WRC - Rally Portugal - Preview
The FIA World Rally Championship returns to Europe and the hugely popular Rally de Portugal (31 May - 2 June) for round seven and the first European gravel event of the 2019 season.
Based in Matosinhos, close to the splendid coastal city of Porto, the event draws in thousands of fans to watch the action over fast, technical and twisty stages. The gravel roads are soft and sandy with a lot of grip, while large ruts can form for the second pass.
After the South American double-header in Argentina and Chile, the top three in the drivers’ championship are separated by just 12 points. Citroën’s Sébastien Ogier leads, 10 points ahead of Rally Chile’s winner Ott Tänak (Toyota), while Thierry Neuville is two points further behind and ready to bounce back following the big crash that ended his rally last time out. The Belgian is joined by Sébastien Loeb and Dani Sordo in the Hyundai line-up, the latter replacing Andreas Mikkelsen for this event. Competing with the World Rally Car crews for the first time in Portugal, Gus Greensmith is M-Sport’s third entry on the rally, alongside Elfyn Evans and Teemu Suninen.
In the FIA WRC 2 Pro class, Škoda gives a debut to the latest version of its Fabia R5 machine, with Kalle Rovanperä and Jan Kopecký behind the wheel. Mads Østberg and Łukasz Pieniążek are also eager to show their skills for Citroën and M-Sport respectively, while there are a further 23 cars entered in the FIA WRC 2 category.
THE 2019 ROUTE
A new twist for this year is a move south for the ceremonial start in Coimbra on Thursday before crews tackle two loops of three stages on Friday in the area around Arganil - last visited by the FIA WRC in 2001. With no mid-day service, the day concludes with a super special stage at the Lousada rallycross circuit. Saturday heads into the Cabreira mountains with three stages each run twice. Sunday focuses on the Fafe area for a total of five stages, including two passes of the Fafe stage itself and its famous jump – the second run designated as the rally-ending Power Stage.
RALLY DATA
| Total distance: | 1,433.15 km |
| Stage distance: | 306.97 km (21.42%) |
| Number of stages: | 18 |
MEDIA ACCREDITATION
The Accreditation Centre is located in the Media Center at Exponor Feira International do Porto (Av. Dr. Antonio Macedo 574, Matosinhos).
The opening hours are:
| Tuesday 28 May | 14:00 – 19:00 hrs |
| Wednesday 29 May | 08:00 – 20:00 hrs |
| Thursday 30 May | 08:00 – 20:00 hrs |
| Friday 31 May | 06:30 – 13:00 hrs |
A remote accreditation desk will also be open in Coimbra on Thursday 30 May (14:00 - 22:00). If you wish to pick up your accreditation there, please notify the press team by email before Wed. 29 May, 12:00: accreditation@acp.pt
RALLY PORTUGAL TIMETABLE & MEDIA OPPORTUNITIES ORGANISED BY THE FIA
| Wednesday 29 May | |
| Mandatory media safety briefing, Photographers’ Room, Media Center | 17:00 hrs |
| Thursday 30 May | |
| Mandatory shakedown (P1), Paredes Baltar | 08:00 - 11:30 hrs |
| Mandatory shakedown (P2 & P2P), Paredes Baltar | 09:30 - 11:30 hrs |
| Shakedown (others), Paredes Baltar | 11:30 - 13:30 hrs |
| ‘Meet the Crews’ Top 3 Shakedown, central stage, Exponor SP | 12:15 hrs |
| FIA Press Conference, Press Room, Media Center, Exponor SP | 13:00 hrs |
| Photo-shoot “family photo” P1 crews, Joanina Library, Coimbra University | 17:40 |
| Autograph session for priority crews, Coimbra | 18:15 – 18:45 |
| Ceremonial start, Coimbra | 19:00 |
| Friday 31 May | |
| Start of the rally (section 1) | 08:30 hrs |
| First car arrives for regroup, media zone & tyre fitting zone, Arganil | 11:48 hrs |
| First car arrives for media zone, regroup & final service, Exponor SP | 20:00 hrs |
| ‘Meet the Crews’ post-Leg 1, central stage, Exponor SP | During the 49’ service |
| Saturday 1 June | |
| First car arrives for regroup, media zone & service, Exponor SP | 12:35 hrs |
| First car arrives for media zone, regroup & final service, Exponor SP | 19:05 hrs |
| ‘Meet the Crews’ post-Leg 2, central stage, Exponor SP | During the 49’ service |
| Sunday 2 June | |
| Regroup before Power Stage, Fafe | 10:55 hrs |
| Podium Ceremony & Price Giving, Marginal de Matosinhos | 15:45 hrs |
| FIA Press Conference, Press Room, Media Center at Exponor SP | 16:30 hrs |
FIA PRESS CONFERENCE ATTENDANCE
| Thursday 30 May | FIA WRC |
| Sébastien Ogier (FRA), Citroën Total WRT | |
| Ott Tänak (EST), Toyota Gazoo Rally Team | |
| Sébastien Loeb (FRA), Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT | |
| Gus Greensmith (GBR), M-Sport Ford WRT | |
| FIA WRC 2 PRO | |
| Lukasz Pieniazek (POL), M-Sport Ford | |
| Jan Kopecky (CZE), Škoda Motorsport | |
| FIA WRC 2 | |
| Ole Chrsitian Veiby (NOR) | |
| Bruno Magalhães (POR) | |
| Sunday 2 June | Winning FIA WRC 2 Pro Championship crew |
| Winning FIA WRC 2 Championship crew | |
| Top three crews in the overall classification | |
| Representative of the winning manufacturer |
MANUFACTURER ENTRIES, RALLY PORTUGAL 2019
| Citroën Total WRT | Sébastien Ogier / Julien Ingrassia (#1) |
| Esapekka Lappi / Janne Ferm (#4) | |
| Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT | Thierry Neuville / Nicolas Gilsoul (#11) |
| Sébastien Loeb / Daniel Elena (#19) | |
| Dani Sordo / Carlos Del Barrio (#6) | |
| M-Sport Ford WRT | Elfyn Evans / Scott Martin (#33) |
| Teemu Suninen / Marko Salminen (#3) | |
| Gus Greensmith / Elliott Edmondson (#44) | |
| Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT | Ott Tänak / Martin Järveoja (#8) |
| Kris Meeke / Sebastian Marshall (#5) | |
| Jari-Matti Latvala / Miikka Anttila (#10) |
FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP CLASSIFICATIONS
The provisional classifications for all the WRC Championships is available on the following link:
https://www.fia.com/events/world-rally-championship/season-2019/standings
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