.
Friday
Tomorrow’s route features 96.22 competitive kilometres and sees crews tackling four stages twice and a single pass through the Goís test. Action begins to the northeast of Coimbra with the opening Mortágua stage. This is quickly followed by iconic specials at Arganil and Lousa before an opportunity for remote service in Arganil to the east of Coimbra.
The three speed tests are repeated in the afternoon with the solitary pass through Goís sandwiched between the second runs through Arganil and Lousa. All teams will have one eye on a varied weather forecast with the potential for heavy showers.
2026 Vodafone Rally of Portugal – positions after SS3:
1. Oliver Solberg (SWE)/Elliott Edmondson (GBR) Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 28min 00.0sec
2. Adrien Fourmaux (FRA)/Alexandre Coria (FRA) Hyundai i20 N Rally1 28min 03.4sec
3. Sebastien Ogier (FRA)/Vincent Landais (FRA) Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 28min 07.2sec
4. Thierry Neuville (BEL)/Martijn Wydaeghe (BEL) Hyundai i20 N Rally1 28min 07.4sec
5. Elfyn Evans (GBR)/Scott Martin (GBR) Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 28min 07.5sec
6. Sami Pajari (FIN)/Marko Salminen (FIN) Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 28min 10.7sec
7. Dani Sordo (ESP)/Candido Carrera (ESP) Hyundai i20 N Rally1 28min 11.7sec
8. Takamoto Katsuta (JPN)/Aaron Johnston (IRL) Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 28min 15.9sec
9. Joshua McErlean (IRL)/Eoin Treacy (IRL) Ford Puma Rally1 28min 23.4sec
10. Jon Armstrong (GBR)/Shane Byrne (IRL) Ford Puma Rally1 28min 24.8sec
11. Martins Sesks (LAT)/Renars Francis (LAT) Ford Puma Rally1 28min 24.9sec
Rally leaders
SS1 Adrien Fourmaux
SS2-3 Oliver Solberg
Stage winners
SS1 Adrien Fourmaux
SS2 Oliver Solberg
SS3 Sebastien Ogier/Elfyn Evans
