autoevolution
 

Ogier Wins 2011 Rally Portugal

Citroen’s Sebastien Ogier found the perfect solution to leave his Rally Mexico crash behind him: he won the next round on the 2011 WRC schedule, in Portugal. Returning to the scene of his first ever win in the championship, the Frenchman reigned over the Portuguese roads for the second year running, beating teammate Sebastien Loeb to the victory by over half a minute.

However, unlike last year, Ogier's win was more the result of the countless issues encountered by his rivals rather than a dominating run. Ford’s duo Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala were hit by a puncture and a broken driveshaft, respectively, on Saturday, while Loeb spent an entire stage driving in Hirvonen’s dust.

Starting the Saturday running from 4th place – a strategic move in order to have some drivers clean the road for him – Ogier quickly moved into the lead through Day 2 and never lost that position until the end.

“I'm very happy with a perfect weekend. I want to dedicate this victory to all the team because they prepared a perfect car and they trusted me even after the mistake in Mexico. This is the best way to come back,” said Ogier after the rally.

Loeb’s second place, added to the 3 bonus points gained for being the fastest man in the “power-stage”, now lift the reigning world champion to 1st overall, level on points with Hirvonen. The Finn only managed a 4th place overall, as a late suspension problem got him nowhere close to teammate Latvala in the battle for 3rd.

Matthew Wilson recorded his first point-scoring finish of the year, settling for 5th overall despite flirting with the 4th position throughout the third day of action. Petter Solberg again attracted bad luck on the roads of Portugal and ended the rally in 6th place, after overcoming no less than 4 punctures on Friday.

Kimi Raikkonen and Federico Villagra followed on the timing reports, while Stobert’s Henning Solberg paid the price for a turbocharger issue late in the rally to settle for 9th place. Finally, the last driver to make the scoreboard in Portugal was Ferm Ford’s Dennis Kuipers.
If you liked the article, please follow us:  Google News icon Google News Youtube Instagram X (Twitter)
 

Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?

You will only receive our top stories