Portuguese drivers in spotlight at Lousada

Organisers of the 52nd Vodafone Rally of Portugal have injected further excitement into the opening special stage at the Lousada rally cross circuit by changing the starting order for the timed action on Thursday evening

Portuguese Rally Championship front-runner Miguel Barbosa has been paired to run head-to-head with Japanese WRC 2 driver Takamoto Katsuta to get proceedings underway at 19.03hrs.

Local rival Pedro Mereiles will then face off with Citroën’s Stéphane Lefebvre, who will be carrying an in-car camera in his new C3 R5.

Three-time Rally of Portugal winner Armindo Araújo lines up alongside Gus Greensmith at 19.13hrs and two-time Portuguese national champion José Pedro Fontes faces off against WRC 2 leader Pontus Tidemand at 19.18hrs.

The 14 World Rally Cars will then tackle the stage in reverse order with Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed Al-Rajhi leading the way against Norway’s Mads Østberg.

All eyes will then focus on the potentially explosive duel between five-time World Champion Sébastien Ogier and WRC rival Thierry Neuville at 19.53hrs.

START LIST for SECTION 1: Here