Latvala fastest at Portugal shakedown

Jari-Matti Latvala was fastest through this afternoon’s Vale Judeu shakedown test at Rally de Portugal.

The Finn posted fastest time in a Volkswagen Polo R on his second run through the 4.98km test.

He had a comfortable 1.9sec margin over team-mate Sébastien Ogier until Henning Solberg came within 0.8sec of usurping Latvala on his fourth run in a Pirelli-shod Ford Fiesta RS.

The sun was shining throughout the session, but after days of rain the stage remained wet in places.

“The car felt very good I was very happy with its general handing," Latvala told wrc.com. “The stage was not exactly muddy but the ground was a bit damp, so we were running the soft tyre and the grip was good in these conditions.”

Behind Ogier, Dani Sordo was fourth on his first gravel outing in Hyundai’s i20. The Spaniard’s first run was hampered by a handbrake problem, but after repairs in service he set the quickest time of Hyundai’s three-car squad.

Mikko Hirvonen and Juho Hanninen completed the top six.

Shakedown times
1 Jari-Matti Latvala 3min 05.2sec
2 Henning Solberg + 0.8sec
3 Sebastien Ogier + 1.9sec
4 Dani Sordo + 2.6sec
5 Mikko Hirvonen + 3.1sec
6 Juho Hanninen + 3.2sec
7 Thierry Neuville + 3.3sec
8 Robert Kubica + 5.0sec
9 Mads Ostberg + 5.1sec
10 Andreas Mikkelsen + 5.3sec
=11 Ott Tanak + 5.6sec
=11 Kris Meeke + 5.6sec
13 Khalid Al Qassimi + 8.1sec
14 Elfyn Evans + 11.1sec
15 Martin Prokop + 12.9sec