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The FIA World Rally Championship returns to Europe and the hugely popular Rally de Portugal (31 May – 2 June) for round seven and the first European gravel event of the 2019 season.
 
Based in Matosinhos, close to the splendid coastal city of Porto, the event draws in thousands of fans to watch the action over fast, technical and twisty stages. The gravel roads are soft and sandy with a lot of grip, while large ruts can form for the second pass.
 
After the South American double-header in Argentina and Chile, the top three in the drivers’ championship are separated by just 12 points. Citroën’s Sébastien Ogier leads, 10 points ahead of Rally Chile’s winner Ott Tänak (Toyota), while Thierry Neuville is two points further behind and ready to bounce back following the big crash that ended his rally last time out. The Belgian is joined by Sébastien Loeb and Dani Sordo in the Hyundai line-up, the latter replacing Andreas Mikkelsen for this event. Competing with the World Rally Car crews for the first time in Portugal, Gus Greensmith is M-Sport’s third entry on the rally, alongside Elfyn Evans and Teemu Suninen.
 
In the FIA WRC 2 Pro class, Škoda gives a debut to the latest version of its Fabia R5 machine, with Kalle Rovanperä and Jan Kopecký behind the wheel. Mads Østberg and Łukasz Pieniążek are also eager to show their skills for Citroën and M-Sport respectively, while there are a further 23 cars entered in the FIA WRC 2 category.
 

THE 2019 ROUTE
 
A new twist for this year is a move south for the ceremonial start in Coimbra on Thursday before crews tackle two loops of three stages on Friday in the area around Arganil – last visited by the FIA WRC in 2001. With no mid-day service, the day concludes with a super special stage at the Lousada rallycross circuit. Saturday heads into the Cabreira mountains with three stages each run twice. Sunday focuses on the Fafe area for a total of five stages, including two passes of the Fafe stage itself and its famous jump – the second run designated as the rally-ending Power Stage.

RALLY DATA

MEDIA ACCREDITATION

The Accreditation Centre is located in the Media Center at Exponor Feira International do Porto (Av. Dr. Antonio Macedo 574, Matosinhos).

The opening hours are:

Tuesday 28 May 14:00 – 19:00 hrs Wednesday 29 May 08:00 – 20:00 hrs Thursday 30 May 08:00 – 20:00 hrs Friday 31 May 06:30 – 13:00 hrs

A remote accreditation desk will also be open in Coimbra on Thursday 30 May (14:00 – 22:00). If you wish to pick up your accreditation there, please notify the press team by email before Wed. 29 May, 12:00: [email protected]

RALLY PORTUGAL TIMETABLE & MEDIA OPPORTUNITIES ORGANISED BY THE FIA
 

Wednesday 29 May   Mandatory media safety briefing, Photographers’ Room, Media Center 17:00 hrs     Thursday 30 May   Mandatory shakedown (P1), Paredes Baltar 08:00 – 11:30 hrs Mandatory shakedown (P2 & P2P), Paredes Baltar 09:30 – 11:30 hrs Shakedown (others), Paredes Baltar 11:30 – 13:30 hrs ‘Meet the Crews’ Top 3 Shakedown, central stage, Exponor SP 12:15 hrs FIA Press Conference, Press Room, Media Center, Exponor SP 13:00 hrs Photo-shoot “family photo” P1 crews, Joanina Library, Coimbra University 17:40 Autograph session for priority crews, Coimbra 18:15 – 18:45 Ceremonial start, Coimbra 19:00     Friday 31 May   Start of the rally (section 1) 08:30 hrs First car arrives for regroup, media zone & tyre fitting zone, Arganil 11:48 hrs First car arrives for media zone, regroup & final service, Exponor SP 20:00 hrs ‘Meet the Crews’ post-Leg 1, central stage, Exponor SP During the 49’ service     Saturday 1 June   First car arrives for regroup, media zone & service, Exponor SP 12:35 hrs First car arrives for media zone, regroup & final service, Exponor SP 19:05 hrs ‘Meet the Crews’ post-Leg 2, central stage, Exponor SP During the 49’ service     Sunday 2 June   Regroup before Power Stage, Fafe 10:55 hrs Podium Ceremony & Price Giving, Marginal de Matosinhos 15:45 hrs FIA Press Conference, Press Room, Media Center at Exponor SP 16:30 hrs

FIA PRESS CONFERENCE ATTENDANCE
 

Thursday 30 May FIA WRC   Sébastien Ogier (FRA), Citroën Total WRT   Ott Tänak (EST), Toyota Gazoo Rally Team   Sébastien Loeb (FRA), Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT   Gus Greensmith (GBR), M-Sport Ford WRT    FIA WRC 2 PRO    Lukasz Pieniazek (POL), M-Sport Ford   Jan Kopecky (CZE), Škoda Motorsport    FIA WRC 2   Ole Chrsitian Veiby (NOR)   Bruno Magalhães (POR)     Sunday 2 June Winning FIA WRC 2 Pro Championship crew   Winning FIA WRC 2 Championship crew   Top three crews in the overall classification   Representative of the winning manufacturer

MANUFACTURER ENTRIES, RALLY PORTUGAL 2019
 

Citroën Total WRT Sébastien Ogier / Julien Ingrassia (#1)   Esapekka Lappi / Janne Ferm (#4)     Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT Thierry Neuville / Nicolas Gilsoul (#11)   Sébastien Loeb / Daniel Elena (#19)   Dani Sordo / Carlos Del Barrio (#6)     M-Sport Ford WRT Elfyn Evans / Scott Martin (#33)   Teemu Suninen / Marko Salminen (#3)   Gus Greensmith / Elliott Edmondson (#44)     Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Ott Tänak / Martin Järveoja (#8)   Kris Meeke / Sebastian Marshall (#5)   Jari-Matti Latvala / Miikka Anttila (#10)

FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP CLASSIFICATIONS
 
The provisional classifications for all the WRC Championships is available on the following link:
https://www.fia.com/events/world-rally-championship/season-2019/standings