He World Rally Championship coming this weekend for his fifth appointment, the Rally of Portugalthat the first five classified in the range of only eleven points and including two of them, the French Sebastien Ogier and the british Elfyn Evansboth with Toyota GR Yaris, tied in front.
ogierwhich is not running this week in Portugal (it has a part-time program), and Evans They are tied in the table on 69 points, but the Frenchman leads thanks to his two wins, in Monte Carlo and Mexico. The Briton won the last race held, the Croatian Rally.
At one point was the current world champion, the Finn Calle Rovanpera, which also has a Toyota GR Yaris; the Estonian is four Ott Tanak (Ford Puma), champion in 2019; eleven, the Belgian Thierry Neuville (Hyundai i20).
Elfyn Evans He had a failure in Portugal which was in charge of the opening track in the first stage, on Friday. You’ll face the challenge of poor grip on slippery, sand-covered roads while sweeping loose dirt to leave a cleaner line for those coming out from behind.
“We are in a very busy period and Portugal is the start of a series of tests on gravel. We have to try to maximize our performance in the conditions we will face on Friday and see what is possible,” he explained. Evans in statements published by the official website of the World Cup.
Rovanpera he knows what it takes to win from the top of the stages and he did it last year. The Finn, who joined Evans and in japanese Takamoto Katsuta with the Toyota trio, he is still looking for his first win of 2023.
The Hyundai team will be led by neuvillewho was now joined by Finn as well Esapekka Lappi, who finished on the podium two months ago; and the Spanish Dani is deafwho rose six times in the drawer in Portugal.
“Rally de Portugal has always been special for me. I really like the stages, they are full of fans who come from all corners of the country, and also from Spain. Last year was very hot, and the roads were worse than other editions and we had to take care of the car and the tires. It will be great to be back on the podium this weekend,” he said. deaf “In Mexico, we showed that we have the rhythm for it, so we want to fight again for the top positions here in Portugal”, added the Spaniard.
Brand he leads the M-Sport Ford team. The Estonian, winner of Portugal in 2019, will have the French as a partner Pierre-Louis Loubet.
The Rally de Portugal, the founding event of the World Championship, opens a series of seven consecutive races on gravel. It will be based in the coastal city of Matosinhos, near Porto, and will consist of a total of 19 stages and 329.06 timed kilometers in the north and center of Portugal. The rally will conclude on Sunday with the conclusion of the legendary Fafe stage and its big jump before the finish line.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
