Today is the first full day of competition for the crews on this year’s Vodafone Rally de Portugal. Eight stages and 132Km face the crews after the first car leaves parc ferme at 07:50.
There are two loops of ‘main’ stages, located to the north of the event base at Matosinhos. The first is the 27.44Km Ponte de Lima test, followed by the 18.03Km of Caminha.
Following a brief refuelling stop, the crews move to the 18.70Km of Viana do Castelo before the crews head south again, to the street stage held in the centre of Oporto. They will recce the street stage in their rally cars – under a strict speed limit – before returning to the EXPONOR centre for the mid-day service.
Here, the mechanics will tend to the cars as necessary and fit a new set of tyres, ready for a repeat of the morning’s three stages in the afternoon. These will undoubtedly be rougher after the entire field has already passed over the roads, so drivers will need to take care.
After the second loop of three stages, the crews again travel to downtown Oporto, this time to drive the street stage competitively twice, before returning to EXPONOR again, for the end of leg service and overnight parc ferme.
The first car is expected to arrive at service at around 20:00, completing a busy first day of competition for the crews.
One of the most important elements of success on the Vodafone Rally de Portugal is tyre choice; in recent years, tyre choice and management has been one of the biggest talking points and major influences on the outcome of the event.
The tyres manufacturers – Pirelli, Michelin, Hankook and DMACK – accordingly take their trade seriously. Pirelli, for example, has some 600 tyres prepared for the nine to ten cars running on its products this weekend.
A spokesman for Korean manufacturer Hankook, said; “This year, the stages seem to be slightly softer than last year. This might be because there was rain in the area of the rally the week before.
“If the ambient temperature remains slightly lower than last year, then the softer tyre might work better. It may be a case of soft tyres in the morning and harder examples in the afternoon.
“However, if the temperature rises past around 25 degrees C, then drivers using the soft tyres will probably begin to have problems.”
The current weather forecast suggests Friday could be the warmest day, with temperatures expected to reach low to mid-20s while cooler days on Saturday and Sunday – 19 and 18 deg respectively – are predicted. There is currently a 50% chance of rain on Saturday night, which could affect the stages for the final leg of the rally.