SS8: Puncture for Juho Hänninen

Juho Hänninen completed today’s opening 19.09km Santa Clara stage with a rear left puncture on his Hyundai i20.

The Finn drove the second half of the stage with the flat, dropping about 20sec. He had no time to stop and talk at the finish as he rushed off to replace the battered wheel before the liaison section to the following Santana da Serra test.

More stories emerged about late night work in the service park to repair the cars of those drivers who crashed yesterday.

The M-Sport mechanics completed the rebuild of Elfyn Evans’ Ford Fiesta RS at 04.00 following his roll in Almodovar yesterday morning, while Volkswagen used a fork-lift truck to help straighten the chassis leg of Jari-Matti Latvala’s Polo R.

Meeke retires

Kris Meeke did not restart Rally de Portugal this morning following his roll on yesterday’s final Almodovar stage (SS7).

Meeke rolled his Citroen DS3 at the same point as Elfyn Evans crashed earlier in the day. When his car was returned to the service park late last night it was discovered the roll cage was damaged in the accident and could not be repaired.

Juho Hänninen dropped down the leaderboard late last night when his notional time for yesterday morning’s cancelled Almodovar stage (SS4) was adjusted to take into account a puncture he suffered on his Hyundai i20.

The Finn changed the flat before encountering a blockage caused by Robert Kubica’s accident. The stage was eventually cancelled and all drivers who did not complete it unhindered received a notional time.

The time Hänninen lost with the puncture was not included in his allotted time, until organisers modified it last night. He restarted today in 12th.