Eight-time world champion Sebastien Ogier secured his seventh career triumph at Rally Portugal, extending his record for the most WRC wins at the event.
Ogier, alongside co-driver Vincent Landais, mastered the grueling 24-stage rally that stretched teams and drivers to their limits. Their success ensured Toyota maintained its unbeaten run in the 2025 season. The Frenchman sealed his 63rd career WRC win by 8.7 seconds over long-time leader Ott Tanak, who recovered to second place despite a power steering issue. Two-time champion Kalle Rovanpera completed the podium, trailing by 12.2s after being overtaken by Tanak’s late surge.
“It was a tough fight with Ott, unfortunately not fair to the end with his problem. Otherwise we would have not won, because he was obviously quicker, but it’s not always about being quick in rallying, you also have to bring it home and that’s what we did,” said Ogier, now third in the championship standings.
Ogier had a slow start, struggling with the setup of his GR Yaris. However, setup adjustments helped him climb the leaderboard during a demanding Friday, which included a taxing 10-stage leg covering 683 kilometres (146 competitive). The length sparked criticism from drivers.
Hyundai came out strong following its Rally Islas Canarias setbacks, holding a 1-2 lead for much of Friday. Tanak and team-mate Adrien Fourmaux traded fastest times across the opening four stages. At the first remote service, Tanak led Fourmaux by just 0.2s, increasing his lead by another 0.6s over the following stages.
Fourmaux’s rally ended abruptly on stage eight due to a front-left suspension failure. He rejoined on Saturday but was forced to retire again on Sunday with an overheating engine.
Tanak kept pushing and finished Friday with a seven-second lead over Ogier, who had fought back to second after a strong afternoon run. Takamoto Katsuta held third, narrowly ahead of Rovanpera, who battled with pace issues on Hankook’s gravel tyres.
On Saturday, Ogier continued his pursuit, closing the gap to just two seconds as Tanak suffered a puncture. But a setup breakthrough helped Tanak storm to a stunning stage 14 time — 9.8s quicker than Ogier — reasserting his lead.
Tanak looked set for his first win of the season after three consecutive stage wins extended his lead to 13.9s. But disaster struck midway through stage 17 when a broken steering rack caused a power steering failure. Despite muscling the car back to service, Tanak dropped to third, 36.1s behind new leader Ogier.
With a 27.1s buffer over second-placed Rovanpera going into Sunday’s six remaining stages, Ogier chose a cautious approach early on. Rovanpera clawed back 11.1s on stage 19, briefly raising pressure, but the challenge faded.
Tanak mounted a determined comeback on Sunday, targeting Rovanpera. As the Finn’s pace waned, Tanak surged ahead to reclaim second and topped the Super Sunday classification to earn an additional 10 points.
Defending world champion Thierry Neuville ended a tough weekend in fourth [+38.5s], struggling with the balance of his Hyundai i20 N throughout the event.
Katsuta, who had reached as high as second, couldn’t maintain his early pace and settled for fifth, though he did pick up two points in the Fafe Power Stage.
Elfyn Evans saw his championship lead over Rovanpera trimmed from 43 to 30 points after a difficult outing, hampered early on by the disadvantage of opening the road. He eventually claimed sixth [+2m31.0s], edging team-mate Sami Pajari on the final day.
Rally1 newcomer Josh McErlean delivered arguably his best WRC performance yet, outpacing his more experienced M-Sport-Ford teammate to finish eighth [+5m12.3s]. Martins Sesks had an eventful outing in his second start of the year, losing three minutes to a puncture in stage 2 and receiving another three-minute penalty after a late start to stage seven.
