Rally de Portugal 2018

The fourth WRC rally on the European continent took place from the 17th to 20th of May in Portugal. The team facilities and service were at the Exponor exhibition grounds in the picturesque town of Porto on the Atlantic coast. The extremely popular, and thus heavily visited, rally saw many defects on its tricky dusty roads as early as the first day, as well as the withdrawal of a number of racing teams. In fact, there were so many of them that only five WRC1 specials were on the starting line for the last speed test through the streets of the centre of Porto. The Škoda Motorsport racers weren't spared trouble either, and frequent wheel changes directly on the road kept the Škoda service team on their toes, even after the race. However, the supporting crew celebrated the victory of Pontus Tidemand in the WRC2 class; with over twice as many total points as his rivals, he clearly dominates this category. Although his stable companion Jan Kopecký came tenth in Portugal, he remained second in the overall ranking and the Škoda Motorsport team with its Fabias WRC keeps dominating the WRC2 category. We are gradually preparing for another rally that will take place in Sardinia from the 7th to 10th of June.