With the start of the 2014 Vodafone Rally de Portugal just a few days away, we spoke with the Clerck of the Course, Pedro Almeida, to get to know a little better the reasons behind the itinerary changes for this year’s edition, the importance of his personal experience as a competitor and which Stage might be considered the most interesting…
What are the reasons behind the changes in some of this year’s Stages?
This year the changes are due to regulations. Most of the times, they are only details that elude spectators, but rules are always evolving and one must find solutions. Fortunately, there are solu-tions for those situations in this area, so we just have to change the Rally accordingly.
For example, contrary to what happened in 2013, when we were able to have a Power Stage with 53 km, this year we had to do it with a limit of 15 km. Therefore, we had to find a solution for that stage which also has to start at 11 o’clock. Bearing all this in mind, when we move a piece of the puzzle, we must also move all the other pieces. As simple as that.
You were a co-driver; what do you take from that now that you are the Clerk of the Course?
I’m not the only one. In rallying it is common to have sporting directors coming from the right seat of the car; it’s not so usual to see people coming from the left side. Obviously, it helps a lot if you were inside, if you’ve felt all the difficulties of an event, you search for the best solutions. No doubt it was a ten-years experience which has helped me a lot from then on.
You’ve run the stage in your days, and now you design and build the Vodafone Rally de Portugal. With that in mind, which do you consider to be the most interesting stage?
I would say the most interesting one should be Santana da Serra. Not just for the length – with 31.9 km it’s the longest of the Rally – but also because it’s the most natural of the all Rally. It’s almost an original road, with very little work done on it, with lots of pace changes, several kinds of surface and the one drivers think of as the most demanding in all the Vodafone Rally de Portugal. I don’t know if it will be the Rally decider, but from the drivers’ point of view there’s no doubt it is one of the most interesting ones.