Toyota’s Oliver Solberg Grabs Early Lead At Rally Portugal WRC

Oliver Solberg has secured an early lead at the WRC Vodafone Rally Portugal 2026, marking a strong start for Toyota in the first pure gravel event of the World Rally Championship season.

At the conclusion of the opening leg on May 7, 2026, Solberg held a 3.4-second advantage over Hyundai driver Adrien Fourmaux. Solberg, paired with co-driver Elliott Edmondson, navigated two traditional rough gravel stages and one asphalt super special to claim the top position.

Toyota’s Sébastien Ogier followed in third place, trailing the lead by 7.2 seconds after recovering from a slow start. The competition remains tight, with the top five drivers separated by only 7.5 seconds.

Solberg emphasized a cautious approach during the early stages to avoid damage to the vehicle.

I just tried to be clean and take it easy. We have no service [until the end of Friday] so you don’t want to touch anything. It has been an ok start. It’s a long way to go and every day is going to be different

Oliver Solberg

Hyundai entered the event viewing the weekend as an opportunity to improve its fortunes, as the i20 N is known to perform better on gravel than on snow or asphalt. To further boost performance, the Korean manufacturer introduced an engine upgrade for the rally.

The event began with early speed from Hyundai, as Adrien Fourmaux took the win in the opening stage. Fourmaux beat Toyota’s Elfyn Evans by 0.1 seconds, with Evans delivering an impressive performance despite the disadvantage of opening the road.

Initial reports from the stages indicated that the cleaning effect was not as dramatic as expected, and the road surface began to break up for later runners.