Hyundai Motorsport’s Dani Sordo has set the pace during Thursday morning’s shakedown session, held at the Paredes rallycross stage. Completing his third run of the 4.6km stage, Sordo posted a time of 3.06.9s, delighting the fans who have already turned up to line the stage in their hundreds.
M-Sport World Rally’s Sebastien Ogier, who is competing in this event in a brand-new car, also took three runs of the stage during shakedown, but he couldn’t quite match Sordo’s pace. He posted the second-fastest time of 3.07.0.
However, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT’s Jari Matti Latvala put in a fourth run in his Toyota Yaris WRC and set the third fastest time of 3.07.1. His final attack of the morning’s shakedown session resulted in the three fastest drivers sharing less than half a second between them!
The incredibly competitive tone of the 2017 Vodafone Rally de Portugal has been set. Sordo will no doubt want to maintain his pace, while Ogier will be determined to prove the newly-built Fiesta is a worthwhile investment. As for Latvala – he’ll be eager to show how competitive the Toyota is over the challenging event.
Citoren Total Abu Dhabi WRT’s Kris Meek – who won the event last year – was fourth fastest over the stage, with a time 3.07.2, sharing in the already tight half second space.
In WRC2, Skoda Motorsport’s Andreas Mikelsen set a time of 3.13.6 in his Fabia RS, while M-Sport’s Teemu Suninen completed the stage in 3.175. Teammate Eric Camilli completed in 3.17.8, showing the closeness of the competition.
With the Shakedown completed, the drivers and teams will get the chance to fine-tune their settings and their pace notes ahead of Thursday evening’s opening Super Special stage on the streets of Lousada where fans are expected to attend in their thousands.