A staggering 46 P2 crews are entered in this weekend’s 56th Vodafone Rally of Portugal, with nearly all the leading contenders in both the 2023 FIA WRC2 and WRC2 Challenger Championships in attendance.
Yohan Rossel currently has a nine-point cushion over defending champion Emil Lindholm in the WRC2 Drivers’ Championship, courtesy of his victories in Monte-Carlo and Croatia.
But the PH Sport Citroën C3 driver faces a daunting task to seal a hat-trick of wins this season on his first gravel event of the season. The Frenchman said: “I think if you can keep finishing in the top three places, then you can be in a good position. But, of course, I am playing for the wins!”
The Toksport World Rally Team has entered a quintet of Škoda Fabia RSs for Great Britain’s Gus Greensmith, former champion Andreas Mikkelsen, flying Finn Sami Pajari, Nikolay Gryazin and Bolivia’s Marco Bulacia. Both Greensmith and Mikkelsen have extensive experience of the Rally1 category and have taken a step down to WRC2 to continue their progression in the sport.
Greensmith’s first competitive run in the car was a snowy and slippery affair at Portugal’s Rali Vieira do Minho where he finished second overall. He then went on to claim a famous category win in México and finished sixth in Croatia to hold fifth in the rankings.
Mikkelsen makes his first appearance in the FIA World Rally Championship since Greece last year, while Pajari and Bulacia hold seventh and ninth in the rankings, with Pajari’s best result being third in Sweden back in February. Bulacia, for his part, finished second on a recent national event in Portugal.
Mikkelsen was forced to miss the event in Portugal two years ago after a positive Covid test but led the WRC2 category in 2022 before his engine failed. The Norwegian admitted that this week’s test went very well and he is looking forward to his WRC2 return. “I want to win the rallies, so it’s not about being super-fast for five stages and then retiring. You have to manage events as well. I will focus event-by-event, trying to win them.”
Gryazin holds a seven-point cushion over Pajari in the WRC2 Challenger series and is fourth in WRC2 after a pair of second-place finishes in Monte-Carlo and Croatia. The WRC Challenger series is open to any WRC-registered driver who has not previously been nominated for WRC manufacturer points or won the WRC2 title.
Young Oliver Solberg was the joint WRC2 leader after the opening two rounds in Monte-Carlo and Sweden. He guided his Škoda Fabia RS to an impressive win at Rally Sweden and followed that with several impressive stage times and a podium finish in México to hold fourth in the championship.
Adrien Fourmaux was an official M-Sport Ford driver in 2022 with a Ford Puma Rally 1 and the Frenchman, who is currently sixth in the WRC2 Drivers’ Championship, represents the team in WRC2 with the latest Ford Fiesta Rally2. His best result this season was fourth in Croatia.
After the tragic passing of Craig Breen before the Rally of Croatia, Kris Meeke has teamed up with the Irishman’s former co-driver James Fulton and has entered the Rally of Portugal in a Sports & You Hyundai i20N Rally2 run by Team Hyundai Portugal.
Meeke plans to keep Breen’s legacy alive with strong performances throughout the season and the five-time WRC rally winner began his campaign in spectacular style by winning the Rali Terras d'Aboboreira late last month.
Other names to look out for on a potent entry list include Czech driver Erik Cais, Estonia’s Georg Linnamäe, M-Sport Ford’s Grégoire Munster, Finn Lauri Joona and Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy’s Eamonn Kelly and Josh Mcerlean.
Portuguese drivers have an excellent opportunity to shine on home gravel and a dozen national teams are entered in WRC2. Leading the local challenge is 2009 and 2010 PWRC winner Armindo Araújo at the wheel of a Škoda Fabia Evo. The 45-year-old won the Rally of Portugal on three occasions (2003, 2004 and 2006) when it was not a round of the FIA World Rally Championship.
Also representing the host nation at the sharp end of the WRC2 field are Miguel Correia (Škoda), Ricardo Teodósio (Hyundai), José Pedro Fontes and Bernardo Sousa (Citroën C3s), Pedro Almeida (Škoda) and Pedro Meireles (Hyundai).
Kremer tops WRC Masters Cup field
The event was has also attracted several drivers taking part in the WRC Masters Cup category. Armin Kremer teams up with esteemed cross-country co-driver Timo Gottschalk in a Škoda Fabia to head the list.
The German won the category in Croatia last month and faces competition on this occasion from Paraguay’s Miguel Zaldivar, Spain’s Alexander Villanueva and Miguel Aboitiz, Portugal’s Francisco Teixeira, Qatari veteran Nasser Khalifa Al-Attiyah – the cousin of five-time Dakar winner Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah – and Italy’s Luciano Cobbe.
Austrian driver Johannes Keferböck currently holds a six-point lead over Hungary’s Zoltán László in the WRC Masters Cup with WRC veteran François Delecour in third after his win in Monte-Carlo.
Finns Korhonen and Herranen in WRC3 duel
Finland’s Roope Korhonen and Toni Herranen are the only two entrants in the WRC3 category in their Ford Fiesta Rally3s. The duo currently hold fourth and 12th in the Drivers’ Championship.
Paraguay’s Diego Dominguez is the early season pace setter, having taken fourth in Sweden and a victory in México on his way to a nine-point lead over Ireland’s Will Creighton and Belgian Tom Rensonnet, although these three drivers do not appear on the Portuguese entry list.
Wednesday
Tomorrow, crews carry out their final stage reconnaissance, while cars are taken to scrutineering checks at Exponor. After a mandatory drivers’ briefing, select crews will then attend an evening photoshoot.
2023 FIA WRC2 Championship – positions after round 4:
1. Yohan Rossel (FRA) 53pts
2. Emil Lindholm (FIN) 44pts
3. Oliver Solberg (SWE) 43pts
4. Nikolay Gryazin (ANA) 38pts
5. Gus Greensmith (GBR) 37pts
6. Adrien Fourmaux (FRA) 33pts
7. Sami Pajari (FIN) 25pts
8. Ole Christian Veiby (NOR) 19pts
9. Marco Bulacia (BOL) 16pts
10. Pepe López (ESP) 15pts
11. Erik Cais (CZE) 12pts
11. Georg Linnamäe (EST) 12pts
11. Kajetan Kajetanowicz (POL) 12pts, etc
2023 FIA WRC2 Challenger Championship – positions after round 4:
1. Nikolay Gryazin (ANA) 50pts
2. Sami Pajari (FIN) 43pts
3. Kajetan Kajetanowicz (POL) 25pts
3. Marco Bulacia (BOL) 25pts
5. Georg Linnamäe (EST) 20pts, etc
2023 FIA WRC3 Championship – positions after round 4:
1. Diego Dominguez (PRY) 37pts
2. Will Creighton (IRL) 28pts
2. Tom Rensonnet (BEL) 28pts
4. Roope Korhonen (FIN) 25pts
4. Eamonn Kelly (IRL) 25pts
6. Jason Bailey (CAN) 18pts
6. Hamza Anwar (KEN) 18pts
8. Laurent Pellier (FRA) 15pts
8. Roberto Blach (ESP) 15pts
10. Filip Kohn (CZE) 10pts
11. Jesse Kallio (FIN) 8pts
12. Toni Herranen (FIN) 4pts