A star-studded line-up of drivers were on show for the passionate Portuguese fans which included two former World Champions, Jacques Villeneuve and Petter Solberg. Solberg was quickest during free practice setting a lap time of 39.34s, with reigning FIA European Rallycross Champion Timur Timerzyanov just half a second behind.

Timerzyanov’s pace was set to continue as he was quickest during the first heat for Team Peugeot-Hansen. Solberg was second in his PSRX run Citroen DS3 Supercar, with Andreas Bakkerud clocking the third fastest time for Ford OlsbergsMSE.

Heat two proved action-packed as a collision between Timerzyanov and Solberg on the opening corner knocked Solberg out of the race. Timerzyanov went on to win the heat ahead of Bakkerud who finished second. Reinis Nitiss and Volkswagen-Marklund’s Topi Heikkinen lie joint third while Anton Marklund rounds off the top five.
 
“It’s a good start for me and for the team,” explained Timerzyanov. “The main race is tomorrow but I want to be on the pole again. Maybe I will do something special in the final!”

Bakkerud, who was visibly delighted at the end of day press conference, added: “It’s been a great result for Olsbergs MSE today and I’m really happy. We have to say a big thanks to Andreas [Eriksson] and the whole of the OMSE team.  I feel like we are really well prepared and they have done a great job over the winter.  It almost felt like we were revising over winter and today was the exam – I think we didn’t do too bad!”

Elsewhere, World RX first female driver Ramona Karlsson is 14th after finishing fourth in her first heat and third in the second at the wheel of a Saab 9-3. Villeneuve lies one spot behind in his Albatec Racing run Peugeot 208 Supercar.
 
“It was a tough learning day and the level of competition here is very high so I will need to push,” explained the former F1 World Champion. “The car feels different to how we tested it during the winter.  I made a mistake in the first heat and had a puncture in the second but I hope to make the semis tomorrow. It feels great to be part of a Championship again – the rallycross fans are great.”
 
The Monster Energy World RX Team drivers of Liam Doran and Krzysztof Skorupski did not start today’s heats due to technical problems with their Citroen DS3 Supercars.