With more Rally1 cars than we’ve seen for two and a half years, and a record WRC2 entry, 2025’s edition of Rally Portugal is already grabbing the headlines before it’s even begun.
But who are those entries? And what challenge lies ahead of them?
Entry list
Total 93 crews
12 Rally1
45 WRC2
18 WRC3 (12 Junior WRC)
Rally1
Tänak will be one of 12 Rally1 drivers this week
For the first time since Rally Spain in October 2022, 12 Rally1 cars will line up to start a WRC event this week in Portugal.
Toyota and Hyundai are unchanged from last time out in Canarias – Hyundai’s triple threat of full-timers (Thierry Neuville, Ott Tänak and Adrien Fourmaux) will take on Toyota’s five-star lineup (Elfyn Evans, Kalle Rovanperä, Sébastien Ogier, Takamoto Katsuta and Sami Pajari).
M-Sport is the team that has doubled in size from the trip to Gran Canaria. Alongside regulars Grégoire Munster and Josh McErlean, Mãrtiņš Sesks makes his second start of the season after securing sixth place in Sweden, while Portuguese privateer Diogo Salvi has also hired a Puma Rally1 for his home round of the championship.
WRC2
Who isn’t competing in WRC2 is a better question than who actually is in Portugal?
All three winners so far (Yohan Rossel, Oliver Solberg and Gus Greensmith) this year are present and top an entry that comprises 45 crews.
Amidst a stacked field that includes the likes of Jan Solans, Roope Korhonen, Kajetan Kajetanowicz, Robert Virves, Georg Linnamäe, Romet Jürgenson, Alejandro Cachón Lauri Joona and Bulacia brothers Marco and Bruno to genuinely just name a few, perhaps the most intrigues surrounds Pierre-Louis Loubet who rejoins the M-Sport fold, albeit in a Ford Fiesta Rally2 rather than Puma Rally1.
Portuguese championship contenders Kris Meeke and Dani Sordo will also both compete, but have not registered for WRC2 points.
As many as 16 Škoda Fabia RS Rally2s will compete in Portugal
WRC3 / Junior WRC
Two battles will unfold simultaneously in the Rally3 ranks this week, with Portugal acting as the second round of the Junior WRC series.
Taylor Gill took the opening round spoils but Mille Johansson was the fastest. However, it was Irishman Eamonn Kelly who set the pace on the recent Rali Terras d’Aboboreira, so predicting the favorite is anyone’s guess.
In total, 12 drivers are taking part including Diego Domínguez, Max Smart – who has a new co-driver in M-Sport recce coordinator Malcolm Read – Ali Türkkan and Claire Schönborn who competes in her first WRC event since defeating Lyssia Baudet to the prize of a fully-funded season.
Nine of the 12 Junior WRC contenders will also compete in WRC3, where they’ll be joined by championship leader Arthur Pelamourgues (Renault), Ghjuvanni Rossi (Ford) and Mattéo Chatillon (Renault) among others.
Itinerary
Friday’s leg is where the meat is, with a mammoth 10 stages held throughout the day – segmented only by two, 20-minute remote services in Arganil.
That’s bad news for those running at the head of the field in the worst of the road conditions – although Friday’s leg in Kenya was five miles longer.
The final two stages on Friday – SS10 Águeda / Sever and SS11 Sever / Albergariaare – are brand-new, creating further intrigue to the end of the first full day.
Elsewgere, Portugal does boast the longest Super Sunday of the season so far, with six stages and 45 competitive miles.
In total, crews will tackle 24 different stages this weekend beginning with the Figueira do Foz superspecial and concluding, as has become tradition, with the Fafe powerstage.
In between are some classics like Arganil, Vieira do Minho and Amarante.
