European gravel. At last. We’ve done the Alps, the deep-freeze, the thin air, the twists, the turns and the Andes (sort of). Now, as the World Rally Championship powers into the mid-section of the season, it’s time to get on the loose in Europe.
It’s time for Rally of Portugal. One of the oldest, best-loved and popular rounds of the WRC, this Atlantic coast-based cracker is a quality mix of fast, technical, tricky stages and some of the best fish you’ll eat in the whole wide world.
This year’s route is a virtual carbon copy of last year’s, meaning a return to classics such as Ponte de Lima and, of course, a Sunday flight over Fafe…
Vodafone Rally de Portugal in detail
FIA World Rally Championship round 6/13
WRC – WRC2 – JWRC – WRC3
Date: Thursday May 17 – Sunday May 20
Based: Exponor,Matosinhos
Service: Exponor, Matosinhos
Stages: 20
Competitive distance: 358.19 (222.57 miles)
Liaison distance: 1224.89km (761.14 miles)
Total distance: 1583.08km (983.72 miles)
Shortest stage: SS8/9 Porto Street Stage 1.95km (1.21 miles)
Longest stage: SS12/15 Amarante 37.60km (23.36miles)
Currency: Euro
Time difference: UTC+1
Sunrise: 0612
Sunset: 2049
Shakedown:
The 4.60km (2.85 miles) shakedown is located at Paredes, 43.85km (27.24 miles) from the service park in Matosinhos. The stage runs from 0730-1130 on Thursday May 17.
Vodafone Rally Portugal itinerary
Thursday May 17
SS1 Lousada 3.36km (2.08 miles) 1903
Friday May 18
SS2 Viana do Castelo 1 26.73km (16.61 miles) 0915
SS3 Caminha 1 18.11km (11.25 miles) 1020
SS4 Ponte de Lima 1 27.54km (17.11 miles) 1053
Service Exponor, Matosinhos1325
SS5 Viana do Castelo 2 26.73km (16.61 miles) 1525
SS6 Caminha 2 18.11km (11.25 miles) 1630
SS7 Ponte de Lima 2 27.54km (17.11 miles) 1703
SS8 Porto Street Stage 1 1.95km (1.21 miles) 1903
SS9 Porto Street Stage 2 1.95km (1.21 miles) 1928
Service Exponor, Matosinhos2000
Saturday May 19
SS10 Vieira do Minho 1 17.50km (10.87 miles) 0908
SS11 Cabeceiras de Basto 1 22.22km (13.80 miles) 0946
SS12 Amarante 1 37.60km (23.36 miles)1105
Service Exponor, Matosinhos1245
SS13 Vieira do Minho 2 17.50km (10.87 miles) 1508
SS14 Cabeceiras de Basto 2 22.22km (13.80 miles) 1546
SS15 Amarante 2 37.60km (23.36 miles)1705
Service Exponor, Matosinhos1850
Sunday May 20
SS16 Montim 1 8.64km (5.36 miles) 0835
SS17 Fafe 1 11.18km (6.94 miles) 0908
SS18 Luilhas 11.89km (7.38 miles) 0936
SS19 Montim 2 8.64km (5.36 miles) 1035
Regroup Fafe 1055
SS20 Fafe 2 11.18km (6.94 miles) 1218
Finish Matosinhos1420
2017 Vodafone Rally de Portugal result:
WRC:1 Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (Ford Fiesta WRC) 3h42m55.7s; 2 Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) +15.6s; 3 Dani Sordo/Marc Marti (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) +1m01.7sWRC2: Pontus Tidemand/Jonas Andersson (Škoda Fabia R5). WRC3Francisco Name/Armando Zapata (DS 3 R3T)
Running order:
1 Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (Ford Fiesta WRC)
5 Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC)
8 Ott Tänak/Martin Jarveoja (Toyota Yaris WRC)
4 Andreas Mikkelsen/Anders Jæger (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC)
6 Hayden Paddon/Seb Marshall (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC)
10 Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle (Citroën C3 WRC)
9 Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (Toyota Yaris WRC)
7 Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila (Toyota Yaris WRC)
2 Elfyn Evans/Dan Barritt (Ford Fiesta WRC)
11 Craig Breen/Scott Martin (Citroën C3 WRC)
16 Dani Sordo/Carlos Del Barrio (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC)
12 Mads Østberg/Torstein Eriksen (Citroën C3 WRC)
Leading WRC championship positions:
1 Ogier 100pts; 2 Neuville 90; 3 Tänak 72; 4 Mikkelsen 54; 5 Sordo 45; 6 Meeke 43; 7 Lappi 40; 8 Latvala 31; 9 Evans 26; 10 Breen 20, etc
Leading WRC2 runners:
31 Pontus Tidemand/Jonas Andersson (Škoda Fabia R5)
32 Gus Greensmith/Craig Parry (Ford Fiesta R5)
33 Pedro Heller/Pablo Olmos (Ford Fiesta R5)
35 Jari Huttunen/Antti Linnaketo (Hyundai i20 R5)
36 Fabio Andolfi/Simone Scattolin (Škoda Fabia R5)
37 Lukasz Pieniazek/Przemyslaw Mazur (Škoda Fabia R5)
38 Nil Solans/Miquel Ibañez (Ford Fiesta R5)
39 Pierre-Louis Loubet/Vincent Landais (Hyundai i20 R5)
40 Hiroki Arai/Glenn Macneall (Ford Fiesta R5)
41 Kevin Abbring/Pieter Tsjoen (Ford Fiesta R5)
42 Stéphane Lefebvre/Gabin Moreau (Citroën C3 R5)
Leading WRC2 championship positions:
1 Tidemand 68pts; 2 Jan Kopecky 50; 3 Greensmith 36; 4 Heller 30; 5 Katsuta 29; 6 Ole Christian Veiby 27; 7 Solans 22; 8 5 Eddie Sciessere/Yoann Bonato 18, etc
JWRC/WRC3 entry:
61 Dennis Rådstrom/Johan Johansson (Ford Fiesta R2)
62 Jean-Baptiste Franceschi/Romain Courbon (Ford Fiesta R2)
63 Emil Bergkvist/Ola Floene (Ford Fiesta R2)
64 Terry Folb/Kevin Bronner (Ford Fiesta R2)
65 Callum Devine/Brian Hoy (Ford Fiesta R2)
66 Julius Tannert/Jürgen Heigl (Ford Fiesta R2)
67 Ken Torn/Kuldar Sikk (Ford Fiesta R2)
68 Luca Bottarelli/Manuel Fenoli (Ford Fiesta R2)
69 Emilio Fernández/Joaquinn Riquelme (Ford Fiesta R2)
70 Bugra Banaz/Burak Erdener (Ford Fiesta R2)
71 David Holder/Jason Farmer (Ford Fiesta R2)
72 Tom Williams/Phil Hall (Ford Fiesta R2)
73 Enrico Oldrati/Danilo Fappani (Ford Fiesta R2)
74 Umberto Accornero/Maurizio Barone (Ford Fiesta R2)
Leading JWRC championship positions:
1 Rådström 46pts; 2 Franceschi 45; 3 Bergkvist 38; 4 Folb 30; 5 Devine 18; 6 Tannert 17, etc
Leading WRC3 championship positions:
1 Franceschi/Rådström 37; 3 Bergkvist 33; 4 Folb 28; 5 Brazzoli 25; 6 Taisko Lario 19, etc
Stuart Loudon’s key stage: SS12 Amarante 1 37.60km (23.36 miles)
The longest stage of the Saturday loop – and it comes at the end, when the tyres will have already taken a bit of a pounding. Portugal’s generally quite a soft surface, not so abrasive as Sardinia, but if the temperatures are up and knocking on the door of 30, this could be a tricky one.
Amarante is, of course, the stage which ruined Ott Tänak’s hopes 12 months ago. He touched a bank and broke something on the Ford Fiesta WRC, ruling him out of a battle for what would have been his first win. He needn’t have worried… that arrived on the very next round in Sardinia.
Stuart will be watching… #6 Hayden Paddon/Seb Marshall (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC)
Hayden’s been away from the World Rally Championship since Rally Sweden in February – that’s his longest time away from the WRC in five years. He’ll be very, very keen to show the world what it’s been missing.
There’s no doubting his speed or the fact that he has earned his place in the world championship. It’ll be great to see the world’s only flying Kiwi back.
The good thing for Hayden is that he’s done some driving at home in New Zealand in the interim. In fact, he’s brought new meaning to the world ‘domination’ in the NZ Championship – winning every stage on the last two rallies in his Hyundai i20 AP4+. But now it’s the time he and his co-driver Seb [Marhsall] have been waiting for. They’re back where they belong.
As for Seb, he will have really missed the competition there’s no doubt about that. But he’s so professional and always at the top of his game in terms of preparation and fitness. These cars soon jump out on you a wee bit when you’re back in there for the first time – but Seb’s ready. Now let’s have the result these boys deserve.
Weather with you:
Sunshine and temperatures in the mid-20s are expected for the recce and much of rally week. There’s a chance of some cloud coming in for the rally weekend, but it’s still looking pretty dry.
Most successful driver on Vodafone Rally de Portugal:
Markku Alén/Sébastien Ogier (5 wins)
2018 World Rally Championship stats…
Stages planned: 88
Stages run: 88
Longest stage of the season: Vero – Sarrola-Carcopino 55.17km (34.28 miles) Tour de Corse
Shortest stage of the season: Street Stage Leon 1.11km (0.68 miles) Rally Mexico
Longest competitive route of the season: Rallye Monte-Carlo 388.59km (241.46 miles)
Shortest competitive route of the season: Rally Sweden 314.25km (195.27 miles)
WRC fastest times in 2018:
1 Tänak 28; 2 Neuville 15; 3 Ogier 12; 4 Meeke/Loeb/Lappi 6; 7 Sordo 5; 8 Mikkelsen 4; 9 Breen 3; 10 Evans/Paddon 2, etc
WRC stages led in 2018:
1 Ogier 39; 2 Neuville 19; 3 Tänak 16; 4 Sordo 8; 5 Loeb 3; 6 Mikkelsen 2; 6 Meeke 1.
WRC2 fastest times in 2018:
1 Tidemand 29; 2 Rovanperä 16; 3 Kopecky 12; 4 Katsuta 10; 5 Suninen/Veiby 6; 7 Kevin Abbring 3; 8 Eric Camilli/Huttunen/Stéphane Lefebvre 2, etc
WRC2 stages led in 2018:
1 Tidemand 35; 2 Kopecky 26; 3 Katsuta 17; 4 Rovanpera 7; 5 Camilli 3.
JWRC fastest times in 2018:
1 Rådstrom 10; 2 Jean-Baptiste Franceschi 9; 3 Bergkvist 6; 4 Ken Torn 5; 5 Terry Folb 3; 6 Emilio Fernández/Luca Bottarelli 2, etc
JWRC stages led in 2018:
1 Rådstrom 17; 2 Franceschi 6; 3 Folb 5; 4 Bergkvist 3.
WRC3 fastest times in 2018:
1 Tom Williams 22; 2 Franceschi 18; 3 Lario Taisko 8; 4 Rådstrom 7; 5 Bergkvist/Torn, etc
WRC3 stages led in 2018:
1 Williams 21; 2 Rådström 17; 3 Franceschi 16; 4 Brazzoli 7; 5 Folb 5; 6 Bergkvist 3.