Rally Portugal 2022

[Danny0405]

The entry list has been published, the level will be incredible in RC2 (almost Avengers-level )
Mikkelsen, Suninen, Gryazin, Solberg, Bulacia (and the younger brother also), Kajto, Rossel, Ingram, Camilli, Pietarinen, Linnamae, Cais, Lefebvre, Marczyk, Guerra, Prokop, J. Solans + all the Portuguese leaders (Araujo,Magalhaes, Almeida, Meireles).

And even with some drivers not there: Lindholm, Huttunen, Veiby, Ostberg (probably no WRC-2 season for him).

[seb_sh]

With Loeb, Ogier and the WRC2 entries this is like an all-star rally. Exciting!

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Assuming the weather is dry, those top drivers lower down the start order (Evans, Tanak) would hope to get a better result than Rovanpera who opens the road on day one.

Here however they will have Ogier and Loeb to fight with, so making their chances lower and Rovanpera may benefit.

[AnttiL]

Friday is also relatively short, almost half of the rally is driven on Saturday. For the latest starters on Friday, there could also be some stones on the way causing punctures.

Last year after Friday Tänak was leading, having started fourth. Evans was 6s behind, having started third. Neuville started second and was second until he crashed out. Ogier was fifth at the end of the day, having started first on the road, 24s behind Tänak.

Of course Ogier and Evans will be strong now with a good road position, but Tänak (fifth on the road) will be also up there.

[Tom K]

If I am correct, last year was raining (heavily) before rally.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

If I am correct, last year was raining (heavily) before rally.

I don't remember before the event, but the clips I watched from Portugal 2021 looked pretty dusty.

Ogier said even with a perfect drive he couldnt have beaten Evans due to opening the road on day one.

[Tom K]

Here is selection of photos in order: Shakedown, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. As route was a copy from 2019, you can compare how dry and dusty it was 2 years earlier.

test1.jpg

friday.jpg

saturday.jpg

fafe.jpg

[AnttiL]

https://itgetsfasternow.com/2022/05/...portugal-2022/

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Team and driver thoughts on their Rally1 cars' readiness for gravel:

https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/whos-...ars-on-gravel/

[Sergiow]

WRC Portugal - Ogier is not sure he can fight for the win. The Frenchman says he does not know how much he will be able to exploit the Yaris Rally 1 on gravel:

"It's a challenge to get back in the car after three months. It's not huge, but I have to try to find the right feeling. It's more exciting when you come back - I've been on vacation with my family and I'm feeling pretty fresh right now.

Sure, the car has changed a bit since last time, but it's also the first time on gravel for me [on a Rally 1], so it's new and the car behaves quite differently than the previous generation. For me it's like learning again to find out what I can do and where the limits are. It is difficult to estimate what level we are at, but we will know soon enough when the race starts."
https://www.rallyssimo.it/2022/05/10...r-la-vittoria/

Strange declaration at least, not very Ogier-esque, especially when being on holiday with his family but not mentioning at all his Spa 2022 WEC race last week