Among the 100 entries of the Rally de Portugal, there are 12 Rally1 cars, and from there, if nothing strange happens, it will be from there that the new winner of the race will emerge.
In the fight for absolute victory, where the cars of the Rally 1 category will naturally be the protagonists, several candidates are outlined, but with two heavyweights of the discipline standing out.
Kalle Rovanperä will be first on the road ahead of Thierry Neuville, Craig Breen, Sébastien Loeb, Ott Tänak, Gus Greensmithm Takamoto Katsuta, Sébastien Ogier, Elfyn Evans and Dani Sordo. These last three will have a good advantage on the first day, as they have seven, eight and nine, Rally1, respectively, to clear the road for them.
Even though he hasn’t competed since the Monte Carlo Rally, Sébastien Loeb is fourth on the road and right behind is Ott Tanak. We don’t believe that Gus Greensmith and Takamoto Katsuta have the capacity to win the competition, so Sordo, Evans and Ogier leave with good benefit, even if the Spaniard is out of rhythm, he is always doing very well in Portugal,
Tanak and Loeb have a reasonable position, with three and four Rally1s ahead, but Rovanpera, Neuville and Breen should have a more complicated 1st day. It will be interesting to see how this 1st stage ends. Of course, all this is based on the assumption that the floor is dry. If it rains before or on the 1st day (or on all) the ‘music’ is different…
On the list, as we know, are Sébastien Loeb (navigated by Isabelle Galmiche, in Ford Puma Rally 1) and Sébastien Ogier (accompanied by Benjamin Veillas, in Toyota GR Yaris Rally 1). The fact that both drivers chose the Portuguese event in their occasional participation calendar, says a lot about the status of Vodafone Rally de Portugal.
Together, the two Frenchmen have recorded seven triumphs in the Portuguese competition (two by Loeb and five by Ogier), more than enough curriculum for them to be named as two of the main favorites for the triumph. By the way, who knows if they won’t re-edit the frenetic fight for victory in the last Monte Carlo Rally, the inaugural event of this year’s WRC.
Many candidates for victory
With their sights set on victory, the pairs of Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT, Kalle Rovanperä/Jonne Haltunnen – current leaders of the Drivers’ and Navigators’ Championship, after winning two of the three rallies already contested (Sweden and Croatia) – and Elfyn also depart. Evans/Scott Martin, the winning duo of last year’s Vodafone Rally de Portugal, but that this season is still looking forward to a good result, something that the duo of the fourth Toyota GR Yaris Rally 1, Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston, also wants to reach.
The Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT team also has high expectations, even for the value of its triple of drivers that will be in the Hyundai i20 N Rally 1: Thierry Neuville/Martjin Wydaeghe, Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (2019 World Champions) and the duo Dani Sordo/Candido Carrera, which will once again be one of the pretexts for an authentic Spanish “invasion” of fans of the sport.
On the M-Sport Ford WRT side, in addition to Loeb/Galmiche, Craig Breen/Paul Nagle could also have a say in the discussion of the top positions, something that teammates at the controls of the official Ford Puma Rally 1 – Adrien Foraux/Alexandre Coria, Gus Greensmith/Jonas Andersson and Pierre Louis Loubet/Vincent Landais – at least in the theoretical field, they will have a harder time doing it.
Regardless of who wins and who additionally scores the most points on the Power Stage, thrills are always guaranteed.
Not only because it is always a race of great unpredictability in terms of results, but also because the variation in weather conditions, the starting order of the first day and the tire choices, promise to be decisive and easily shuffle the results, in a race that already records a new record for vehicles in the “Rally 1” category at the start of a WRC race, no more, no less, than 12!
