Thierry Neuville snatched victory at Rally Portugal on Sunday after a rear-right puncture wrecked Sebastien Ogier's bid for a record eighth Portuguese win on the penultimate stage, handing Hyundai its first WRC victory of an otherwise difficult 2026 season.
Ogier had carried a healthy buffer into Super Sunday in Matosinhos after weathering the worst of Saturday's deluge, but the eight-time champion was the biggest loser when the heavens opened again on the first pass of Fafe. The Frenchman dropped 7.6 seconds to Neuville in the opening stage of the day, and as the road dried, his Toyota slipped further from contention.
The decisive blow came on SS22 Felgueiras 2, when Ogier was forced to stop mid-stage to plug a rear-right tyre. "Tire pressure alert, rear right," came the call over the team radio as Ogier scrambled to switch wheels in the middle of the gravel. By the time he resumed, Neuville had taken the lead and Ogier had tumbled to sixth in the rally classification.
Neuville and co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe held their nerve through the Fafe Wolf Power Stage, taking only 0.6 seconds out of the time Aden Formo had set, but more than enough to seal a 16.3-second win over Toyota's Oliver Solberg. Elfyn Evans completed the podium, extending his championship lead over Takamoto Katsuta to 12 points.
For Neuville, the win banished the ghosts of an 11th-hour crash in Croatia six weeks ago that had cost the reigning world champion an almost certain victory. "It is a very special one, this one, after what happened in Croatia and the struggle we have had for a while," Neuville said on the finish ramp. "This one comes very well, not only for me and Martijn but for the whole team, the people who surround us the whole year and fight hard. Obviously I let them down in Croatia, but we fought back here. We never gave up and that paid this weekend."
It was Neuville's 23rd career WRC victory and his first of 2026, breaking a Hyundai drought that stretched back to Sardinia 2024. Team principal Cyril Abiteboul has been under sustained pressure as the i20 N Rally1 has trailed the GR Yaris on speed all season, and Sunday's result lifts a manufacturer that arrived in Portugal sixth and last among the Rally1 teams in the wet conditions.
For Solberg, second place was an emotional reset after the Swede's heartbreak in the Canary Islands a fortnight ago, where a stage-win crash at Ingenio cost him a likely victory. "It is a big relief after these two tough rallies on tarmac," Solberg said. "It has been a tough weekend mentally to try to push but still not push too hard."
M-Sport Ford had cause to smile despite a quiet result for new Rally1 signing Mart Cisks. Josh McErlean returned to the rally after a Saturday crash thanks to an all-night rebuild from his mechanics. "I just want to say a big thanks to the whole team because I think they were up to 3:00 in the morning getting everything sorted," the Irishman said after going eighth-tenths quicker than his Rally1 team-mates on the wet first pass of Fafe.
The WRC now heads to Rally Japan in the second week of November after a long summer break, with Evans on 102 points, Katsuta on 90 and Neuville's win moving him up to fourth in the standings.
