Evans extends WRC lead as Neuville wins in Portugal

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Evans extends WRC lead as Neuville wins in Portugal

Elfin Evans extended his lead in the World Rally Championship (WRC) after finishing third in Rally de Portugal, won by Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville.

The Welshman’s fellow Toyota driver Sebastien Ogier was looking for a second successive win before he and Sami Pajari entered the penalty phase, moving Evans up from fifth.

The 37-year-old from Dolgellau also collected seven bounties on Sunday to add to his 15 points in third place, extending his championship lead over Takamota Katsuta to 12 points.

“A lot of guys in the team were very unlucky with punctures today, so I feel for them,” said Evans, who finished 29.1 seconds behind Belgian Neuville, with Toyota’s Swedish driver Oliver Solberg second.

“I’m not so satisfied with the weekend driving, there are more opportunities.”

Katsuta along with Irish driver Aaron Johnston finished fifth.

Josh McErlean finished 18th after crashes on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, while his Motorsport Ireland and M-Sport Ford team-mate Jon Armstrong left the race after crashing on stage 15 of 23.

Jon Armstrong and co-driver Shane Byrne had two top fifteen finishes in their first WRC season. [Getty Images]

Armstrong was running tenth overall, returning to the points on Saturday morning after losing his steering wheel on Friday.

But 600 meters into the wet first stage on Saturday afternoon, the Fermanagh driver moved a bank behind his Puma Rally1 and it overturned.

“I was trying to keep a good rhythm but I probably underestimated the grip levels because of the change in weather,” Armstrong told rally website Dirtfish.

“The rear came out quickly and hit the bank and put the car on the road. I was really frustrated to get out like this.”

The 31-year-old driver had a promising start to his first WRC season, including a top-10 finish in Sweden, but has now suffered crashes at successive rounds.

“We have to try to learn as much as possible from that,” he added.

“It’s not good to crash one of these cars, so we’re going to try and pick them up for Japan. You still have to have confidence, so we’ll have to get our head back on it.”

The seventh round, based in Toyota City, sees Rally Japan move from the venue it has held in recent years to 28-31 May.

The organizers of the meeting were fined

Elfyn Evans on the seventh stage of the 2026 Rally de Portugal after passing the stage — Elfyn Evans and co-driver Scott Martin won the 2021 Rally de Portugal [Getty Images]

Rally de Portugal organiser, the Automobile Club de Portugal (ACP), was handed a 15,000 (£13,000) suspended fine after two non-rally cars entered stage seven, with co-driver Evans suspended.

The ACP was also warned to “continue to improve existing security measures”.

In the first stage on Friday afternoon, the Welsh driver overtook a maintenance lorry, which quickly took off at the next junction.

“Obviously it was scary at the time,” Evans said after the second day’s incident.

“It was dust at first and we don’t know if that would have been created as the first car on the road. After that I couldn’t believe it.

“We know we will never be in this situation again.”

The field had red flags following the second incident and ACP president Carlos Barbosa said that the company managing the cars entering the course was immediately relieved of its duties at the meeting.

“Rally Portugal is such a good example in terms of safety that this is an episode that will not cause lasting damage, in the sense that it should not have happened,” said Barbosa.

The president of the ACP said the Guarda Nacional Republicana (GNR) was also investigating how the cargo truck passed three police checkpoints without being stopped.

This penalty is suspended until December 31, 2027, so it will be triggered if there is a repeat violation next year.