‘It was a crazy rally' – Kris Meeke overcomes conditions for third straight win in Portugal
Incredibly, moments after Sordo had inherited top spot, he gave the position back again when he punctured the left-rear wheel on his Team Hyundai Portugal-run i20 N Rally2.
It meant Meeke's 13th career victory on Portuguese soil was achieved by a margin of 27.6 seconds over Sordo, with Armindo Araujo rounding out the podium spots in third.
Prior to the mistake on 'Aboboreira 2', Meeke had worked hard to keep a determined Sordo at arm's length, with scratch times on six of the 10 gravel speed tests helping his cause.
Once again, fellow former World Rally Championship driver Sordo was the main thorn in the Dungannon man's side, as the challenge of WRC2 frontrunner Yohan Rossel (Citroen C3 Rally2) failed to materialise, while Martins Sesks — who entered the gravel meeting as a warm-up for Rally de Portugal next weekend — retired his Ford Fiesta Rally2 on stage five.
'Three out of three in the Portuguese Championship is special and three-times a winner in d'Aboboreira is also pretty nice, but the circumstances here this weekend — especially the weather just before the final stage — was crazy with torrential rain leaving the stage full mud,' said Meeke. 'I made a mistake, I spun, and I had to reverse 150 metres up the road.
'When I got going again I knew that my overall advantage was gone. I tried to push as hard as I could, but in those conditions, it was so slippery — you just can't imagine how slippery it was. I was aquaplaning quite a lot and I would even say it was scary at times.
'I really tried and unfortunately for Dani he picked up a puncture halfway through, so we took the win after what I can only describe as a crazy rally. As a team we have a lot of work to do between now and Rally de Portugal, especially the Hankook tyre we will be using.'
Despite the last-minute drama taking a little of the shine off Meeke's achievement, he still spoke highly of the professionalism of the organising Club Automovel de Amarante and the areas the route passed through, including Amarante, Marco de Canaveses, and Baião.
'I enjoyed the event a lot, honestly,' said Meeke.
'This region, I have always said it and I will say it again: this is one of my favourite places in the world to come and drive a rally car.'
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