In this year's edition, which takes place between the 18th and 21st of May, the 50th anniversary of the Rally de Portugal is also celebrated.
There is less than a month to go before the 2017 Rally de Portugal starts. The Portuguese stage of the World Rally Championship takes place at a particularly competitive moment: so far, four drivers from different teams have won the first four races of the championship. This year's edition becomes even more special when the 50th anniversary of the competition is celebrated.
Rally de Portugal 2017 presents some novelties in eight of the 11 sections that make up the race. Paredes receives the Shakedown on Thursday morning, before the start of the competition in Guimarães. From there, the peloton heads to Lousada for the only Super Special of the competition, which will be the first moment of competition for the new WRC in Portugal.
With free entry from Wednesday to Sunday, this promises to be the perfect place to see the new WRC machines up close and get in touch with the drivers. The podium ceremony takes place again on the Marginal de Matosinhos.
17 confirmed cars
The new regulations for the World Rally Championship not only bring to Portugal faster and more spectacular cars but also some new additions to the entry list. In total there are 17 WRC cars, a record this season.For the first time since returning to the WRC, the Toyota will line up in Portugal with three cars, with Esapekka Lappi joining Juho Hanninen and Jari-Matti Latvala, the winner of the Swedish Rally. THE citron presents itself with four models, aligning Kris Meeke (ranked 1st in Mexico), Craig Breen, Stéphane Lefebvre and Khalid Al Qassimi.
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The representation of Ford, entrusted to M-Sport , is also made up of four cars, featuring world champion Sébastien Ogier, winner of the opening round in Monte Carlo, Ott Tänak, Elfyn Evans and Mads Østberg. Finally, the Hyundai presents its usual line-up with Thierry Neuville (victorious in Corsica), Hayden Paddon and Dani Sordo.
These are joined by three other WRCs: Martin Prokop (Ford), Valeriy Gorban (Mini) and Jean-Michel Raoux (Citroën), all of them with pre-2017 specification machines, in the WRC Trophy category.
Rally de Portugal, which this year has 23 Portuguese drivers, is once again part of the National Rally Championship, with 17 registered in this competition. The WRC2 championship, which will have one of the mandatory journeys in Portugal for all drivers, will be another attraction of the race. It will allow the best Portuguese pairs in the national rally to measure forces with the most promising young drivers of today.