Motorsport: Neuville wins difficult Portugal rally for Irish crews

Kilrea's Josh McErlean and Killeagh's Eoin Treacy (Ford Puma Rally1) had a difficult outing Rally de Portugal, round six of the World Rally Championship in Porto, they finished 18th overrall. Picture: Szabo Attila/M-Sport Ford.

Thierry Neuville gave Hyundai its first success in this year's World Rally Championship with a dramatic victory in Vodafone Rally de Portugal after leader and seven-time winner lost time with a puncture on the penultimate stage before eventually finishing sixth. 

Neuville (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) finished 16.3s ahead of Sweden's Oliver Solberg (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) with championship leader Elfyn Evans, also in a Toyota, 12.8s further behind in third.

Irish drivers Josh McErlean and Jon Armstrong endured a tough encounter, the former finishing 18th and the latter crashing out during Saturday's leg.

Ogier began Saturday's penultimate leg with a 3.7s lead and over the day's nine stages extended the margin to 21.9s over Neuville (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) whose team mate Sami Pajari was 3.9s further behind in third. However, heavy rain across northern Portugal masked what became a battle of the conditions. Pajari, Fourmaux and Solberg each took a stage win. Then, on SS14 Solberg, with another stage victory proved best in the rain and mud and edging past Ogier to top the leaderboard albeit by half a second with Ogier commenting, "It's not only about risk, I have no idea how it's possible to be honest."

However, on the first stage after service Ogier was back in the lead - 4s ahead of Solberg with Neuville 1.5s further behind and Pajari (fourth) just 7.7s of top spot. On the next stage Solberg's front-right tyre departed from the rim and he dropped to fifth. Neuville slotted into second 3.9s behind Ogier. Solberg was best on the final stage to take fourth as Ogier, Neuville and Pajari ended in the same positions they began the day.

It was a tough day for the Irish crews, especially in the afternoon. Armstrong's best performance was a third quickest time on SS14 and by the midday service McErlean was ninth overall with Armstrong tenth after making up six places in the morning. Disaster struck for Armstrong on the very next stage when he rolled just 0.6km into the stage. He approached a right-hander, nudged a bank on the left, it spun his Ford Puma that was pitched into a roll, luckily, himself and co-driver Shane Byrne escaped injury. On the Super Special at Lousada, McErlean crashed into the barriers - plummeting to eighteenth.

Drama struck for Ogier on Sunday's penultimate stage when he had to stop and change a punctured rear wheel, losing some two minutes he slipped to sixth as Neuville inherited top spot - 14.8s ahead of Solberg with Evans, who netted two stage during the morning up into third to retain the champiosnhip lead.

On SS21 McErlean was set to claim his first WRC stage victory only to be denied late by Robert Virves (Skoda Fabia Rally2). Pajari also had to stop and change a wheel and dropped from third to seventh.

Meanwhile, Tyrone's Ryan Loughran (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) took a start to finish victory in the Manx National Rally on the Isle of Man where a number of stages were cancelled for different reasons. The Cookstown driver finished 20.2s ahead of the VW Polo GTi R5 of Strabane's Niall McGonigle. It was almost an Irish top three only for British driver Jason Pritchard (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2), who was 55.1s further behind, moved ahead of Clonakilty's Cal McCarthy (Citroen C3 Rally2) on the third last stage and went on to claim the spot by a mere 0.7s.

Elsewhere, in the Porsche Carwow Carrera Cup GB at Brands Hatch West Cork driver Michael Keohane took his maiden victory in the Masters's category of the series with a strong performance in the second race of the day at Brands Hatch. The Ballygurteen ace, who has returned to racing after a lapse of 22 years, was always in control of his own destiny and lap by lap increased his advantage over his Century Motorsport team mate Carl Cavers. His weekend at the Kent venue didn't get off to the best start. In the morning's first race and having qualified P1 in the Master's category, Keohane retired his Keohane Readymix liveried car just off the start line at the Kent circuit. It appears that during the final warm-up lap, he accidentally touched the ABS switch that blanked the read out controls. Unable to determine what gear he had selected of the start line, unfortunately, it damaged the clutch and brought immediate retirement.