After ten editions in a row held in the Algarve and Baixo Alentejo, the Vodafone Rally de Portugal will head North in 2015 as World Rally Championship points scoring event.
Organised as a candidate event in 2005 and 2006, the Rally de Portugal would recover its WRC status the following year, having established its reputation throughout the years with the quality of the route, the organising excellence and by strictly complying with the demanding security standards imposed by the FIA. All this has been achieved in such a way that it has become a reference for all other rallies of the championship.
The support given to the event by the Algarve and Baixo Alentejo municipalities involved with the Rally’s route – Almodôvar, Faro, Loulé, Ourique, São Brás de Alportel, Silves and Tavira –, by the Algarve Tourism Board and by the Parque das Cidades, owner of the Algarve Stadium, was of the upmost importance for success of the Vodafone Rally de Portugal.
The headquarters of the 2015 WRC Vodafone Rally de Portugal, comprising the race direction, service park and parc fermé, will be located in Exponor, in the city of Matosinhos.
Complying with the WRC typical event layout, the 2015 Vodafone Rally de Portugal will be a competition as compact as possible, with all the stages held North of the Douro river.
Aiming to ensure the best possible conditions to repair the roads scheduled to be used as special stages at the 2015 Vodafone Rally de Portugal, the Automóvel Club de Portugal has requested the FIA and the WRC Promoter to change the date of the event to the month of June.
Counting with the highly important support of its main sponsors – Vodafone, Tourism of Portugal, BP and Hertz – the Rally will benefit from the direct involvement of the Amarante, Baião, Caminha, Fafe, Guimarães, Lousada, Matosinhos, Mondim de Basto, Ponte de Lima, Valongo, Viana do Castelo e Vieira do Minho municipalities in what will be the start of a new era in the Vodafone Rally de Portugal successful history.
At a moment in which a new page is being turned on the event’s history, it is important to mention the relevant contribution spectators have towards the image of the present Vodafone Rally de Portugal.
Complying with the safety instructions and actively cooperating with the organiser regarding the control of a less experimented audience, fans from all over the country present at the country’s southerner stages proved to be a crucial element for the safety image of the Portuguese WRC event, as well as an example for spectators who, in 2015, will attend the Rally in the stages of the North of Portugal.
Above all, ACP wants to maintain the Vodafone Rally de Portugal on the World Rally Championship. Be it in the North, or in the South, it depends exclusively on spectators’ behavior and support regarding the safety of the event.