By Paul Evans

Elfyn Evans will start today’s second leg of Rally Portugal from 16th place, after a loose throttle pedal connection brought his M-Sport Ford Fiesta WRC to a halt for four minutes on SS5.

It was only Evans’ exceptional mechanical skills that allowed him to find and fix the fault, but the delay has ruined all chances of victory.

He and co-driver Scott Martin had started well, and started stage five in fifth position overall, but dropped to 20th after stopping in the stage. They jumped back to 16th after a good run through SS6, but ended the day just over four and a half minutes off the leaders, Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (Toyota Yaris WRC).

“It’s obviously been a disappointing day for us,” said Evans. “It hadn’t been the perfect morning, but the feeling was good after lunch and we were starting to make some ground on the guys in front. Then unfortunately there was just a loose connection on the throttle pedal and it took a while to track down the issue. We lost a fair bit of time, and our road position won’t be ideal tomorrow, but I think we just need to go out there, enjoy ourselves, and see what happens.”

The rally continues today (Saturday) where more than half the event’s competitive distance is packed into two identical loops of three speed tests in the Cabreira Mountains, east of the rally base at Matosinhos. Drivers face double runs through Vieira do Minho (12.75 miles), Cabeceiras de Basto (13.8 miles) and Amarante (23.36), the latter being the longest stage of the weekend. The day’s action adds up to a punishing 99.85 miles of flat-out, timed to the tenth of a second, action.