Vodafone Rally de Portugal 2017 [May 18-21]

[dimviii]

http://www.rallysportmag.com.au/home...portugal-wrc-6

[Watson]

Link to the interview?

I expect Neuville and Ogier to battle for the win, with Latvala trailing in third (possibly jumping them if he gets the car quick enough). Meeke will have a slow and steady weekend or go too fast and crash.

I agree with Neuville/Ogier/Meeke but unless they get struck with issues I'd expect Tanak, Evans and Sordo all to be quite a bit faster than Latvala.

[steve.mandzij]

Really? Latvala is definitely better than Sordo and Evans, and on par with Tanak when he's crazy. The only reason he'd fall behind is his Yaris acting up or just not being up to the competition.

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[AnttiL]

Link to the interview?

http://www.ts.fi/urheilu/moottoriurh...la+Portugaliin

Here in Finnish

Opin Argentiinassa, että ensimmäinen päivä on hyvin tärkeä. Silloin on yritettävä, ja oltava kärkiviisikossa, jotta saa hyvät lähtöasemat seuraavaan päivään. Se on tavoite Portugalissa, ja jos keli on kehno avauspäivänä, lähtöpaikkani kakkosena voi itse asiassa auttaakin minua, kun tie menee takana huonompaan kuntoon

which translates about to:

I learned in Argentina that the first day is very important. You have to try then and to be in the top five to get a good starting position for the following day. That's the target in Portugal, and if the weather is bad on the opening day, my starting position as the second car may actually be an advance, as the road gets in worse condition behind me.

Not sure if that interview is some days old, but right now it seems that the weather is dry for the whole weekend, so Ogier and Latvala have probably some sweeping to do on the first day.

[Watson]

Really? Latvala is definitely better than Sordo and Evans, and on par with Tanak when he's crazy. The only reason he'd fall behind is his Yaris acting up or just not being up to the competition.

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Well Latvala is also pretty inconsistent. No doubt he is a top notch driver but then he is very dependent on his confidence. The win in Sweden was impressive given that the Yaris does not seem very competitive but then it has always been a strong rally for him. I think Tanak is finding his feet, making less mistakes and not taking unreasonable risks. If the Fiesta doesn't act up I always have him high on my podium contender list. Evans is a bit of an unknown quantity but his drive in Argentina was very impressive and before his speed wasn't bad either, on top of that the DMack tyre should also work well on the next run of events. Sordo is also up there most of the time. He may not be the very fastest but usually you can expect him in the top 5 just because he hardly puts a foot wrong.

Anyway those four are always a tough call, but I do see Latvala on the back foot because he still seems pretty insecure and it does look like the Toyota is not as fast as the Hyundai and the Ford.

[steve.mandzij]

Well Latvala is also pretty inconsistent. No doubt he is a top notch driver but then he is very dependent on his confidence. The win in Sweden was impressive given that the Yaris does not seem very competitive but then it has always been a strong rally for him. I think Tanak is finding his feet, making less mistakes and not taking unreasonable risks. If the Fiesta doesn't act up I always have him high on my podium contender list. Evans is a bit of an unknown quantity but his drive in Argentina was very impressive and before his speed wasn't bad either, on top of that the DMack tyre should also work well on the next run of events. Sordo is also up there most of the time. He may not be the very fastest but most of the time you can expect him in the top 5 just because he hardly puts a foot wrong.

Anyway those four are always a tough call, but I do see Latvala on the back foot because he still seems pretty insecure and it does look like the Toyota is not as fast as the Hyundai and the Ford.

His inconsistency is a valid point, but based only on this year's results he's been very smart: pushing when he needs to, conserving the car and scoring points when he can't win. He's shown really important maturity and, thanks to his new team, he seems constantly confident.

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[AnttiL]

His inconsistency is a valid point, but based only on this year's results he's been very smart: pushing when he needs to, conserving the car and scoring points when he can't win. He's shown really important maturity and, thanks to his new team, he seems constantly confident.

Seems like Latvala learned this year that the points are given at the end of the rally, and it's better to get little points than to crash and get none.

[bugwrx]

without any problems with the car, i expect Tänak to win this.

[Mintexmemory]

without any problems with the car, i expect Tänak to win this.

Only if others have car trouble - Ogier knows how to win in Portugal - he beat Loeb there twice! Also it would be foolish to discount last year's winner who has an ideal road position!

[jparker]

If Hänninen manage to stay on the road, I expect him to win in Portugal.