MATOSINHOS (PORTUGAL): The FIA World Rally Championship’s new hybrid era will see a dozen Rally1 machines heading a bumper entry for their gravel debut at this weekend’s 55th Vodafone Rally of Portugal.
The M-Sport Ford World Rally Team will field five Ford Puma Rally1s for the first time, while the Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team has entered a quartet of GR Yaris Rally1 machines. The Hyundai Shell Mobis operation is running three i20 N Rally1s for Thierry Neuville, Ott Tänak and a returning Dani Sordo.
The fourth round of the series in northern Portugal will also see the return to action of defending World Champion Sëbastien Ogier and his record-breaking rival Sëbastien Loeb. Between them, they have won 17 of the last 18 Drivers’ Championships and earned a staggering 134 WRC event wins.
Both drivers have limited WRC programmes in 2022, but the form they showed to deliver a spectacular showdown in Monte-Carlo in January suggests that they may well be swapping fastest stage times again over the weekend.
Ogier teams up with co-driver Benjamin Veillas and joins current series leader Kalle Rovanperä, Elfyn Evans and Japan’s Takamoto Katuta in the Toyota team line-up. Toyota Gazoo Racing currently holds a 42-point lead in the Manufacturers’ Championship.
The Frenchman 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.
“I’m excited to be back competing in Portugal,” said Ogier, who holds eighth in the championship. “I’ve really enjoyed some time off and now I feel quite fresh coming back. I’m happy to see the team has continued winning in the last couple of rallies and I’m here to get some good results for myself and to help win another manufacturers’ title. It will be something different for me not to be starting near the front and that can be a bit of an advantage if it doesn’t rain. The biggest challenge will be getting back in the rhythm straightaway after only one test day on gravel last week.”
Two-time Portugal winner Loeb teams up with Isabelle Galmiche, with whom he won the Monte-Carlo Rally in dramatic fashion to seal an 80th career WRC win. He heads a five-car Ford team that also includes Craig Breen, Gus Greensmith, Adrien Fourmaux and Pierre-Louis Loubet.
The nine-time WRC champion is feeling confident. He said: “The first feeling of the Puma on gravel at our test was quite good. We worked on the suspension and the differential set-ups. Only one day of testing isn’t a lot when it’s the first time you are driving a car on gravel, but I was happy with the feeling I had. My goal will be to find a rhythm as quickly as possible. I am fourth on the road, road cleaning is always a challenge in this kind of rally if it is dry. I don’t really know what to expect so we need to do a good first day.”
Rovanperä leads the Drivers’ Championship by 29 points and the young Finn will have the task of leading the way and sweeping the gravel roads in his Toyota for the first time on Friday. He won both the Swedish and Croatian rounds of the series and holds a strong early season position as a result.
Kalle said: “The feeling with the new car on gravel has been quite good overall, especially in our pre-event test with some improvements made from before. Portugal is a rally that I usually like; the stages are nice and technical and there is a great atmosphere. For us, the road cleaning will probably be the biggest challenge, as it’s something quite new to us.”
Team-mate Evans was one of the pre-season favourites to win the title but the Welshman has endured a disappointing to his programme. The 2021 event winner will start the opening leg from ninth on the road, while Katsuta lines up in sixth and will be aiming to improve on his fourth place in Portugal last year.
Evans said: It’s difficult to know how we will fare against the competition in our first event on gravel with the Rally1 cars. But the feeling in testing was quite positive. Portugal is a rally I’ve enjoyed more and more as the years have gone on and it was great to win here last year. We could definitely do with a strong result.”
M-Sport Ford’s decision to enter five cars is the largest manufacturer entry of the new hybrid Rally1 era. But the Blue Oval has a good recent record at the event and followed up a win with Ogier in 2017 with a double podium finish the following year.
Breen is currently third in the championship. The Irishman said: “I am looking forward to Portugal. It’s a rally that I haven’t done for several years. I think it was 2018 the last time I did it. The first three rallies were all a bit unique in their own way, so looking forward to seeing what the pace of the Puma will be here. We had a good test. There are a lot of new stages and some changes since the last time I was here.”
Greensmith, meanwhile, drove a World Rally Car for the first time at this event in 2019. He teams up with Sweden’s Jonas Andersson in a team that also sees Fourmaux and Loubet chasing honours in their Pumas.
Greensmith and Fourmaux finished fifth and sixth overall in Portugal last year in their Ford Fiesta WRCs and can take confidence from those performances.
The Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Teams heads M-Sport Ford by four points heading into the weekend. All three of the team’s drivers have considerable experience in Portugal and are capable of claiming the win.
Neuville graced the top step of the podium in 2018 and was runner-up a year later. This will be his second appearance in Portugal with co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe. The Belgian currently holds second in the championship.
He said: “The Rally of Portugal is very exciting for us competitors. There are always huge crowds of fans and a great atmosphere. The stages are enjoyable, yet challenging. Tyre wear is important here as well and it can be quite rough on the second pass of the stage. We saw in Sweden, on the gravel set-up in the snow, that the car was fast and we hope to be strong on this surface.”
Team-mate Tänak won the Rally of Portugal in 2019 (the first for Toyota in Portugal since Didier Auriol’s success in 2002) on his way to the world crown. The Estonian holds equal fourth in the title race with Loeb. Last year, we won eight of the 20 stages and led for most of Saturday’s action before damaging his suspension in the Amarante stage.
The Estonian said: “Portugal is a very fun rally to drive and one that I really enjoy. Portugal is fast with a rather soft surface, and the second loop of the stages can be tough and demanding. You need good reliability as well as speed here to be successful. We hope that the momentum from our podium last time out in Croatia will continue.”
Sordo returns to WRC action for the first time this season with co-driver Candido Carrera in the third i20. He has an impressive record in Portugal – he finished third overall on four occasions (2007, 2009, 2010 and 2017), led for the first two specials in 2019 and finished second last year, winning four specials and leading for five stages.
The Spaniard said: “Portugal is always really nice, so I am very happy that this will be my first event of the season, as I’ve scored a podium here twice in the past with Hyundai. I’m hoping to adapt myself quickly to this new challenge. It won’t be easy as the other drivers have done three rallies already.”
Thursday
The all-important 4.62km 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.
P2, P3, P4 and Non-Priority crews will then take their turn on the special, while several leading drivers attend the pre-event press conference at the media centre in Exponor.
The rally then heads to the city of Coimbra for the ceremonial start on Thursday evening from 18.55hrs. Crews will then tackle the opening Coimbra super special stage of 2.82km, with the first car on stage from 19.03hrs.
2022 Vodafone Rally of Portugal – Rally1 crews
69. Kalle Rovanperä (FIN)/Jonne Halttunen (FIN) Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
11. Thierry Neuville (BEL)/Martijn Wydaeghe (BEL) Hyundai i20 N Rally1
42. Craig Breen (IRL)/Paul Nagle (IRL) Ford Puma Rally1
19. Sébastien Loeb (FRA)/Isabelle Galmiche (FRA) Ford Puma Rally1
5. Ott Tänak (EST)/Martin Järveoja (EST) Hyundai i20 N Rally1
18. Takamoto Katsuta (JPN)/Aaron Johnston (IRL) Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
44. Gus Greensmith (GBR)/Jonas Andersson (SWE) Ford Puma Rally1
1. Sébastien Ogier (FRA)/Benjamin Veillas (FRA) Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
33. Elfyn Evans (GBR)/Scott Martin (GBR) Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
16. Adrien Fourmaux (FRA)/Alexandre Coria (FRA) Ford Puma Rally1
7. Pierre Louis Loubet (FRA)/Vincent Landais (FRA) Ford Puma Rally1
6. Dani Sordo (ESP)/Candido Carrera (ESP) Hyundai i20 N Rally1
2022 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers – positions after round 3:
1. Kalle Rovanperä (FIN) 76pts
2. Thierry Neuville (BEL) 47pts
3. Craig Breen (IRL) 30pts
4. Sébastien Loeb (FRA) 27pts
4. Ott Tänak (EST) 27pts
6. Takamoto Katsuta (JPN) 26pts
7. Gus Greensmith (GBR) 20pts
8. Sébastien Ogier (FRA) 19pts
9. Elfyn Evans (GBR) 17pts
10. Esapekka Lappi (FIN) 15pts
11. Andreas Mikkelsen (NOR) 12pts
12. Oliver Solberg (SWE) 8pts
2022 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers – positions after round 3:
1. Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT 126pts
2. Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT 84pts
3. M-Sport Ford WRT 80pts
4. Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT NG 30pts