The Portuguese round of the FIA World Rally Championship has been one of the favourite events with drivers and manufacturers for a long time and this year’s rally being staged by the Automóvel Club de Portugal has attracted 89 entries.
Rally fans have great expectations for the 2018 edition of the WRC Vodafone Rally de Portugal. Will current World Champion Sébastien Ogier overhaul the record of five victories achieved 30 years ago by the legendary Markku Alén in Portugal?
We will have the answer between May 17-20 in the north of the country at the fifth round of the FIA World Rally Championship. In 2017, the event was responsible for an economic return in the region of 137 million Euros.
The event has been a great success over the last four years in the northern part of the country thanks to the invaluable contribution of Turismo do Porto and Norte and the municipalities. They have become crucial pillars for the continuity of the FIA World Rally Championship in Portugal.
A consolidated itinerary
Exponor, in Matosinhos, remains the headquarters for the rally and the venue for administrative and technical checks, the service park and the starts and finishes each day. With free admission from Wednesday through to Sunday, it will be the perfect place for the public to be able to see WRC machines up close and to have contact with the drivers.
Thursday, May 17th is the first day of the rally. The timetable begins in Paredes with the Shakedown stage, the final test for drivers and cars before the official start ceremony in Guimarães, Campo de São Mamede. From there, crews head to the Circuit de Lousada for the super special stage and the first timed competition.
Action on Friday, May 18th will be played out largely in the Alto Minho area, with two passes through the Viana do Castelo, Caminha and Ponte de Lima special stages - all of them unchanged from the previous year.
At the end of the day the rally returns to the centre of Porto. Two years after its debut, the Porto Street Stage has a revised route. It starts at the Porto Cathedral, then passed close to São Bento Station and the Brasileira to bring the thrills of the FIA World Rally Championship back to Avenida dos Aliados. From there, the cars head towards the Clerigos Tower to finish the 1.95 km special in front of the Court of Appeal.
Saturday’s action (May 19th) starts with the Vieira do Minho stage that precedes the Cabeceiras de Basto special in the Cabreira mountain range. As has been tradition, the daunting Amarante stage then runs for 37.6 km and is again the longest and most demanding of the rally.
The last day of the race is a tribute by the Rally de Portugal and the Automóvile Club de Portugal to the municipality of Fafe. All the stage take place in this area on Sunday (May 20th). In addition to the traditional double pass through the Fafe-Lameirinha stage, the last of which will be the event’s final Power Stage, there will be two passes through Montim and a single pass through the Luílhas stage.
The podium ceremony will take place in Matosinhos.
Ogier in everyone’s sights
The Vodafone Rally of Portugal has attracted all the top names in the FIA World Rally Championship and Hyundai has brought its entire team to the event.
Attention is, however, aimed at the current World Champion Sébastien Ogier. He wants to remain the leader of this year's championship and would love to break Markku Alén's 30-year record – the Finn won five editions of the Rally of Portugal.
Thierry Neuville lies second overall in the WRC drivers’ standings and is the leading Hyundai driver in a team that also includes Dani Sordo, Hayden Paddon and Andreas Mikkelsen.
Toyota’s Jari-Matti Latvala is one of three other drivers currently with wins in the Vodafone Rally of Portugal. Team-mate Esappeka Lappi was the winner of the 2017 Best Jump of the Year and Ott Tänak arrives in Portugal in the third Yaris with extra motivation after securing his first win of the year in Argentina recently.
Citroën also has three cars in the event: Kris Meeke was the winner of the 2016 Vodafone Rally de Portugal and lines up with Craig Breen and Norway’s Mads Østberg, who is new to the team line-up and has already won in Portugal.
WRC 2 – ever popular in Portugal
The WRC 2 Championship will be another of the attractions at Vodafone Rally of Portugal, with Škoda presenting itself as the favourite, having won four of the five rallies so far this year.
Ford will be represented by Takamoto Katsuta. The Japanese took part in the Rally de Mortágua recently to get acclimatised to Portuguese terrain and he is the only driver so far this season to beat one of the Czech cars.
Vodafone Rally of Portugal counts for Junior WRC
This year’s Vodafone Rally of Portugal also counts for the Junior WRC and 14 entrants will take part in a competition organised by M-Sport Poland.
Armindo Araújo returns to national scene
The Vodafone Rally of Portugal is again part of the Portuguese Rally Championship and there are a significant number of R5 cars.
With 17 drivers registered, several drivers will be hoping to claim the national victory, even though attention focuses Armindo Araújo’s return to the WRC. He drove car 0 in the 2017 Vodafone Rally of Portugal.
The most successful home driver in the Rally of Portugal returns with renewed ambition and the desire to become the leader of the national championship. Other leading names in national motor sport include Pedro Meireles, José Pedro Fontes and Miguel Barbosa.
Peugeot Rally Cup Iberia starts at the Vodafone Rally of Portugal
New rallying talent takes part in the first of six 2018 Peugeot Rally Cup Iberia events on the first day of Vodafone Rally of Portugal. In a joint initiative between the Portuguese and Spanish subsidiaries of Peugeot and, with logistical support from "Sports & You", this Iberian rally trophy starts in positive fashion with 21 entries.
Environmental Sustainability
Environmental sustainability is a decisive and mandatory factor in all WRC events in 2018. To this end, the Vodafone Rally of Portugal has been certified with the highest level of environmental certification from the FIA - Achievement of Excellence.
The Vodafone Rally of Portugal will mark International Recycling Day (May 17th) with various messages and initiatives aimed at encouraging the public to join the organisation of the event to minimize the impact.
These spectator areas are marked in green and all other areas are forbidden. It is vital that you respect your own safety and that of the rally in general.