All not lost for Portugal retiree Munster

The M-Sport Ford driver ended his event early after his Puma Rally1 Hybrid was sucked into a ditch on the inside of a corner on Sunday. Munster’s maiden Portuguese outing at the highest level was a tough one: he also stopped briefly with an issue with the car near the end of the opening run at Amarante on Saturday.

He was, however, upfront in his appraisal of the final day on last week’s fifth WRC round of the season.

“Portugal didn’t end well for us,” he said. “We got hooked up in a cut and landed stuck on a ditch by the sump guard, and unfortunately we couldn’t continue.

“All in all, we learned plenty during this rally. By opening the road on Saturday we had to do a lot of cleaning – it wasn’t easy, but it was good learning for us. We also saw our times improve throughout the weekend on the second passes, on a rally that was basically new for us, we felt this was good practice and we had a good feeling in the car. We will carry the experience on to Sardinia in a couple of weeks.”

Team principal Richard Millener added: “He had a few setbacks, but in general I think he should be happy with the pace he showed and the valuable experience gained.”