Is Rovanperä Back to his Barnstorming Best? | Rally Portugal Friday Recap

Kalle Rovanperä mastered a brutal opening leg at Vodafone Rally de Portugal to head Hyundai Motorsport rival Dani Sordo overnight.
A thrilling fight in the morning became a matter of survival in the afternoon as heat, dust and punishing rock-strewn roads took a heavy toll in this fifth round of the FIA World Rally Championship season.
While several of his rivals faltered, Rovanperä won three of the eight special stages in a Toyota GR Yaris to head Sordo by 10.7sec after more than 120km of action during which three different drivers led.

Leading positions after Friday:
1. K Rovanperä / J Halttunen FIN Toyota GR Yaris 1h 22m 27.7s
2. D Sordo / C Carrera ESP Hyundai i20 N +10.7s
3. T Neuville / M Wydaeghe BEL Hyundai i20 N +26.0s
4. P Loubet / N Gilsoul FRA Ford Puma +26.9s
5. E Lappi / J Ferm FIN Hyundai i20 N +27.3s
6. O Tänak / M Järveoja EST Ford Puma +1m 4.7s

#WRC #rallydeportugal
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[velosoluism]

Excited to see Rovanperä's performance at Rally Portugal! Hoping for a win from him.

[mikkosgarden]

Rovanperä for the first win of this year!

[johannesk]

I hope Kalle will hold all the way this weekend!

[siviunative]

It's a long 2 days to go, but Kale is surely getting confident. 😊💪

[garinakbar]

Petition for Ott Tanak vs Kalle Rovanpera vs Elfyn Evans for the World Rally Championship drivers championship of the year 2023!

[briankinya]

Felt for Tanak.. this felt like his time to win rally portugal

[chrispybaked]

Redbull rally is doing god's work for WRC community

[lucienpetrus]

Please Kalle give us win my bru. Cape Town South Africa 🌍♥️

[kageshadow]

It's a pity that Taka and Aaron had to fall into "day retire" due to a vehicle failure that was not their fault, just because they were in good shape.

[huwzebediahthomas]

Elfyn flew off the road and smack! Thankfully they both crawled out of the wreak okay.