The first stage of this year’s Vodafone Rally de Portugal took place at the Lousada rallycross circuit in front of 15,000 rally fans. Sebastien Ogier took the win on the opening test of the event, ahead of Thierry Neuville and local favourite, Spaniard Dani Sordo.
Ogier took the win despite complaining of no turbo boost on his Volkswagen Motorsport Polo R WRC for the start and the first 500 metres of the stage. However, it returned and he went on to set the fastest time, almost a second faster than Neuville in the first of the four Hyundai i20WRCs on the entry list.
Third fastest was fellow Hyundai driver Dani Sordo, finishing the stage to rapturous applause from the passionate Portuguese and Spanish rally fans, making the trip across the border.
Fourth and fifth fastest were the VW Motorsport team-mates of Andreas Mikkelsen and last year’s event winner, Jari-Matti Latvala. Winner of the previous round of the 2016 WRC, Hayden Paddon, was seventh fastest, behind the first of the Citroen DS3 WRCs, of Kris Meeke.
In WRC2, it was a Skoda 1-2-3, with Pontus Tidemand, Jan Kopecky and Teemu Suninen first, second and third respectively in their Fabia R5s. Fourth was Emil Bergkvist in a Citroen DS3 R5 with Nicolas Fuchs in another Skoda fifth.
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.