56. Vodafone Rally de Portugal 2023
WRC #5 • WRC2 #5 • WRC2 Challenger #5 • WRC3 #5 • WRC Masters Cup #5 • Portugal #4 • Portugal 2RM #4 • Peugeot Rally Cup Iberia #2
11. 5. – 14. 5. 2023, Matosinhos • Automóvel Club de Portugal • gravel 325.35 km • total distance including road sections - 1644.92 km • Other years
Info
SS19
"Smoke coming from the car. Maybe it's the turbo! I could smell it..."
"That's a bit close."
"It has been too long coming, but finally we are back. I have to say a big thank you to Jonne and the team. They have been pushing all the time and going forward. I also have to give a good thank you to my very good friend Artu. I have been having a hard time since the end of last year personally, and he has been pushing me to come back."
"I want to say thanks to Craig, because he was with me for the whole rally and pushing me to the limits."
"It was challenging and we have some great weaknesses at the moment which we need to get sorted. It's a big challenge for the next two weeks to get these things done. On the second loop in the rough conditions it's not really working for us."
"We did our best on Friday and Saturday but I did a small mistake with big consequences."
"Of course, after Friday's issue it was not so easy to clean the road but the car was fantastic and the team did a really good job."
"It's been a great weekend really - very consistent and with good speed again. I hope I can win because second place is not really worth it right now."
"I'm still struggling with the feeling in the new car compared to the old one but we are getting there."
"This weekend was not bad for the championship but we need to work on the car - I have no grip when the surface is very loose."
"The rally was super - all really good for us and the pace was on a good level."
"We had some issues over the past three days but this is normal in a very tough rally."
"I think the rally community was a bit broken after the passing of Craig, but I hope there's some sense of happiness with these flags back on these cameras."
"It's one of the most cruel sports in the world and sometimes we have to face situations like this. I want to give a big applause to the organisers, they have done an incredible job, and the spectators as well."
SS18
"Now we need to take care. The most important thing is to bring the two cars to the end for manufacturers' championship points."
"This one has a lot of loose stones on top of the surface. I am looking forward to the next one and I will try to push."
"We have a good chance to get a few extra points, so let's try to do it."
"We have nothing else to do now. It's just a faster way to the end."
"We really drove slowly to try to keep tyres for the Power Stage."
SS17
Lost front bumper and powersteering issues
"You need to be careful because you have a lot of gravel banks all the time. There is not really any space to go wide anywhere."
"We have no power. Last night I had power, now I have nothing. There's not much to say."
"Of course we are not approaching the stage at full attack like last year. We have to take care now - with only two cars it's a little bit more complicated than before."
"The stage felt much slippier than I was expecting. Let's see in the afternoon how slippy it is, but of course, our plan is to win the Power Stage."
"We have no hybrid today..."
"It's very slippery with a lot of loose on top of the surface. There's quite a lot of cleaning. The Power Stage is going to be challenging but I will try to push and have some fun."
"I struggled a little bit with the car at the rear. Hopefully the second pass will be better with the cleaning and a bit more grip."
SS16
Missed junction
"I am so sorry for Thierry. This wasn't the plan! I hope he can sort it out before the next stage but we need to do what we planned to do and try to finish the rally."
"We had very old tyres on and it was very loose so we had a small spin, lost a handful of seconds."
"I don't know how slow we should drive because it feels so slow, we were just saving the tyres."
"It's something similar to yesterday evening."
"All I can do today is save the tyres and try to get a few points from the last one."
"The hybrid didn't like the short night - it seems like car is not waking up today!"
"Just driving slowly to save the tyres."
"The organisers did a very good job to repair the road after shakedown."
Power issues
Hybrid issue
SS15
Had to reverse in one corner.
Lost front bumper and broken steering after jump.
Handbrake issues
Had to slow down due #56 stopped on start line.
Stopped on start line - mechanical failure.
Lost front bumper after jump
Lost front bumper after jump
Off road - had to reverse
"It's not my favourite stage but to see all these people here enjoying the stage is on another level. I am very happy that they are enjoying and at least we beat Kalle here!"
"It was funny to see how it developed throughout the two laps. Amazing with so many people here!"
"For sure, it was a good day. We lost the intercom at the end of the previous stage - thankfully it didn't happen in the forest!"
"It's nice to finish. I spun after the finish but it was okay, just for fun."
"We lost the handbrake here. What a day."
"I was not on a good tyre strategy this afternoon but we had good fun. When it's such a crowd it's so enjoyable and just a great show. That's what we love."
SS13
Rolled
Accident
Stopped
Accident
Stopped, continued
Stopped, continued
"It was super rough, just tried to survive. I had to take carefully."
"At the beginning, when I felt something wrong, it was a very slow puncture. I felt it overheating because of understeer, then it got worse and then it delaminated."
Stopped, continued. Front left puncture.
"I tried to manage the tyres, I think that made a difference."
"Not better. It's completely strange. It's like that. We need to not make any mistakes. Impossible to be fast at the moment."
"How are we here? No idea. We have a problem, so gotta go."
"I had to put the soft tyre on. Not very good. I think I drove too clean, too smart. My pressures went straight up. Starting safe pressures is not good on a stage like this."
"It was okay. Really rough stage. In the beginning I was driving normally, but in the rough we backed off. Hopefully the tyres are okay, the car is okay and we can finish the loop."
"I push. I need to push to be in the fight. We decided we need to push. We don't need to try to make a mistake."
"A lot of bedrock, maybe more than some of us expected. It's much better than yesterday."
"It's strange. I'm trying all the time, sometimes it works, sometimes not. I miss a lot of confidence when it's slippery, when it's rough I can push more. I'm not comfortable in the car."
"It's exactly our pace. It's frustrating for myself as well. A difficult weekend. It's hard not to be where you want to be."
"It's really rough."
SS12
"Had to be full revs everywhere to keep momentum! Didn't lose much time through that one but let's see what we can do to fix it before the long stage next"
"Now we are trying to be a bit more safe. It's quite rough in places so I just tried to avoid the stones and go around the lines. It's not easy but we are managing."
"Feels good. I really pushed hard at the end and I tried to keep the rhythm. I am enjoying the car and now there is much more grip, it feels more natural like yesterday."
"I had a good stage - I can be satisfied. It's more rutted now so it's a bit more easy to keep the car in the line."
"It felt still slippery like in the morning, so I guess Kalle will beat us by 15 seconds! Quite clean driving but, on the other hand, quite a few mistakes because it was understeering in a lot of places."
"At the end of the stage I was losing a lot and the dust was coming inside of the car. It's better than Kenya, but still the visibility was bad!"
"The road was quite rutted and it's still quite slippy anyway. That's all we want to say."
SS11
Mechanical
Lost wheel
"We have done a few good mornings, but this was a really good one. The whole loop was good and we will try to continue like this."
"All okay. The same story as yesterday - I didn't do this stage last year so it's a bit of a disadvantage. We are in a good way at the moment and I am satisfied with the car."
"I don't like this stage but I tried to push on the limit. I was a little bit over the limit in some places but it's the only way I can stay close. It's very difficult to keep a good speed when you want to be clean and fast at the same time."
"We did a big change on the set-up which was a little bit better but every time the rear goes wide."
"Like I've never driven a rally car before, it's so challenging."
"It's another level, like we were driving on ice or something."
Hybrid issue
Spin
SS10
"I think dampers are dead."
"It's good if it's a good stage time because I didn't feel so good in the car. It's a long stage to take care of the soft tyres. Let's see how they look now."
"The soft tyres were moving a little bit and I had to be careful. I was trying to be clean."
"I am sure the referees will give us the time back. There was no point to take any risks in that kind of place when somebody has stopped. It was an okay stage - for sure Kalle is coming quite fast but I am more interested in Dani Sordo at the moment."
Had to slow down due car #7 blocking the road.
Had to slow down due car #7 blocking the road
"We could improve the balance a bit from the previous stage but I am still having quite a massive struggle with the suspension. Still riding this wild horse!"
"I did what I could but the car is all over the place. I had a good push but I can't control it."
"Actually it was not so bad. It's still very slippy with a lot of sand on top of the surface but otherwise it's okay."
Lost wheel
SS9
Rolled
"I didn't touch anything, but I have damaged rear, maybe a bit at the beginning but I didn't feel it."
"I just woke up today and thought that we should drive a bit of rally."
"I didn't drive very well in here. It's really slippery and I didn't get the feeling."
"I have no grip. It's better this way for sure, but it felt really like I was going to lose 20 seconds!"
"I don't trust the grip and I don't trust the rear of the car."
"We are struggling a bit at the moment but we'll see what we can learn today."
"I didn't drive so much yesterday so it's nice to be in the car now."
Spin
SS8
"It's a good show for the spectators. Never my strongest point - I am too afraid of hitting the concrete barriers!"
"It was a good day. I made a small mistake in the third hairpin but I just tried to do my best, like all day, and enjoy it."
"It's been a tough day with what happened this morning. A big thanks to the mechanics - on Sunday night, for sure they will have some free beer!"
"It's been a very good day but also very difficult. So rough with so many rocks and things going on. We've had a clean day - fast as well - but at least no problems."
"I have to keep it calm at the moment and we are going to do some changes which should hopefully help us to be able to push more."
"We were not so sure if we would make it through this afternoon and in the end we made it."
SS7
"I have never done this stage in its entire length in proper conditions. It was the first time for us and I did what I could. With the feeling I had with the car in there, it's difficult to do much more."
"I'm through, clean! Just been a consistent, fast day. My tyres are .... basically. Very, very happy!"
"Good day. Not finished yet. One of the toughest stages of the season, you don't see the road and follow the woods."
"We missed a junction and lost a bit of time there. We made a really bad stage, it was slippery and the rear was moving a lot. A small mistake."
Overshoot
"This was my weak stage, I didn't do it last year with this car so I tried to learn it and was committed."
"No dust. It's been challenging. So many troubles to carry through, the puncture not helping at all. In this one the rear was loose."
"It has been a rough day. Really tough afternoon. This one is cleaning a lot, let's see how much faster the guys behind are. Not easy to open the road after Elfyn went off. Hope they are okay."
Accident at 13.8km
SS6
"It's rough, no question. Nothing new there."
"Some rear right tyre damage. It happened a couple of kilometres from the end there. We're getting through... we'll keep going."
Puncture
"Puncture on the straight at SS6. Seems to be normal here. We had a good rally going so of course this is a big disappointment."
"Had to drive nice and calm through SS6, no other choice on such rough roads and with basically no tyres left… we have another 20km still to go today as well so we stay focused and keep to our strategy!"
Broken steering arm
"I try my best you know. Some places I can gain a little bit of time. I'm happy. Kalle is world champion so we are fighting him, it's a nice fight. Let's see the next stage."
"Wow, nice! Good stage! It's better to finish like that with no fire, it's good. It was a great feeling but we stay focused because the next stage will be really tough. Important to stay on the edge."
"Crazy. I have no tyres, I still have 20km to go so I took it very easy in here just to get through. We'll see if we're next."
"It's a shame about the first stage with the tyre off the rim, I didn't hit anything and it compromised our tyres for the 2nd loop. We could have really made a difference in this loop."
"No idea. I know how I got it, i'm driving on Pirellis. It's not a surprise. You can be as clean as you want, but it's a gamble when you're on Pirellis. The championship is decided by a tyre."
Puncture
Changed a puncture
Changed a puncture
"There are 10 million rocks and I don't know which one I hit!"
"It's a bit better now but it's hard to predict how much we need to save the tyres."
"The stage is in much worse condition than I was expecting, much rougher than last year."
SS5
"It's okay. It was very rough."
"Everything is difficult at the moment, obviously with the conditions and the balance of the car also a bit. It's like that for now."
"I just tried to have a clean run. It's a really rough stage and definitely at the beginning I was maybe not clean enough, but I still tried to save the tyres a little bit from punctures."
"Super super rough. It's difficult to be on the limit, but it's the same for everyone. It will be a tricky evening."
Changed a puncture
"I feel like I was not pushing really strong, but it's because I don't want to damage the tyres."
"It's very rough in some places and very demanding for the tyres."
"I tried to manage the tyres a bit at the end but I had a clean run. It was very rough in there and very easy to get a puncture, so we had to be careful."
"I have no tyres so I need to get through."
SS4
"Okay, good! I like this direction. It was a little bit rougher with a lot more bedrock but I think this stage is staying very similar [to the morning]. The other two will be much more different."
"That's good but it was really difficult to manage the tyres. I took it a little bit carefully in the stage because I didn't want to damage the tyres already in the first stage. It was limitation."
"Again, very happy with our driving and our run - we’ve raised the car height a bit to be safe with the ruts and tyres, so the feeling is a bit loose, but it’s all good."
Stopped
Accident
Stopped
"Everything is okay, thanks to the mechanics. In only 10 minutes they were able to fix the problem, they did a great job."
Changed a puncture
"I think we are missing grip."
"It happened under braking or something."
"It's not working at the moment... that's it for now."
"Even after Elfyn there wasn't much of line there and in many places it felt like I was opening the road. I tried to be clean, but lets see how the stage evolves."
Puncture
SS3
"Good loop to say the least ! We are leading WRC2 after 3 stages but the main challenge is yet to come with a tough second loop. Managing tyres will be the key once again. Fiesta Rally2 works well, that's cool !"
Stopped, continued
Small smoke in the car, Pierre-Louis rushes past the stopline to find the source
"I think the hard tyre was not working very well, a lot of loose and not a lot of traction."
Mechanical after SS2
"I don't know. I'm quite surprised, thought it was fine. For sure... the tyre choice was a bit of a mistake from my side. I thought I did a good stage!"
"Another good stage for us. Feeling is good. We can't do more. Maybe it's because the road is getting more and more loose, maybe it's the soft ground or we need to find more peformance."
"The stage is fun. Just a bit challenging here. A bit better morning than we expected."
Not started on time
"Now it was better. A bit expected that we need to dial the setup a bit, we changed it a bit and it's better. That was a clean run, afternoon will be tough when we go on the hard tyres."
"Feeling was a bit better to be honest. Probably still not enough to challenge the guys behind. Let's see. The car is not working as well as we'd like."
SS2
"SS2 was super loose and lots of sweeping - big challenge managing the tyres. We’re also getting a lot of dust actually in the car too which is quite distracting."
"I took a lot of care of the tyres at the end of the stage and I had vibrations in the rear left, felt like a tyre delaminating. A lot of loose on the hard ground."
"All good, all good. Does it really get better? Some corners yeah, soft ones not. 50/50."
doesn't talk at stage end, signals he has to go
"Was good. A little bit slippery in some places. I don't know how my tyres are, I put two hard tyres, it feels it's working."
"Okay, I was too careful in the beginning."
"Very very dusty in the car, ***** hell! Crazy amount of dust. Much rougher for the tyres than I thought. Very bad for soft tyres. I think we lost a lot of time. Happy with the driving, but it's so loose."
"Generally I was struggling a bit with the rhythm."
"We have so much understeer and we are killing the front tyres."
"I'm not sure it's completely related to opening the road. Of course that has an effect, but it's not working as it should be doing either."
SS1
Puncture
Rolled
"We need to stay focused and we need to continue, but it's a good start."
"Starting the rally with the 4th fastest time! It was a good run, and got to be happy with the time given the sweeping and being first WRC2 car on the road, it is how it is today - will be the same on every stage so we’ve just got to deal with it as best we can!"
"I had a bit of dust in some places so I had to be careful, and also with the hard tyre. I feel really good with the car at the moment."
"The last two years I have lost a lot of time here."
"It's a narrow stage and you can lose a lot, let's say it like this."
"Maybe I was a bit too careful with the tyres in some of the sections but I had a good clean run. There is a bit of dust in there, even with the four-minute gap, but it was just on the edge so it's driveable."
"It's a shaky ride at the moment - it feels like wooden horse! When it's smoother it's better, but on the bedrock it's a bit shaky. We will get used to it."
"It felt like a good stage. For sure there was some dust hanging in the forest and it wasn't easy to push there but we had a clean stage."
"Pretty difficult, to be honest. The grip seemed pretty low in there, especially in the hairpins towards the end, but that's to be expected really."