What promises to be one of the most exciting FIA World Rally Championship seasons on record sees the 54th Vodafone Rally of Portugal enter the spotlight this weekend.
The fourth round of the series has attracted another bumper field across all categories but the main focus will be on the tussle at the top of the Drivers’ Championship, where 22 points separate the leading five drivers.
Sébastien Ogier is now a seven-time World Rally Champion, having secured his last title in 2020 when the Portuguese round of the series was cancelled because of the Covid-19 crisis. But the Frenchman completes his reconnaissance of the 20 special stages and heads to the ceremonial start in Coimbra on Thursday evening with an eight-point advantage in the championship, courtesy of a last gasp victory at round three in Croatia.
Ogier was triumphant in Portugal in 2010 (his first WRC win), 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2017 and victory on Sunday would see Seb surpass legendary Finn Markku Alén, with whom he is tied with five victories in Portugal. With warm and sunny conditions forecast for much of the weekend, road starting positions could well become a factor on the dusty gravel stages and Ogier knows that it will not be easy to secure that coveted sixth win.
The Toyota Yaris driver said: “It’s great to be back in Portugal. It’s one of the most special rallies for me personally. We know we will face tough conditions opening the road. I haven’t yet driven the new Pirelli (Scorpion KX) gravel tyres so much in dry conditions and we know that tyre choice and managing them as well as possible is going to be an important part of this rally.”
The Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT currently holds the upper hand over the Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT in the fight for the Manufacturers’ title. Only 27 points separate the two teams, but Toyota is confident that it can extend that advantage with the in-form Elfyn Evans and young Kalle Rovanperä also in contention for the drivers’ title.
Running wide on a corner in the last stage arguably cost Evans the win in Croatia and the Welshman trails Ogier by 10 points heading into the Portugal showdown. “It’s been quite a while since the last gravel rally in Sardinia last year,” admitted Evans. “It’s hard to predict how it will go.”
Rovanperä showed superb form in Monte-Carlo and the Arctic Rally to finish fourth and second, but a retirement in Croatia was dropped the Finn to fifth in the rankings. He will take heart from a superb run to sixth overall in Portugal in 2019 at the wheel of a Škoda entered in the WRC2 Pro category.
The car’s aerodynamic package has been updated since Croatia and a new engine will be introduced in Portugal with improvements in power and reliability. Japan’s Takamoto Katsuta drives a fourth car as part of the ongoing Toyota Gazoo Racing Challenge Program.
Team principal Jari-Matti Latvala was a driver for the team when the WRC last visited northern Portugal in 2019 and finished seventh overall.
Calling on his experience in the hot seat, the Finn said: “After our strong result on asphalt in Croatia, we are ready for the first of several events on gravel. The sandy surface on top of the stages can make it quite slippery for the first cars in the morning. In the afternoon, the grip is higher but it can also be much rougher and we have seen before how challenging this can be for the cars and the tyres.”
Try as he may, Thierry Neuville could not hunt down Ogier over the final kilometres in Croatia and the Belgian finds himself eight points adrift of the Frenchman, albeit the leading Hyundai driver after three rounds.
Neuville has been the model of consistency so far this season with three third places to his name and the winner of the 2018 Rally of Portugal and runner-up in 2019 knows the importance of beating Ogier this weekend. This will be his first appearance in Portugal with new co-driver Martin Wydaeghe.
“Portugal has always been a highlight of the calendar,” he said. “Our aim is to bounce back after a tricky and unrepresentative weekend in Croatia. Portugal generally has soft and sandy roads. It can get quite rough on the second loop as the gravel becomes increasingly disturbed.”
Ott Tänak won the last Rally of Portugal in 2019 (the first for Toyota in Portugal since Didier Auriol’s success in 2002) on his way to the world title and the Estonian needs a strong finish on Sunday to continue his quest to catch the leading trio. He will take confidence from the fact that he dominated the 2019 event, leading from the third stage to the finish.
Having made the switch to the Hyundai team at the start of the 2020 season, a spectacular crash was a far-from-ideal start for Ott in Monte-Carlo this year, but he guided his i20 Coupé WRC to victory in northern Finland and finished fourth in Croatia to hold fourth in the drivers’ rankings.
Spain’s Dani Sordo returns to action to drive the third of the Korean manufacturer’s i20s. He finished fifth in Monte-Carlo at the start of the campaign, but was replaced by Irishman Craig Breen in Finland and Croatia. Sordo has an impressive record in Portugal – he finished third overall on four occasions in Portugal (2007, 2009, 2010 and 2017) and led for the first two specials in 2019. Carlos del Barrio partnered Sordo in Monte-Carlo, but has been replaced by Borja Rozada for the first time in Portugal.
“In previous years, I have always enjoyed an extra boost from the many spectators,” said Dani. “It is unlikely to be quite the same this year, but I am pleased we have the chance to compete.”
The M-Sport Ford WRT has not benefited from the best of starts to the season. Teemu Suninen showed pace before crashing in Monte-Carlo and followed that up with eighth and 10th places.
Gus Greensmith has shown consistent form to secure eighth, ninth and seventh on the opening three rallies, but the privateer team is languishing well behind its two factory-backed rivals.
Portugal will mark Greensmith’s second event with experienced Ulster co-driver Chris Patterson. He drove a World Rally Car for the first time at this event in 2019 and has been preparing by riding an exercise bike in a sauna to improve his physical fitness. M-Sport has been able to carry our gravel testing in the build-up to the rally as well.
“I always set myself targets and a top five is realistic,” said Greensmith. “To achieve a top five at this level everything has to be done right and I can’t be making any mistakes, so that’s the focus.”
Suninen will take part in the WRC2 category this weekend, so Greensmith joins forces with 26-year-old French talent Adrien Fourmaux in a two-car WRC team. Fourmaux finished ninth in Monte-Carlo and fifth in Croatia and will be eager to impress on his Rally Portugal debut, having won five specials in a Ford Fiesta Rally2 on the Portuguese championship round, Rali Terras d’Aboborera, in 2020.
“I was here as a spectator in 2019 but this will be my first time competing on this rally and I know it will be a big challenge,” said the Frenchman. “For my preparation I have been watching a lot of videos from the last few years on WRC Plus.”
Rounding off the 10-strong World Rally Car line-up, Frenchman Pierre-Louis Loubet takes charge of a fourth Hyundai i20 entered under the Hyundai 2C Competition team banner.
Thursday
The traditional 4.6km Shakedown stage is again based at Paredes and gets the competitive action underway on Thursday morning, with Priority 1 drivers on the track between 09.01hrs and 10.30hrs. The final section of the stage finishes inside the nearby Baltar karting circuit.
P2, P3, P4 and Non-Priority crews will then take their turn on the special before the event heads to the city of Coimbra for the ceremonial start on Thursday evening from 20.30hrs.