The second and final day of the pre-event recce for the 2016 Vodafone Rally de Portugal is now over, the cars are checked and the crews are ready for the action to begin.
Today (Wednesday) saw the crews complete their recce of the stages for the rally, with two runs over the stages used on Saturday, located to the east of Oporto. They also made and checked their notes for the event-opening superspecial stage at the Lousada rallycross track and for the pre-event shakedown, at Paredes and ending at the Baltar circuit.
While the crews were out making their notes, their teams were putting the rally cars through scrutineering, where the technical checks make sure they conform to the technical regulations. An early night for the drivers and an evening of pace-note checking for the co-drivers awaits the crews.
Tomorrow, the action begins in earnest. The pre-event shakedown at Paredes is the last chance for the crews to fine-tune their set-up before the start of the rally. The manufacturer teams start their runs at 07:30 and the later drivers can run until 13:00hrs.
Once the top drivers have finished, some of them will take part in the pre-event press conference at the EXPONOR headquarters in Matosinhos before the crews head towards the festivities surrounding the ceremonial start at Guimaraes, the spiritual birthplace of Portugal itself.
The cars will be on display from 16:15 in the holding area in front of the castle before the drivers and co-drivers take part in an autograph signing session for 20 minutes, beginning at 17:25.
The first car will roll over the start ramp at 18:10 and at 19:01, it will start the superspecial stage at Lousada in front of thousands of rally fans and the live TV cameras. The first cars will return to the EXPONOR at 20:00.
Rally fans will be able to watch the pre-event press conference and the start ceremony live through the event website, www.rallydeportugal.pt as well as the warm-up from Lousada. The action will also be shown live on Portuguese television, RTP2, from 19:00hrs.
One of the most important elements of success on the Vodafone Rally de Portugal is tyre choice; in recent years, tyre choice and management has been one of the biggest talking points and major influences on the outcome of the event.
The tyres manufacturers – Pirelli, Michelin, Hankook and DMACK – accordingly take their trade seriously. Pirelli, for example, has some 600 tyres prepared for the nine to ten cars running on its products this weekend.
A spokesman for Korean manufacturer Hankook, said; “This year, the stages seem to be slightly softer than last year. This might be because there was rain in the area of the rally the week before.
“If the ambient temperature remains slightly lower than last year, then the softer tyre might work better. It may be a case of soft tyres in the morning and harder examples in the afternoon.
“However, if the temperature rises past around 25 degrees C, then drivers using the soft tyres will probably begin to have problems.”
The current weather forecast suggests Friday could be the warmest day, with temperatures expected to reach low to mid-20s while cooler days on Saturday and Sunday – 19 and 18 deg respectively – are predicted. There is currently a 50% chance of rain on Saturday night, which could affect the stages for the final leg of the rally.