With the two-day pre-event recce for the Vodafone Rallye de Portugal now complete, the crews are about to start the rally in earnest. But before they do, several drivers gave their impressions of the stages that will make up this year’s event. And while some of the route is familiar, some is completely new.
Two stages on Friday’s loop - Caminha and Ponte de Lima - are familiar but run in the opposite direction this year while the Viana do Castelo features 10.9Km of new roads.
On Saturday, there are repeats of the Vieira do Minho and Amarante stages from last year but the 22.3Km of Cabeceiras de Basto is completely new.
And on Sunday, the two stages that separate the first and last running of Fafe, remaining the same as in previous years, are also new. Both the Luílhas and the Montim tests, totalling 20.5Km, will pose a new challenge to the drivers.
Commenting after the completion of the recce, last year’s winning co-driver, Citroen’s Paul Nagle, explained; “Stage 11, Cabeceiras de Basto, is very soft. It's a beautiful stage but I think by the time the field has been through, it could be a bit rough. The layout of the stages is really good though. Where there are safety concerns, there are tyres and ARMCO barriers and the standard here is very high.
“The two stages on Sunday are slightly different from the Fafe stage – they are narrow and twisty for a sting in the tail but they all fit in well. It's good to change it up a little.”
Hyundai’s Hayden Paddon, with a new co-driver, Seb Marshall, is also looking forward to the challenge. “I think I like the stages a bit more this year than last – they seem a bit faster and more flowing. They seem a little sandier than last year, so I think they might rough-up for the second pass but there’s a nice mixture of stages for the rally.
“There’s no problem [with the new co-driver]. Seb [Marshall] and I have been working behind the scenes for 12 months and have done some small rallies together. Everything felt very natural on the recce and he is doing a very good job.”
Almost-winner of the previous round, Ford’s Elvyn Evans, is a driver who doesn't feel that the change of direction of Ponte de Lima, for example, is a big problem. “I don't think much changes when it is reversed. It is a very technical stage and it has been run twice in one direction, so although it is the same stage, from a confidence in the pace notes scenario, with so many corners leading into one another, it would be more straightforward if it were run the same way.”
Toyota driver Jari-Matti Latvala seemed to relish the prospect of the new stages. “In the Fafe area, the new short stages are really interesting. There are a lot of corners. They are quite technical but I like them. You have to have really good notes over there. You need to be very precise. For Ponte de Lima, it doesn't really make much difference for me which direction it is run. It is a difficult stage – there are a lot of corners and they look the same. It is difficult to remember and now that some of the forest is cut down, it looks completely different from last year.”
Thursday’s action begins with the pre-event shakedown, from 07.30.