Two new stages and a demanding three-day route will make this weekend’s 58th Vodafone Rally of Portugal as challenging as ever.
The event marks the first of seven successive gravel rounds of the 2025 FIA World Rally Championship and a stark contrast to the icy roads of southern France, the snowy forests of Sweden, the choking dust of Kenya and the smooth tarmac roads of Gran Canaria.
It all kicks off with the traditional 5.72km Shakedown stage at Baltar to the east of Matosinhos from 08.01hrs on Thursday morning. P1 and invited P2 drivers will be able to make their finishing touches to the gravel set-up on their cars with Hankook’s new gravel tyre, in advance of the ceremonial start in Coimbra, starting at 17.00hrs.
A short spectator stage of just 2.94km on the sea front at Figueira da Foz will wrap up Thursday’s itinerary with the first car on stage from 19.05hrs.
A marathon Friday follows, consisting of four stages around Arganil driven twice with two remote service halts, and another two new stages at Sever do Vouga near Aveiro on the way back north to Porto.
Mortágua (14.59km) is first on the agenda from 07.35hrs and precedes runs through the tight and technical Lousä special (12.28km), Góis (14.30km) and Arganil (14.41km).
The new stages – Águeda/Sever (15.08km) and Sever/Albergaria (20.24km) - will take centre stage from 18.35hrs and 19.20hrs, respectively. This area of Portugal hosted the event between 1995 and 1999 with the first of the two new specials finishing inside the Sever do Vouga rallycross circuit.
The second new stage runs through the Alberbaria-a-Velha region and was first used way back in 1974 under the name Monte Telégrafo. On that occasion, victory went to the Italian duo of Raffaele Pinto and Arnaldo Bernacchini in a Fiat Abarth 124 Rally. The event was the opening round of the World Rally Championship after the oil crisis forced the cancelation of rallies in Monte-Carlo and Sweden.
Saturday’s itinerary includes two loops of three demanding gravel stages northeast of Porto and the now traditional visit to the Lousada rallycross track to entertain the vast crowds in the evening.
The first pass through Vieira do Minho (17.69km) gets the day underway at 07.35hrs and precedes Cabeceiras de Basto (19.91km) and Amarante (22.10km), which is the longest stage of the rally. The three stages are repeated in the afternoon before the side-by-side action at Lousada fires into life from 19.05hrs.
Saturday’s opener starts near the Sanctuary of Senhora da Fé and finishes in Anjos, while Amarante has been the longest stage on the event since 2015 and was first used in part back in 1969.
Sunday’s traditional sting in the tail includes two passes through three shorter specials and culminates with the second run through the iconic Fafe special that acts as the Wolf Power Stage once again.
Action gets underway in Paredes (16.09km) at 06.43hrs and then runs around the Santa Quitéria hill for the Felgueiras (8.81km) stage before the first pass through Fafe (11.18km). After remote refuelling the first two stages are repeated in the late morning.
The Wolf Power Stage and its legendary Pedra Sentada jump to the finish is scheduled to bring the event to a conclusion from 13.15hrs.
In a total route of 1,790.65km, competitors will tackle 344.50km against the clock.