Despite the still bitter disappointment in Croatia, Thierry Neuville has not given up and is approaching the Rally of Portugal with renewed hopes. This Wednesday, May 06th, during the Shakedown for the Rally of Portugal, the sixth round of the World Rally Championship, the 2024 World Rally Champion set the fastest time alongside his co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe with a 3:51.2. Long held by Sami Pajari and Marko Salminen, who ultimately finished second in this Shakedown, three-tenths of a second behind the Belgian duo, the lead in the session returned to the crew of the Hyundai i20N Rally1 #11 at the end of its last run through the special stage.

Behind the two duos mentioned previously, Adrien fourmaux Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20N Rally1) posted the third-best Shakedown time of 3:51.7. They were followed by Elfyn Evans – Scott Martin and Martins Sesks – Renars Francis (3:51.8), Oliver Solberg and Elliott Edmondson (3:51.9). Sébastien Ogier and Vincent Landais (3:52.1) or Takamoto Katsuta and Aaron Johnston (3:52.4) in that order. Dani Sordo – Candido Carrera (Hyundai i20N Rally1) complete this classification, ahead of the two official Ford Puma Rally1s of M-Sport piloted, respectively, by Jon Armstrong – Shane Byrne and Josh McErlean – Eoin Treacy.

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It’s lively in WRC2 on this first timed stage of the Rally of Portugal.

In WRC2, the championship’s leading contenders were present in Portugal. At the time of writing, Teemu Suninen – Janni Hussi (Toyota The GR Yaris Rally2 crews are fastest in the category with a time of 4:02.0, ahead of Fergus Greensmith and Jonas Andersson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) in 4:03.6, Andreas Mikkelsen and Jørn Listerud (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) in 4:03.9, Roberto Daprà and Luca Guglielmetti (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) in 4:04.1, and Jan Solans and Rodrigo Sanjuan (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) in 4:04.2. Yohan Rossel and Arnaud Dunand (Lancia Ypsilon Rally2 HF Integrale), with a time of 4:04.7, are currently sixth. As a reminder, while crews in the top category were required to complete at least two runs of the Shakedown, Rally2 drivers were limited to a maximum of two. They were able to start in two stages, first with the so-called priority drivers, then the non-priority drivers, including, among others, Elliott Delecour, Pablo Sarrazin, Mattéo Chatillon, Tristan Charpentier and Adrien Mosca.

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The rally will officially begin this Thursday afternoon, May 07th, with three special stages that will kick off a long section without any real service on this Rally of Portugal. Indeed, a remote service area will be available for the crews at the end of the first day, as well as on Friday between the two loops of the stage. Competitors will therefore have to wait until Friday evening to finally reunite with their respective technical teams, which will require great caution during this first part of the rally.

WRC – Rally Portugal
WRC1 Shakedown standings

The (provisional) Shakedown standings in WRC2