The two-time world champion closed this Friday, contested in the center of the country, with a time of 1:25.00.4 hours, with a one-second advantage over the French Sébastien Ogier (Toyota Yaris), who is second, with the Japanese Takamoto Katsuta (Toyota Yaris) in third position, at 4.7.

"It was a very fun day, but unfortunately, the pace was not what it should have been," lamented the world champion, after the final special, in Mortágua.

Rovanperä complained about the high temperatures, which compromised the tires' performance.

However, there is a big difference compared to the two previous editions of the Portuguese race, in which punctures were a constant as the specials went by.

This year, among the front-runners, only the British Elfyn Evans can complain about luck, as he punctured the front right tire of his Toyota Yaris on the second pass through Góis.

Evans, second in the starting order of this fifth round of the World Championship (WRC), had an afternoon to forget, as on that same section he lost 52.6 seconds, since his navigator, Scott Martin, forgot the notebook at the previous control, being forced to resort to photographs he had on his cell phone.

This was one of the unusual moments of the day, as Sébastien Ogier had already had problems on the first pass through Arganil: a failure in the communications system in the Toyota Yaris prevented him from hearing the notes dictated by his navigator, Vincent Landais, who had to resort to sign language.

Even so, Ogier lost only three seconds on that section, ending the day one second behind the race leader.

The afternoon section was also disastrous for Takamoto Katsuta, who finished the morning in the lead, but was unable to sustain the charge of his two teammates.

Rovanperä took the lead right on the first special of the afternoon, in Lousã 2, with only a 0.1-second advantage over the Japanese. The champion doubled the advantage on the following section, in Góis 2, moving to a 0.2-second lead, and even had a one-second advantage over the Japanese after Arganil 2.

On the final special, however, Katsuta lost 6.9 seconds to Ogier and 3.7 to Rovanperä, dropping to third position.

The day was also marked by the 'rolls' of the Spanish driver Pepe Lopez (Ford Fiesta) and the Japanese Yuki Yamamoto (Toyota Yaris), both on the first section, in Mortágua, which ended up being canceled, of the Portuguese Lucas Simões (Ford Fiesta), in Góis 1, and Teemu Suninen (Hyundai i20), in Arganil 1.

In all accidents, the crews escaped unharmed.

On Saturday, the second stage of the Rally of Portugal will be held, the longest of the race, with 145.02 kilometers timed, divided into nine specials.

The day begins with Felgueiras 1, starting at 08:05, ending in Lousada, starting at 19:05.

In between, there will be passages through Montim, Amarante and Paredes, twice, and through Felgueiras 2.