The first of the two-day recce for the 2016 Vodafone Rally de Portugal was a busy one for the crews, as they completed two passes of the stages which make up the first and third day of the rally.
Their day comprised the three roads that will make up the two loops on Friday – SS2/5 Ponte de Lima, SS3/6 Caminha and SS4/7 Viana do Castelo. These are all located far to the north of the event base at Matosinhos while the remaining two roads, to be run twice on Sunday, are found to the north-east of the base.
These are SS16/18 Viera do Minho and SS17/19, the famous Fafe stage, which will be run as the final Powerstage, over the famous jumps.
The weather in the region was wet last week but it has been dry and breezy since the weekend, meaning that the roads forming the stages are likely to dry before the start of the event. The weather forecast for the duration of the rally also looks to be rain-free, meaning a dry and fast rally.
Championship leader and reigning champion Volkswagen Motorsport’s Sebastien Ogier, is unsurprisingly unhappy at the prospect of a dry rally. “First on the road will be difficult on a dry rally, for sure. For me, it would be good if it rains but I don’t think it will happen. Portugal is special for me – I have won the rally four times and the fans are fantastic.”
The FIA World Rally Championship’s latest winner, kiwi Hyundai driver Hayden Paddon, is playing down his chances on the first European gravel rally of the season. “I have to be realistic. I will do my best of course but a podium finish would be a really good result. I really like the stages here in Portugal – I just hope it doesn’t rain!”
Citroen’s Kris Meeke is looking to improve on last year’s performance; “The aim is to get more experience and improve on last year’s finish. We were fourth and I would like to do better than that.”
Last year’s winner, Jari-Matti Latvala, has just one objective; “I want to win, like I did in 2015. I really like this rally and we ran well in Mexico and Argentina before a technical problem but I would like a repeat of last year. I think this year, the main rivals will be Paddon, Ogier and Meeke.”
Thierry Neuville feels his road position can help him achieve a good result; “We have a good start [road] position and so, I hope we can push to the front. Last year, tyre choice was difficult but this year, the stages feel faster and I am looking forward to a good fight.”
The second day of the recce takes the crews to the area east of Oporto for the three roads which form the route on Saturday – SS10/13 Baiao, SS11/14 Marao and SS12/15 Amarante. They will also recce the superspecial stage at the Lousada rallycross track and the shakedown stage at Paredes. The downtown Oporto street stage will be recce’d during the itinerary on Friday, ready for the double run that evenin