Oliver Solberg finds himself leading WRC2 by over a minute after Friday’s opening leg at Vodafone Rally de Portugal decimated the field. Solberg, driving a Škoda Fabia RS Rally2, avoided trouble to build a 50.2sec advantage over Gus Greensmith’s similar car. “It’s been a very good day but also very difficult,” Solberg admitted. “I don’t know why, maybe because the stage before it was really rough. Championship returnee Andreas Mikkelsen brought his Škoda home in fourth overall despite also carrying out a wheel change. Suspension damper failure forced Kris Meeke’s Hyundai into retirement early this afternoon. Among the other non-finishers was Grégoire Munster, who rolled his Ford Fiesta in the opening test.

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