Five-time World Champion Sébastien Ogier starts as slight favourite to beat Finnish legend Markku Alén’s record of five Portuguese wins and tighten his grip on the Drivers’ Championship lead when the 52nd Vodafone Rally of Portugal opens with a spectacular super special at the Lousada rallycross circuit on Thursday evening.
Fourteen World Rally Cars head an impressive 88-car entry for the 20-stage event, which ends with the now-traditional Power Stage through the legendary Fafe stage on Sunday.
Ogier and M-Sport
The M-Sport Ford driver has already won three rounds this year, in Monte-Carlo, Mexico and Corsica, though Sweden and Argentina showed he is not infallible. His Portuguese gravel record is superb, with wins in 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2017; last year he also gave Ford its first win on the event since 2012.
Team-mates Elfyn Evans and Teemu Suninen are overdue a good finish. Evans’s results have faltered since his stunning win at last autumn’s Wales Rally GB, with modest points on three events this year, while Suninen has collected just six points from a slow start. The team hopes for positive feedback from a recent test in northern Portugal.
Hyundai
Hyundai Shell Mobis leads the Manufacturers’ Championship by 15 points from M-Sport Ford, with Toyota GAZOO Racing a close third and Citroën Total Abu Dhabi a distant fourth.
Belgian Thierry Neuville has perhaps his best ever chance of winning the Drivers’ title. He trails Ogier by 10 points and, like team-mates Andreas Mikkelsen and Dani Sordo, knows how important a big points haul on Sunday will be.
Hayden Paddon returns in a fourth i20 WRC after missing Mexico, Corsica and Argentina, replacing Sordo as the third points-scoring driver. The New Zealander has kept busy with crushing wins on the Rally of Otago and Rally of Whangarei, followed by a two-day test.
I’m under no illusion that the WRC is a different kettle of fish at the elite level and three months out of the car is a gap I have to bridge quickly.
Hayden Paddon
Toyota
Toyota GAZOO Racing continues to progress quickly, and signing Estonia’s Ott Tänak was a masterstroke by team principal Tommi Mäkinen, himself a Portugal winner in 1997 and 2001. Tänak won the recent Rally Argentina, his third WRC victory, and second places in Monte-Carlo and Corsica lifted him to third in the standings.
Portugal has always been one of my favourite events. There is a great atmosphere. It’s also the place where everything started for me in the WRC in 2009. I think Friday will be critical with our road position. We have two cars in front of us, so we will have lines to follow.
Ott Tänak
Tänak is supported by Finnish team-mates Jari-Matti Latvala (2015 winner) and Esapekka Lappi as Toyota chases its first win here since Didier Auriol’s Corolla WRC success in 2002.
I believe our car will be strong again in Portugal. It is quite a similar rally to Argentina, but the surfaces are smoother and the roads are a bit more flowing. We had two days of pre-event testing here last week and I had our test driver Juho Hänninen with me during the test. We were working together to fine tune the car.
Jari-Matti Latvala
Citroën
Citroën Total Abu Dhabi has rotated its line-up this season, with nine-time World Champion Sébastien Loeb contesting two events alongside Kris Meeke before returning to rallycross. Consistency has been elusive, the highlights being Meeke’s third in Mexico and Craig Breen’s second in Sweden.
Loeb led in Mexico until a puncture, and an uncharacteristic crash ended his Corsica run. Breen crashed out of a strong position in Argentina, so the pressure is on Meeke and Breen to score well, supported by 2012 Portugal winner Mads Østberg; Meeke won here in 2016. Østberg drives the third C3 WRC with fellow Norwegian Torstein Eriksen, and the team hopes to benefit from a rear axle upgrade homologated before Argentina.
I’m delighted to be back in the team after my last race at Rally Sweden, which seems like it was light years ago. I might need a bit of time to get my bearings again. But I had a good day testing with the C3 WRC before Argentina. Portugal is a bit special for me, as it’s the only one I’ve won in the WRC, when it was held in the Algarve.
Mads Østberg
Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed Al-Rajhi drives the final World Rally Car, a Ford Fiesta WRC, with co-driver Michael Orr.
Schedule
The rally starts at Guimarães Castle on Thursday evening, followed by the opening super special at Lousada from 19.03hrs. Friday’s first full gravel day heads north towards the Spanish border for three stages run twice in the Viana do Castelo region, ending with two street stages in the centre of Porto.