Toyota’s Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja survived brake issues and a final stage damper scare to take a lead of 4.1 seconds to the final night halt after a further six gravel special stages of Rally Portugal through the Cabreira mountains on Saturday.
Toyotas had dominated the event for one and a half days, but a broken damper sidelined Tänak’s team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala before the last special of the day and the Estonian’s own suspension issue meant that Kris Meeke closed to within striking distance with five stages remaining on Sunday.
Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville managed to edge clear of title rival Sébastien Ogier as the afternoon progressed and started to challenge Meeke for second place. The Belgian reached the night halt 11.8 seconds ahead of Citroën’s six-time World Champion with the two title rivals holding third and fourth in the rankings and set for a useful haul of valuable championship points. Neuville finished the day just 4.9 seconds behind Meeke.
Two fastest times on Saturday morning had enabled Latvala to put the pressure on team-mate Tänak, but the Finn damaged a front-left damper after a heavy landing in the 11th stage and was forced to gingerly complete the next two specials. He managed to maintain second through the first one, but 56 seconds and three places on the leader board disappeared in the second one and Toyota withdrew the Yaris before the re-run of Amarante.
Esapekka Lappi had the measure of fellow Finn Teemu Suninen on day two and the Citroën C3 WRC driver reached the night halt in fifth with Suninen 25.2 seconds behind in sixth in the leading M-Sport Ford Fiesta after Latvala’s demise.
Young Gus Greensmith continued to gain valuable experience on his World Rally Car debut but the Briton left the road and found himself stuck in a ditch on the last stage of the day. His mishap lifted more experienced colleague Elfyn Evans into seventh. The Welshman had managed to pass all the R5 cars after his delays on Friday.
Both Sébastien Loeb and Dani Sordo were following Hyundai team orders and playing a support role to Neuville. Their starting positions were crucial to give the Belgian a slight advantage over Ogier and their own performances suffered as a result.
Kalle Rovanperä had the measure of Czech team-mate Jan Kopecký in the FIA WRC 2 Pro category, but the duo were the class of the field on the FIA WRC debut of the two new factory Škoda Fabia R5 Evos, They held eighth and ninth in the overall classification.
Ole Christian Veiby’s FIA WRC 2 challenge went up in smoke in Amarante 1 and that left the door wide open for Japan’s Takamoto Katsuta to fight it out with Corsican Pierre-Louis Loubet and Finn Eerik Pietarinen for the win. Loubet regained the initiative in SS11 and Katsuta’s retirement at the end of the next stage enabled Loubet to take a lead of 1min 57.7sec over Sweden’s Emil Bergkvist into the night halt. Loubet also rounded off the top 10.
Rally Portugal – Unofficial results after Section 5:
| Pos. | Driver/Co-Driver | Car | Time |
| 1 | Ott Tänak (EST) / Martin Järveoja (EST) | Toyota Yaris WRC | 2hr 47min 23.1sec |
| 2 | Kris Meeke (GBR) / Sebastian Marshall (GBR) | Toyota Yaris WRC | 2hr 47min 27.4sec |
| 3 | Thierry Neuville (BEL) / Nicolas Gilsoul (BEL) | Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC | 2hr 47min 32.3sec |
| 4 | Sébastien Ogier (FRA) / Julien Ingrassia (FRA) | Citroën C3 WRC | 2hr 47min 44.1sec |
| 5 | Esapekka Lappi (FIN) / Janne Ferm (FIN) | Citroën C3 WRC | 2hr 49min 00.6sec |
| 6 | Teemu Suninen (FIN) / Marko Salminen (FIN) | Ford Fiesta WRC | 2hr 49min 25.8sec |
| 7 | Elfyn Evans (GBR) / Scott Martin (GBR) | Ford Fiesta WRC | 2hr 53min 33.5sec |
| 8 | Kalle Rovanperä (FIN) / Jonne Halttunen (FIN) – WRC 2 Pro | Škoda Fabia R5 Evo | 2hr 55min 56.9sec |
| 9 | 9. Jan Kopecký (CZE) / Pavel Dresler (CZE) – WRC 2 Pro | Škoda Fabia R5 Evo | 2hr 56min 58.4sec |
| 10 | Pierre-Louis Loubet (FRA) / Vincent Landais (FRA) – WRC 2 | Škoda Fabia R5 | 2hr 57min 27.9sec |