Portuguese Rally News

Vodafone is sorting a big multi media campaign with ’16 Portuguese rally champions, J.P.Fontes and Inês Ponte. The TV spot may look a bit silly but it helps to promote the sport and the current champions among general public.https://pt-pt.facebook.com/vodafoneP...PAGES_TIMELINE

Btw, J.P.Fontes sold the champ car but his team (Sports&You) is building a brand new DS3 for this season. Besides Fontes, top ’17 CNR contenders will be Joao Barros (Fiesta), Pedro Meireles (Fabia), Miguel Barbosa (Fabia) and Carlos Vieira (DS). Diogo Salvi (Fabia), Elias Barros (Fiesta), Joaquim Alves (Fiesta) and Manuel Castro (i20) are also expected to run most of the events. No news, yet, from Campos, Moura, Magalhães or Teodósio, but they should do, at least, a couple of rallys each. Also it’s nice to note that Gr. N and 2wd fields are looking more interesting than in previous years. Less than two weeks till first rally, Rali Serras de Fafe!

The entry list is not ready yet, but almost 15 R5’s are expected at Rali Serras de Fafe, Portuguese season opener. Besides CNR regulars, Açores champ Ricardo Moura (Fiesta), Madeira’s ace Miguel Nunes (Fiesta) and Pedro Meireles older brother, Paulo Meireles (also in a Fabia), are already confirmed. 3 crews from spain, Lopez (208), Villanueva (DS) and Sosa (Fiesta) are also expected. Rally will be next weekend, hopefully with no rain!

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Originally Posted by Rally Power

The entry list is not ready yet, but almost 15 R5’s are expected at Rali Serras de Fafe, Portuguese season opener. Besides CNR regulars, Açores champ Ricardo Moura (Fiesta), Madeira’s ace Miguel Nunes (Fiesta) and Pedro Meireles older brother, Paulo Meireles (also in a Fabia), are already confirmed. 3 crews from spain, Lopez (208), Villanueva (DS) and Sosa (Fiesta) are also expected. Rally will be next weekend, hopefully with no rain!

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With no rain expected, will be a really nice rally weekend with a lot of spectators.

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Originally Posted by dbrito26

With no rain expected, will be a really nice rally weekend with a lot of spectators.

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Yep, Fafe it’s fantastic!

Web site (lista de inscritos=entry list): http://www.demoporto.com/index.php/c...017?Itemid=109
All expected R5’s are on the list. There’s also a nice 2wd entry but it’s a shame to see Gr.N crews being divided between CNR and the gravel cup (TNRT). It’s time to end the split classifications and gather all crews in just one event.

Interesting entry-list for the season opener, I might have to find some time this weekend for the drive up North from Lisbon. Anyway I hope a considerable number of those R5's compete for the remainder of the season, Fontes definitely needs some fight.

Rain has stopped and the sun is now shining! Rally time in just a few hours!
Link to live timing and yesterday shakedown videos:
http://cnr.cronobandeira.com/
https://youtu.be/6GukBoIwTyM
https://youtu.be/jgADVTXnKdM

Let's hope Pepe Lopez won't see his engine broken as in Monte-Carlo :mark:

I was expecting more international teams, to use this rally as test to the Rally de Portugal.

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No Pepe Lopez on SS1 Serras de Fafe...looks like he was forfait :confused:

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Originally Posted by Tom206wrc

No Pepe Lopez on SS1 Serras de Fafe...looks like he was forfait :confused:

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Lopez managed to destroy the radiator on a jump at SS1.

1st leg impressions (before night city stages):
The sun didn’t prevail and a shitty wheatear made today’s leg tricky to drive and hard to spectate. On stages Moura looked faster than anyone else but Meireles managed to keep the Azorian champ pace. They were fighting for the lead till on SS4 Meireles suffered engine problems, loosing a bit of time. Fontes seemed and was slower than the leaders, still faster than the rest of the R5 pack. Castro’s i20 looks and sounds great but the driver is not one of the fastest around. In Gr.N Teodosio is always entertaining to see and he’s on a close fight for the lead with Martins. In 2wd category the 208 guys, Antunes and Nunes drove amazingly but apparently Nunes abandoned. It was also nice to see Mesquita on the S2000 Fabia and the guys using the old C2’s Max. We’re hoping to see Meireles closing the gap to Moura on tomorrow stages, but in normal circumstances it won’t be easy for him. Lopez and some of today’s retirements are trying to fix the cars and enter through Rally2.