The first full day of competition for this year’s Vodafone Rally de Portugal – Friday 22 May – comprises six stages to the north of the base at Matoshinos, centred around the mouth of the Lima river on the Atlantic coast.
The first is the 27.5Km Ponte de Lima stage to get the crews working hard, followed by the first run through the 18.05Km of Caminha. Finally, the 18.73Km Viana do Castelo rounds-out the loop before crews return to the Exponor service park for the midday service, followed by a repeat of the three stages in the afternoon.
The soft, sandy base is likely to hinder early runners on the road to begin with but for the second run through, is likely to become rough, with the passing of around 90 cars between the fist and second runs. Because of this, crews will need to be cautious and look after their cars and tyres second time around.
It appears that Eric Camili will be joining the crews this morning, his car freshly repaired and waiting for its driver in parc ferme, after he ripped two wheels of the Fiesta R5 on the superspecial stage last night.
There were early reports of a forest fire in the area of the first stage but this appears to have been brought under control, so its all systems go for day 2 – the first full day of competition – for 2-15 Vodafone Rally de Portugal.
Times for first car:
Parc ferme out/service in 08:00
SS2 Ponte de Lima 1 09:40
SS3 Caminha 1 10:25
SS4 Viana do Castelo 1 11:15
Service in 12:55
SS5 Ponte de Lima 2 14:50
SS6 Caminha 2 15:35
SS7 Viana do Castelo 2 16:25
Flexi Service in 18:00
Parc ferme closed 23:00