The final day of Rally Portugal 2025 brought a fierce fight for the podium. After a heartbreaking mechanical issue on Saturday, Ott Tänak pushed hard on Sunday, determined to recover lost ground, winning five out of six stages in a heroic effort to reclaim the lead. Though he fell just short of victory, he managed to move back into second place, overtaking Kalle Rovanperä and finishing just 8.7 seconds behind the winner. Tänak also stormed through the Power Stage, securing all 5 bonus points and earning the maximum 10 points available from the day.
Ogier Makes History Again
Sébastien Ogier held off Tänak’s late push to secure the overall win, claiming his seventh Rally Portugal victory — a new record. Earlier in the season, he also made history with a record-breaking 10th win at Rallye Monte-Carlo 2025. At the finish line in Portugal, Ogier was visibly emotional. “It’s something I can be proud of,” he said. “To stay competitive after all these years.”
Rovanperä, who had a good road position but couldn’t find the pace, finished third and admitted it was a tough event. Long and difficult weekend for us. Definitely a big disappointment that we did not have the pace”, he said.
Thierry Neuville finished fourth, also describing the rally as a long and challenging one for him and the Hyundai team.
Takamoto Katsuta played the team game on Sunday. He backed off his pace to stay out of Elfyn Evans’ way, helping Evans in the Sunday points classification. Unfortunately, Katsuta also hit a bedrock in SS23 (Felgueiras), costing him 20 seconds. Luckily, the car wasn’t badly damaged.
Later, Katsuta went flat out again, even setting up one of the weekend’s most memorable moments with a massive leap over the famous Fafe jump. “That was quite big!” he said. “I thought we landed in another country!”
Ironically, by going flat out, Katsuta cost Toyota a manufacturer point. Since he wasn’t nominated to score points, his high placement pushed other nominated cars down the ranking.
Evans had a difficult start to the weekend, opening the road on Friday and again being one of the first cars out on Saturday. But on Sunday, he adjusted his driving style and passed his teammate Sami Pajari in SS22 (Paredes) to finish sixth overall.
The M-Sport Ford team struggled to match the pace of the frontrunners. Josh McErlean came eighth, over 2 minutes behind Pajari, while Grégoire Munster placed ninth. Mārtiņš Sesks, affected by a puncture on Friday and a penalty for a start procedure error on Saturday, finished 15th overall, behind several WRC2 cars.
It was a disappointing end for Adrien Fourmaux, who had to retire before the final stage due to overheating — a tough break after a strong start to his season.
WRC2 Victory at Last for Solberg
After narrow losses in 2023 and 2024, Oliver Solberg finally won Rally Portugal in the WRC2 category. Despite a spin on Friday’s SS6 (Lousã) that cost him 16 seconds, he stayed focused and made no big mistakes, he was finally able put past disappointments behind him.
The fight for second was close between Yohan Rossel and Gus Greensmith. However, Greensmith chose to carry two spare wheels for safety on Sunday, and the extra weight upset the balance of his Skoda. He finished third, 16.4 seconds behind Rossel. “A bad tire call didn’t help our cause,” said Greensmith. “But first and third is a good start to the season.”
Final Overall Standings
🥇 Sébastien Ogier & Vincent Landais – 3:48:35.9
🥈 Ott Tänak & Martin Järveoja – +8.7
🥉 Kalle Rovanperä & Jonne Halttunen – +12.2
Final WRC2 Standings
🥇 Oliver Solberg & Elliott Edmondson – 3:57:51.0
🥈 Yohan Rossel & Arnaud Dunand – +51.8
🥉 Gus Greensmith & Jonas Andersson – +1:08.2
Overall Championship Standings after Rally Portugal (rd.5)
