“Obviously not an easy weekend,” said Evans. “Friday was tough, but I think we made it a bit tougher on ourselves with the speed we were able to show from midday Friday onwards. We’re very disappointed with the overall outcome, we need to be better in Sardinia.”
“The plan was quite simple, that we just try to get used to knowing the gravel conditions a bit more with this car, especially these kind of twisty European gravel roads.”
M-Sport failed to trouble its manufacturer rivals but its intra-team battle was won decisively by Josh McErlean, who after a close battle with Grégoire Munster on the opening two days pulled away into the distance to clinch eighth.
Sesks had suffered a puncture on Friday first’s stage, which he stopped to change and lost over three minutes. He then picked up another three minutes for a stage start procedure violation on Saturday and finished the rally well adrift of the points-paying positions.
A one-minute penalty in 2023 and crashing out of the lead a few corners after Kalle Rovanperä had gone off in 2024 had cost Oliver Solberg Portugal wins in the past two years; there was no costly error this time around.
He inally put painful memories of recent Rally Portugals behind him with a commanding WRC2 win; even a spin on Friday from which he struggled to find reverse gear barely hindered his progress on the way to a 51.8s victory.
Title rivals Yohan Rossel and Gus Greensmith battled over the second step of the podium. Sunday proved decisive: Greensmith’s decision to play it safe and take two spare wheels backfired, not due to the extra weight itself but how that weight upset the balance of his Śkoda.
“For sure we have to take a few things on the chin this weekend,” said Greensmith, who ended the rally 16.4s behind Citroën’s lead factory driver. “A bad tire call did not help our cause. But first and third is a good start to the season.”