The biggest annual sporting event held in Portugal returns to the road between the 11th and 14th of May, with the 56th edition of the WRC Vodafone Rally de Portugal. A super-special in Figueira da Foz and a new qualifying stage in Paredes are highlights of the 329.06 kilometres timed course, which once again brings the stars of the World Championship to the North and Centre of the country. The international prestige of the ACP race is visible with the largest WRC entry list, with around 90 teams.
Over the course of 55 editions, since 1967, the Vodafone Rally de Portugal has established itself as one of the greatest phenomena of popularity in Portuguese sport, attracting hundreds of thousands of fans every year to the event's gravel stages. Scoring for the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC), the Automóvel Club de Portugal’s event continues to be one of the most emblematic rallies on the international scene, this year being the fifth round of the calendar, following the Croatia Rally (20 to 23 April) and opening the gravel stages on European soil (after a first foray into the gravel stages in Mexico, in March).
This year, the WRC Vodafone Rally de Portugal returns to another location that has marked its history of almost six decades, Figueira da Foz, the stage for a new super-special of 2.28 km in the city centre, with the mouth of the Mondego river and the Atlantic Ocean as a backdrop, closing the first competitive day of the race on Friday (12 May). Another novelty in 2023 is a 15-km qualifying stage in Paredes on the decisive day of Sunday (14 May), in a municipality that continues to host the traditional opening Shakedown of the rally, on Thursday (11 May), in the vicinity and on the Baltar track.
The route
In a similar format to recent years, the WRC Vodafone Rally de Portugal will have its official start and the first timed specials in Portugal’s Central Region. On Thursday, the city of Coimbra will once again host the event's starting ceremony, with an autograph session with the WRC stars, at 6pm, and the official start of the rally, at 8.30pm, at Coimbra University's emblematic Porta Férrea. The following day, the competitors depart from Coimbra for the double passages through Lousã (12.03 km), Góis (19.33 km) and Arganil (18.72 km), and the passage through Mortágua (18.15 km), before the debut of the super-special in Figueira da Foz.
On Saturday, the competitors head north to the sections of Vieira do Minho (26.61 km), Amarante (37.24 km) and Felgueiras (8.91 km), which also receive double passages, before the popular super-special of Lousada, on the Costilha track.
The rally then takes place in the Northern region, on Sunday, with the Paredes section, which precedes the first passage through Fafe’s special (11.18 km) and the Cabeceiras de Basto qualifying stage (22.23 km). The last special, in a Power Stage regime (with attribution of extra points), is once again framed by the famous Fafe scenarios. As usual, the competitors will arrive at the scenic Matosinhos waterfront, a few kilometres from the rally's operational centre, at Exponor.
In total, there will be 19 special stages and a course with 325.35 timed kilometres, among a total of 1,644.92 kilometres in the Centre and North of the country.