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World Rally teams ready for Portugal

After their long-haul journey to Rally New Zealand, which was the only Southern Hemisphere event on this year’s FIA World Rally Championship calendar, world rally teams head to Vodafone Rally de Portugal, running from 27 to 30 May.

Rally de Portugal is the sixth of this year’s 13 rounds, and the last in a cluster of five gravel events before the mid-season break. The past two editions of the slippery gravel event, both run in the south of Portugal, have been won by Citroen Total World Rally Team pairing Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena. Their current 36 point lead in the drivers’ standings again marks them as the favourite for the three day competition which covers 355 km and attracts thousands of fanatical rally fans.

Set in Portugal’s holiday region of Algarve and stretching to Baixo Alentejo on the south coast, many of the stages are based in the Serra do Caldeirão hills, north of the Faro event base. With the first and last stages set inside the Algarve Stadium, each day comprises two identical loops of stages, split by a return to the service park at Faro. The roads differ little from last year, with just nine per cent of the route new and one stage on the opening day being run in the opposite direction.

This year’s event is scheduled two months later than in 2009, so teams can expect higher temperatures, drier conditions and plenty of slippery loose gravel on the road surface. Teams are restricted to using the hard compound version of Pirelli’s Scorpion WRC 205/65R15 tyre.

While talk has been of Loeb’s dominance in the Citroen C4, the BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team will look to carry on the excitement of achieving a historic 75th WRC win when Jari-Matti Latvala took victory in New Zealand. BP Ford currently trails Citroen by five points for this season’s manufacturers’ title. Nearing the season’s midway point, five points equates to next to nothing: a seventh place is worth six – which demonstrates just how close the scrap is.

Although Loeb starts first on at least the first of the three days, Latvala’s climb to second overall in the drivers’ standings has him in a delicate situation. “I've developed a completely different attitude to my driving this season in my job as number two in the team,” said the 25-year-old. “That role has helped me to understand the sport better. It's not only about being fastest; it's just as important for a driver to be consistent and finish rallies to fight for the title.”

He adds that last year’s spectacular crash, when his Focus RS WRC rolled more than 150 metres down a hillside, will not be a distraction for him. “That stage will be used again this year and when I drive through it during the reconnaissance I will slow down and take a quick look where we went off. I will be changing my pace notes for that corner! But I've put the crash behind me and I won't treat that stage any differently in the rally itself," he said.

Behind Loeb and Latvala, Mikko Hirvonen (BP Ford) and Sébastien Ogier (Citroen Junior Team) have edged ahead of the hard-charging Citroen privateer Petter Solberg, whose never-say-die performances have helped open up the championship title chase.

Adding to the heavyweight driver line-up, Ogier’s Citroen Junior Team team-mate Kimi Raikkonen returns for the Portuguese event, along with American sporting star Ken Block in the Monster World Rally Team Ford Focus.

Entrants for the Super 2000 and Junior World Rally Championships (SWRC and JWRC) include no less than six Ford Fiesta Super 2000 teams. Super 2000 series leader, Spaniard Xevi Pons aims to hold onto his current position but will face a tough challenge, especially from Finnish Jari Ketomaa, who won his first SWRC round at Rally New Zealand earlier this month. Germany’s Aaron Burkart (Suzuki Swift S1600) has one victory under his belt in the JWRC category following the feeder series opener in Turkey mid-April. Twenty one-year-old Burkart has a seven point lead over San Marino’s Alessandro Broccoli (Renault Clio R3), and is one of just seven drivers in the six round JWRC series.

The Pirelli Star Drivers head to their second WRC event with the sponsored field including New Zealanders Hayden Paddon and co-driver John Kennard. Paddon, who won the PWRC class at Rally New Zealand at the beginning of May, hasn’t rallied in Portugal before and has been preparing carefully.

Paddon said: “Like most of the events this year, Portugal is going to be a new one for me. I’ve watched some videos of the stages and the roads look nice, twisty in places and some big crests. The thing which will be a bit different to me will be the sandy surface on some of the roads – we don’t really have anything like that in New Zealand. After John and I have done the recce, we’re going to target some stages we really enjoy in Portugal and try and measure ourselves against the rest of the Group N drivers with some good times. Again, this is not a round of the Production World Rally Championship, so I don’t need to worry about scoring points, but what I really do need is to get to the finish – that’s the aim, first and foremost. I was gaining good confidence in the car in Turkey and I’d like to continue where I left off. I’ll be honest and admit getting used to the Lancer Evolution X has taken me a little longer than I thought it would. I thought there would be a stronger similarity with the Evolution IX I drive at home. Given that we hadn’t done much testing before Turkey, there was always going to be an element of the extended test to the event. That said, things were really starting to click in a couple of stages on the last event, so I’m sure it will all come together in Portugal. This car [the Evolution X] is a fantastic machine, though!”

One of five in the Pirelli Star Driver programme contesting six selected rounds of the WRC, Paddon joined his fellow rivals at a promotional road show for Rally de Portugal in the populous northern city of Porto, where the event used to be based. The crews drove a super special stage through the streets of Porto on Sunday (23 May) before completing reconnaissance on the rally stages around Faro (25 to 26 May).

The rally starts with a two kilometre run over the super special stage in the Algarve Stadium on Thursday night (27 May), with seven gravel stages on Friday, six on Saturday and five on Sunday. Concluding Sunday afternoon with a final run through the Algarve super special, the ceremonial finish also takes place in the stadium from 2pm.
ENDS/

More information is available on www.wrc.com.

FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers (after 5 of 13 rounds, i.e. before Portugal)
1, Sébastien Loeb, 108pts                 
2, Jari-Matti Latvala, 72pts                
3, Mikko Hirvonen, 64pts                
4, Sébastien Ogier, 63pts                
5, Petter Solberg, 53pts                
6, Dani Sordo, 34pts

FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers (after 5 of 13 rounds)
1, Citroen Total, 156pts
2, BP Ford Abu Dhabi, 151pts
3, Citroen Junior, 75pts
4, Stobart M-Sport Ford, 74pts
5, Munchi's Ford, 32pts