Three out of three for Kris Meeke-Stuart Loudon (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2), who won the Rali Terras d’Aboboreira, the third round of the Portuguese Rally Championship.
After triumphs in Fafe in the rain and mud, and in the Algarve sun, now it was the turn of rainy Amarante, in a ‘tri’ that is a dream start to the championship, just as happened last year when the Irishman won the first three CPR events… and at the time also the Rally of Portugal.
This is a triumph, which, being the third in a row, has a strong impact on the championship, since despite having changed teams, brands and consequently cars, Kris Meeke is already very well connected to his new Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 and is making it clear that it will be very difficult to be beaten, under normal conditions, even by a driver in Dani Sordo’s category.
For Dani Sordo, this time with Patricia Ruiloba alongside in the Hyundai i20 N Rally2, the consolation was another second place, this time by 27.6s, after a puncture in the PowerStage.
In the lowest place on the podium were Armindo Araújo-Luís Ramalho (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2), a position they reached in the last stage, after Jan Solans-Rodrigo Sanjuan (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) fell behind, with the Portuguese duo winning the Power Stage of the race, beating Roope Korhonen-Anssi Viinikka (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2), who finished the race in fourth place.
This event was good for confirming what was almost a certainty: Kris Meeke and Dani Sordo will spend the entire championship, under normal conditions, fighting each other for victories in the CPR events, which in this case in Aboboreira also extended to a rally that had a very significant presence of WRC2 competitors preparing for the Rally of Portugal.
Only Mārtiņš Sesks-Ralfs Igavenš (Ford Fiesta Rally2) showed some signs of being able to put up a fight, but by the end of the first day they were already 14.3s behind, and before they retired with mechanical problems, they were already 20.8s behind.
