“I was surprised how rough it was [in SS6], but overall a good day,” Latvala told the official WRC site. “Step by step I have been increasing my speed. I have to be satisfied with what we have done here.
“I hope to take advantage of this road position tomorrow now. It’s been a hard time for me, so a good result would be good for the championship.”
Meanwhile, Meeke was ‘only’ fourth in SS6 and SS7 in his Citroen DS 3 WRC and felt he had got his tyre choices wrong for the repeat loop, although he remains in P2 overall, now 4.2s up on VW Motorsport II pilot Andreas Mikkelsen. The two had been split by 3s after SS4.
M-Sport’s Ott Tanak has moved up to fourth in the new Fiesta RS WRC, jumping the Hyundai of Dani Sordo after going third in both of the afternoon’s stages.
“From the beginning I have really happy with the handling and balance of the car – I am enjoying it. Not pushing too hard – okay, maybe a bit too much for the tyres in here [SS7] – but I’m happy,” said the Estonian.
Championship leader Sebastien Ogier was another to gain a position and despite being first on the road in his Polo R WRC, was quickest in SS6 and second in SS7 to finish the day sixth overall – 25.8s off the lead and 5.5s up on Citroen’s Mads Ostberg in P7.
“This stage was better than the first [run through it] but there’s still a lot of gravel on the line,” Ogier remarked. “It is going to be tough tomorrow. We will do what we can but it is not easy with this disadvantage [in terms of road position].”
Behind, Hyundai Motorsport N runner Hayden Paddon is eighth, 8.7s off Ostberg, while team-mate Thierry Neuville and former Formula 1 driver, Robert Kubica round out the top-ten.
“I got a noise after a few kilometres [in SS7] – which turned out to be the sump guard coming loose. We lost it later and had to be very careful over the rocks. We are very lucky to get here,” Neuville noted.
In WRC2, the principal support category, Nasser Al-Attiyah now leads and is 12th overall (one spot behind Martin Prokop in P11). Yazeed Al-Rajhi is second, 13.5s back, with Pontus Tidemand third. Karl Kruuda lost the class lead and slipped to sixth after problems in SS6.
As for retirements, M-Sport’s Elfyn Evans and Citroen third driver Khalid Al Qassimi both went out this morning with mechanical issues.
Evans went over the time limit in SS2, when he had an issue with the throttle, while Al Qassimi was unable to start SS4 as his handbrake got stuck.
Rally Portugal now continues on Saturday with six stages on the bill and a total competitive distance of 165.40 km.
SS8, the 18.57 km Baiao 1 test, is due to start at 08.54 hours local time.
2015 Rally de Portugal: Overall standings after Stage 7 (Top 10):
1. Jari-Matti Latvala Volkswagen Motorsport Polo R WRC 1h 07m 19.4s M
2. Kris Meeke Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT DS 3 WRC +0m 11.1s M
3. Andreas Mikkelsen Volkswagen Motorsport II Polo R WRC +0m 15.9s M
4. Ott Tanak M-Sport WRT Ford Fiesta RS WRC +0m 17.8s M
5. Dani Sordo Hyundai Motorsport i20 WRC +0m 21.8s M
6. Sebastien Ogier Volkswagen Motorsport Polo R WRC +0m 25.8s M
7. Mads Ostberg Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT DS 3 WRC +0m 31.3s M
8. Hayden Paddon Hyundai Motorsport N i20 WRC +0m 40.0s M
9. Thierry Neuville Hyundai Motorsport i20 WRC +1m 08.0s M
10. Robert Kubica Ford Fiesta RS WRC +1m 29.1s