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For immediate release
Wednesday, May 8th, 2024
CAN WRC TITLE CONTENDERS STOP OGIER AND ROVANPERÄ IN PORTUGAL?
MATOSINHOS (PORTUGAL): Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville and Toyota’s Elfyn Evans are separated by just six points after four rounds of this year’s FIA World Rally Championship but current form suggests that both part-time Toyota drivers Sébastien Ogier and Kalle Rovanperä could gate-crash the party at this weekend’s 57th Vodafone Rally of Portugal.
With 2018 event winner Neuville chasing a maiden world title against Evans (the 2021 Rally of Portugal winner), favourable starting positions for Evans’s team-mates could be decisive with warm and dry weather conditions forecast for the weekend.
Ogier is a record-equalling five-time winner of the event, while the defending World Champion Rovanperä has won for the last two years. Neither has a full-time programme of WRC rallies this year but Ogier finished second in Monte-Carlo, Rovanperä prevailed in Kenya and Ogier topped the standings from team-mate Evans in Croatia.
With 10 world titles (eight for Ogier and two for Rovanperä) between them in the last 11 years, the duo line-up in the same Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team for the first time this season. The Japanese manufacturer has a strong recent record in Portugal as well: the brand has won the last four rallies.
But Neuville, his co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe and the entire Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team will be hoping to upset the current form book and enable the Belgian to maintain his lead in the Drivers’ Championship.
The WRC leader said: Success in Portugal comes down to the same factors as always. We need consistency, a good set-up and confidence in the car. Road conditions and position will also make a huge difference to how we perform: whenever it’s raining, we will be fast, when it’s dry, we will struggle more because everyone knows the stages well. I was happy with the car in the pre-event test and we focused on a set-up that will bring me the necessary confidence to push in very slippery conditions. My goals are to optimise the performance on Friday and Saturday before pushing on Sunday for maximum points. I would love to finish on the top step of the podium.”
Title rival Evans has made a strong start to his 2024 campaign with three podium finishes from four events. The Welshman said: “We’re into a busy part of the season now with rallies coming thick and fast and our focus moves back to gravel. Portugal can be quite a nice rally with some fast and flowing sections, but recently it’s become more of a challenge in terms of how rough the roads can get, especially in some of the classic stages further south that we drive on Friday. As always on gravel, road position could be a factor but it’s also a rally that can be affected by the weather. We just have to focus on doing the best job we can with the conditions we have and try to take the maximum from the weekend.”
Portugal is the first of seven successive events on gravel surfaces and Ogier is a master at pressing home his advantage from favourable starting positions.
The eight-time World Champion said: “I’m excited to the back in Portugal after a year away. It’s a country that I have a lot of good memories of, maybe a bit more from when the rally was in the south rather than the north. Still, the atmosphere is always great and it’s a rally where we should not be at a disadvantage with our road position, and maybe it can even benefit us a bit. It will be my first time competing on gravel for a while but we had a good test and I’m looking forward to the rally.”
Rovanperä is also in determined mood and admits that Portugal is one of his favourite events. “There’s a lot of fans and a great atmosphere. The stages have great characteristics and we’ve had some good success here in the last two years. Of course, our aim will be to try and win, but it’s never easy. Our road position might help us, but we will have to see what the weather does, because rain can really change things…”
One of the early season revelations in this year’s FIA World Rally Championship has been the pace and consistency of the M-Sport Ford World Rally Team’s Adrien Fourmaux. The Frenchman is currently third in the Drivers’ Championship, six points clear of Hyundai’s Ott Tänak, and will be hoping to benefit from an updated rear wing that was fitted to his Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid for the first time in Croatia after development work by Ford Performance with its WRC simulator.
Fourmaux said: “Rally Portugal is a really famous and spectacular rally. The roads are really technical and we normally have very tough conditions where the temperatures are quite high. This is my fourth time in Portugal. I’m looking forward to enjoying the atmosphere and, hopefully, achieving another good result.”
Tänak and his co-driver Martin Järveoja are breathing down the Frenchman’s neck with the Estonian holding fourth in the title race in the second of the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrids. Tänak won the event in 2019 on his way to the World Championship with Toyota and badly needs a win to kick-start his title challenge in 2024.
After scoring vital points during an excellent display in Croatia, Tänak said: “It’s great to be back to a rougher surface. Portugal is really enjoyable. It’s a fast rally with high speeds and usually smooth on the first run and very rough on the second. The contrast from the first to the second loop is noticeable because of how the soft roads can become so rutted.”
Hyundai will also use the talents of gravel specialist Dani Sordo in Portugal. The Spanish veteran teams up with Candido Carrera to make his first appearance of the season, having secured seven top three finishes and back-to-back podiums in Portugal.
Sordo said: “I’m really excited to be back in the car, especially in Portugal. It’s always a special rally for everyone. Getting the right set-up is key to doing well here. We worked a lot on the pre-event test to try and perfect this so we can push hard. It will be interesting with a lot of the part-time field being so competitive this season.”
Takamoto Katuta currently holds equal fifth with Ogier in the Drivers’ Championship and drives the fourth Yaris in Portugal. The Japanese is relishing the forthcoming series of gravel rallies. He said: “Portugal is a rally I like and I know the stages pretty well. I will try to push as much as I can. I am not registered to score points for the team on this event, so I have no pressure on that side and can just focus on driving fast and trying to do my best.”
Luxembourg’s Grégoire Munster and his Belgian co-driver Louis Louka round off the Rally1 entry in the second of the M-Sport Ford Pumas. Munster said: “We had a good pre-event test. Portugal will be a lot like Sardinia, a bit of a tricky one for us because we don’t have a lot of experience compared to our fellow competitors. Thanks to my great idea to roll the car on the first stage of the rally last year, it means we lack the knowledge of the stages.”
Action gets underway tomorrow morning (Thursday) in Baltar with a 4.61km shakedown stage and this precedes the ceremonial start ceremony in Coimbra from 17.00hrs.
Competitors then head to Figueira da Foz for the opening 2.94km super special stage, starting at 19.05hrs and broadcast live on RTP1.
2024 FIA World Rally Championship – positions after round 4:
Drivers
- Thierry Neuville (BEL) 86pts
- Elfyn Evans (GBR) 80pts
- Adrien Fourmaux (FRA) 59pts
- Ott Tänak (EST) 53pts
- Sébastien Ogier (FRA) 45pts
- Takamoto Katsuta (JPN) 45pts
- Kalle Rovanperä (FIN) 31pts
- Esapekka Lappi (FIN) 23pts
- Andreas Mikkelsen (NOR) 14pts
- Oliver Solberg (SWE) 12pts, etc
2024 FIA Manufacturers’ Championship – positions after round 4:
- Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT 176pts
- Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT 169pts
- M-Sport Ford WRT 96pts
Ends