Stobart VK M-Sport Ford drivers Matthew Wilson and Henning Solberg are in hot pursuit of yet another strong points finish in the latest round of the FIA World Rally Championship, the Rally de Portugal, after ending day one in seventh and ninth places respectively.
With the front runners in tomorrow’s stages expected to have their hands full clearing loose gravel from the course, those lying further down the field could have a tactical advantage in what is turning out to be an extremely close contest.
Day one could not have been more of a contrast from Thursday night’s thrilling Super Special stage cheered on by thousands of supporters in Algarve Stadium as the rally moved into the hills to the north of the service park for 136.21kms of challenging stages for the 68 crews.
Drivers were met with routes which switched quickly between wide, fast roads and narrow, winding tracks which made it hard to find a rhythm. The reliable Pirelli Scorpion tyres stood up well to the tough conditions made even more challenging with large rocks on some of the stages.
With victory in the Super Special stage under his belt Solberg was brimming with confidence going into day one. But the Norwegian suffered some brake problems midway through the opening stage of the day, the 23.42km Ourique 1, losing around 30 seconds on the early pace setters which dropped him out of the top ten.
After resolving the brake issue at the midday service Solberg and co-driver Cato Menkerud performed solidly on the afternoon stages maintaining their points-scoring position and ended the day just 0.1 seconds behind Evgeny Novikov ahead of them; setting them up for a good run tomorrow with several crews within striking distance.
Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin enjoyed a largely trouble-free first section climbing steadily up the leaderboard from their overnight position of 11th. Wilson showed excellent pace on the opening stage edging out former World Champion Petter Solberg by 0.2 seconds which moved him up to sixth place overall. Some pacenote issues on the final morning stage lost Wilson a few seconds but it marked another mature performance from the young Briton.
As in Cyprus last month Wilson looks set to be embroiled in another fascinating battle with Citroen Junior driver Sebastien Ogier. The hard-charging Frenchman overhauled the 7.2 second lead that Wilson held at the end of the morning stages. But Wilson has a good start position for tomorrow and with the rally finely poised he is set up for another impressive day as he bids to complete his impressive run of points-scoring finishes.
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