Thierry Neuville emerged from the final day drama to win Rally Portugal and claim his and Hyundai’s first win of the 2026 World Rally Championship season.
The 2024 world champion was firmly in the victory battle throughout the 23 gravel stages, but appeared set to finish second until Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier suffered a right rear puncture in the penultimate stage.
After inheriting the lead Neuville, co-driven by Martijn Wydaeghe, avoided a repeat of the final stage error that denied him a likely victory in Croatia last month.
He took the win by 16.3s from Toyota’s Oliver Solberg with championship leader Elfyn Evans scoring the final spot on the podium [+29.1] for the Japanese marque.
The rally proved to be the most hotly contested of the season to date featuring four different leaders across a new mammoth four-day itinerary.
Solberg led the rally after Thursday’s three stages with a 3.4s margin over Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux, who proved that the Korean marque was able to take the fight to Toyota.
The lead was short-lived as Solberg struggled to extract pace from his GR Yaris on Friday, which allowed Fourmaux to take the lead. Despite failing to secure a stage win on Friday morning, Fourmaux set a string of fast times to hold off Toyota’s Sami Pajari and Ogier, before drama struck.
Sebastien Ogier, Vincent Landais, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photo by: Toyota Racing
Fourmaux’s Hyundai i20 N bottomed out in stage eight and fired off the road, resulting in a double puncture that cast the Frenchman almost half a minute. Solberg also went off at the same point in the stage but avoided any punctures.
Ogier assumed the lead of the rally, ending Friday with a 3.7s advantage over Neuville who benefitted from Fourmaux and Solberg’s off-road excursion.
The threat of rain lingered through Saturday morning before arriving for the last stage of the morning loop. Ogier held the lead until the heavens opened as Solberg stunned the field in the tricky conditions to climb from fourth to the rally lead by 0.5s from Ogier.
Ogier issued an immediate response in the afternoon to reclaim the lead before Solberg suffered a front right puncture in stage 16 and then had a spin in stage 18 as the heavens opened.
Ogier’s sublime driving, particularly in the wet stage 17, where he was 11.2s faster than anyone, helped build a 21.9s lead over Neuville to take into the final four stages. Pajari held third comfortably ahead of Solberg with Evans in fifth.
Rain showers hampered Ogier on Sunday morning and his lead was cut to 14.3s after the first stage, but he quickly restored some of the advantage. However, a right rear puncture in stage 22 cost Ogier two minutes, ending any hopes of victory and he finished sixth overall.
Oliver Solberg, Elliott Edmondson, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photo by: Toyota Racing
New leader Neuville ended the rally in style by almost snatching the Power Stage win, missing out by 0.6s to team-mate Fourmaux, who finished fourth in the overall standings.
In addition to a much-needed podium, Solberg topped the Super Sunday standings by 4.2s from Evans, who opened up an 11-point championship lead over Takamoto Katsuta.
Katsuta struggled for speed throughout the rally and was left to settle for fifth. Toyota’s Pajari ran as high as second after fastest times in stages four and five. The Finn was locked in the victory hunt until his hopes of a fifth consecutive podium were dashed by a puncture in the penultimate stage. Pajari dropped from third to seventh.
Hyundai’s Dani Sordo was unable to recover from an incorrect tyre choice on Friday. The veteran couldn’t match the pace of his team-mates and ultimately finished in eighth.
Martins Sesks, making a second start of the season, was the best placed M-Sport driver in ninth after another eventful weekend for the Ford squad. Sesks started slowly but found his speed on Friday afternoon, only to suffer a double front puncture in stage 10.
Sesks fared much better than his team-mates Josh McErlean and Jon Armstrong. McErlean had led the M-Sport charge until his car failed to start in Friday’s midday remote service. The Irishman was handed a 50s penalty for being five minutes late out of service.
Jon Armstrong, Shane Byrne, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1
Photo by: M-Sport
Saturday’s wet weather then caught out McErlean. A spin was followed by an off-road excursion in stage 17, before torrential rain and mud rendered him a passenger as he crashed into barriers in the Lousada rallycross circuit super special stage.
M-Sport worked until 3am to get McErlean back out for Sunday’s final four stages. The Irishaman reached the finish despite a puncture in the final stage.
Armstrong lost time on Friday afternoon when he was forced to complete the final four stages without power steering. The Northern Irishman then rolled his Puma in Stage 15 on Saturday.
Teemu Suninen completed the top 10 and claimed the WRC2 victory after a hard fought rally long battle with Jan Solans.
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– The Autosport.com Team
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