An excursion on Thursday and a mechanical on Friday disabused Nasser Al Attiyah of the notion that he could still defend his Portuguese title. Instead, the three-time (and reigning) world champion shifted his focus to shielding his W2RC lead from Henk Lategan. Al Attiyah went back to his winning ways today, getting his first taste of glory since the prologue and bringing his W2RC tally to 47. This victory also earned him his first 5 stage points of the week, his sole line of defence against the massive haul Lategan is expected to land tomorrow. His championship arch-rival stands second overall, a mere 33 seconds off the pace.
Starting the day with a 57-second buffer, Lucas Moraes withstood the onslaught of the winner of the previous round in South Africa. The final stage will be decisive. Toyota have almost got it in the bag, whereas Dacia found some solace in their eleventh W2RC success, also their first one-two finish thanks to Sébastien Loeb (+2′07″). Moreover, Cristina Gutiérrez came in fifth at 4′57″, ensuring that the marque had three cars in the top 5 for the first time. The Frenchman spent a long time in a tug of war for second place with Seth Quintero (Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC), who only faltered at the very end. Loeb also vaulted past Carlos Sainz (Ford M-Sport) and onto the overall podium (+10′42″) after the Spaniard suffered an excursion during the special.
CHALLENGER/SSV: IF IT'S NOT ONE, IT'S THE OTHER
Mattias Ekström picked up his third stage win, his second in as many days, by 4′19″ over the ever-consistent Gonçalo Guerreiro. The Portuguese driver had nabbed the other two stages held this week and remains ensconced in the overall lead, with Dania Akeel (BBR Motorsport) trailing by 20′50″ and Adam Kuś (Akpol Recykling Team) lagging by 23′25″. In SSV, Alexandre Pinto put in another virtuoso performance to claim the stage and take another step towards the title ahead of his teammate Enrico Gaspari.
SCHEDULE:
• 28 September: stage 5 — Lisbon–Lisbon (total: 287 km / special: 103 km / road section: 184 km)
4:30 pm: final press conference
7 pm: prize-giving
Portugal: UTC+01:00 / Spain: UTC+02:00
Source: W2RC / A.S.O.
Photo: ImagensDesportivas.com
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