Magalhães reveals Azores disappointment

Bruno Magalhães has spoken of his disappointment after losing the lead of Sata Rallye Açores, round seven of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge.

The 30-year-old was tied for first place with Juho Hänninen after 14 stages when his gearbox lost oil in the middle of stage 15, the 21.94-kilometre Tronqueira test, and left the windscreen of his Peugeot Sport Portugal 207 coated in liquid.

“It was impossible to see and I finished the stage very slow and lost a lot of time,” said Magalhães prior to entering the service halt in Ponta Delgada. “I didn’t crash, I didn’t feel a problem but now I will have to change the gearbox because it has no oil. We have 20 minutes and I think we can do it in this time.”

Magalhães took the lead on Friday’s first test and was as much as 13.3s in front at one stage of the rally: “I am very disappointed because I was trying everything and fighting as hard as I could. I hope and try now to be second.”

With three stages remaining, Magalhães is 19.9s behind Hänninen.