Players.bio is a large online platform sharing the best live coverage of your favourite sports: Football, Golf, Rugby, Cricket, F1, Boxing, NFL, NBA, plus the latest sports news, transfers & scores. Exclusive interviews, fresh photos and videos, breaking news. Stay tuned to know everything you wish about your favorite stars 24/7. Check our daily updates and make sure you don't miss anything about celebrities' lives.

Contacts

  • Owner: SNOWLAND s.r.o.
  • Registration certificate 06691200
  • 16200, Na okraji 381/41, Veleslavín, 162 00 Praha 6
  • Czech Republic

Ogier in disbelief over puncture exit from Rally Portugal

The eight-time world champion’s hopes of recording a record sixth career Portugal victory ended on Friday afternoon after picking up a pair of punctures in consecutive stages.

Ogier suffered a front left failure on Stage 6 when occupying third, only 4.8s behind leader Elfyn Evans. It dropped the Frenchman, contesting a partial World Rally Championship season this year, to 11th in standings, after losing two minutes to change the wheel.

On the following stage Ogier suffered another puncture and after electing not take two spares the puncture resulted in retirement. He is set to return on Saturday under restart rules.

The Toyota driver admitted he’d driven with extra care and was astonished to have suffered a failure, initially believing the car's puncture alarm had produced a false reading.

Ogier wasn’t the only driver to suffer issues with the new upgraded Pirelli tyres as eight failures were recorded among the Rally1 competitors across a brutal Friday.

Hyundai’s Ott Tanak and M-Sport’s Gus Greensmith picked up two punctures, while Craig Breen and Adrien Fourmaux also encountered problems.

“Personally, I didn't expect that kind of roughness [of the stages],” said Ogier.

“Honestly, I had the info before the start of the second stage where I got the first puncture, and I was really cautious.

“I really tried to avoid every big rock and was not pushing at all in this first section, but it's a bit of a lottery. There's so many sharp stones everywhere that anywhere you drive, so many of them.

Sébastien Ogier, Benjamin Veillas, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

“So when I pick up the alarm of the puncture, I didn't believe it, I said, "It cannot be". I was so careful here and I

Read more on msn.com