Rally Portugal among most physically demanding of WRC career

Sebastien Ogier declared his record-extending seventh Rally Portugal triumph among the most physically demanding rallies of his storied World Rally Championship career.

The eight-time world champion, co-driven by Vincent Landais, held off Hyundai’s Ott Tanak to collect a 63rd career win at the gravel event that delivered his first 15 years ago.

Ogier conceded that victory would have been unlikely had rival Tanak, who led from stage two, avoided a power steering failure on Saturday that forced the Estonian to surrender a 13.9s lead.

Fighting Tanak wasn’t the only challenge as the part-time Toyota driver admitted he’d rarely struggled as much physically in a rally car and was feeling on the limit due to an intense rally schedule.

The rally featured a 10-stage Friday leg comprising 683km, of which 146km were competitive stages punctuated by two 20 minute remote services. It meant crews were on the road for 14 hours which was then followed by a 13-hour Saturday with crews leaving the service park at 6am. The first of Sunday’s six stages also began at 6:43am.

“For me, I have almost never been struggling like this physically in a rally car. Saturday was really on the limit as a consequence of a really long day and short night. I really struggled to have enough energy and especially when it is rough like this you need to fight a lot with the steering. I was really feeling on the limit,” said Ogier on Saturday.

After clinching the win Ogier, said: “I still feel very exhausted, maybe not as bad as it was yesterday afternoon as now I know I can relax, but the fact I can relax, it has made me realise how low on energy I am. It has been one of the most demanding rallies I have ever done physically.

“I will need some time to recover but first of all I would like to celebrate it with the team. I’m looking forward to having a drink with them because they are all working very hard. We talk about ourselves but what the mechanics and every team member has to handle in terms of hours working is very tough also.”

On top of a demanding schedule and hot temperatures, Ogier was locked in an intense fight with Tanak through Friday and Saturday. This continued on Sunday as the latter mounted a charge to recover from a broken steering rack.

Tanak claimed the maximum Super Sunday points, ending the rally 8.7s adrift of winner Ogier.

“It was a quite nice Sunday drive [from Tanak]. I don’t know where he wanted to go, maybe it was church or somewhere, he was in a hurry it looks like!” Ogier smiled.

“He was really quick all rally. It was a little bit different to what we have seen recently, as on tarmac we [Toyota] were pretty dominant as a team but this weekend was the opposite. We were missing a bit of performance compared to them [Hyundai].

“With such a lead in the past, the Sunday drive would have been a bit less pressure but now we have guys pushing the maximum [for Super Sunday points]. Basically nowadays rallies are maximum push from start until the end, it has made the victory even tougher to secure.

“It is even more reason to enjoy and celebrate the win, as it is more enjoyable after a fight. I think the wins nowadays need a harder fight to get them.”