Four rallies have been contested so far, each with its own story and different protagonists, although Toyota have been the dominant force. Here are the statistics to help you understand what the drivers have been up to ahead of the Vodafone Rally de Portugal.
With the Portuguese event just around the corner (from 15 to 18 May), here's a look at what happened on the previous rallies (Monte Carlo, Sweden, Safari and the Canary Islands). Get to know the drivers who took part in all the races, the fastest, those who participated in the most special stages (PECs) and, of course, those who covered the most kilometres in timed sections.
It's important to note that each brand can nominate three drivers to score points in the Constructors' Championship, although only the two best results in each race count. After the Canary Islands Rally, only nine official drivers took part in all the races, plus two more challenging for the WRC2 title. World champions Toyota entered their 'Dream Team' of Elfyn Evans, Kalle Rovanperä and Takamoto Katsuta for all four races, with Sami Pajari, who is part of the Gazoo Racing Toyota 2, joining them. Great rivals Hyundai didn't make it easy and went into battle with world champion Thierry Neuville, Ott Tänak and Adrien Fourmaux. M-Sport, representing Ford, also entered the race with official drivers Grégoire Munster and Joshua McErlean. Diego Dominguez, the 2024 WRC3 champion, and Oliver Solberg, both in Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, were the other drivers to compete in all the races.
An important statistic that could be a good indicator for the Vodafone Rally de Portugal is who has won the most stages. Kalle Rovanperä is undoubtedly the fastest this year with 20 stage wins, followed by Elfyn Evans with 13, Ott Tänak with 12, Sébastien Ogier and Adrien Fourmaux with 8 and Takamoto Katsuta with 7. This has been an atypical season for World Champion Thierry Neuville, who has only won 5 stages. It should be noted that Yohan Rossel won one stage with the Citroën C3 Rally2, which was the same time as the Rally1s!
Interestingly, only three drivers completed the 74 stages on snow, dirt and tarmac: Elfyn Evans, Thierry Neuville and Ott Tänak. Of course, they were also the drivers who covered the most kilometres with 1,305.3. Grégoire Munster completed 72 special stages and covered 1,268.4 kilometres, Takamoto Katsuta 71 stages and 1,254.4 kilometres and Kalle Rovanperä and Oliver Solberg 70 stages, but the Finn covered more kilometres; 1,247.6 to the Swede's 1,226.5.