Portugal Preview

On the Loose in Portugal

MacHale World Rally Team duo Gareth MacHale and Paul Nagle take to the gravel stages of Rally Portugal this week as the fifth round of the World Rally Championships (WRC) gets underway.
“We’re really looking forward to getting out onto these new stages,” said Gareth. “Mexico was a good primer for us on how the car handles on gravel, so we’ll use that experience and aim to finish the event as high in the rankings as we can. We’re happy how things are going this year, putting in good performances in our three events to date this season and we want to build on that as the season progresses.”
The team finished as top privateers on the opening round of the Championships in Monte Carlo, but a broken track arm on Rally Mexico two weeks ago whilst holding a secure 9th overall position in the rankings ruled them out of points contention on that event. They also secured a second place finish in the Galway International Rally in February.
Ten Ford Focus RS WRCs feature on the entry list of over 100 for the event.  MacHale and Nagle compete in the car driven to victory in three WRC rounds in the 2006 season by Marcus Grohnholm. The remaining Fords coming from the manufacturers’ teams of BP-Ford, Stobart VK M-Sport Ford and Munchi's Ford. Andreas Mikkelsen and Guy Wilks compete in 2005-spec models
The rally is based at the Estádio Algarve in Faro, which was built for the 2004 European Soccer Championships, and which will host the Super Special Stage on Thursday evening.
Competitors will cover just over 1,000 km during the three day event. Formerly a mixed asphalt and gravel rally that covered much of the country, Portugal was named best rally in the championship on six occasions.  This year’s completely redesigned event will run in the Algarve, an area which has seen little national or international rallying. 

Day One

Irish competitors Gareth MacHale and Paul Nagle are sitting in 16th place overall on the Vodafone Rally of Portugal at the end of the competition’s first leg.

Speaking from Portugal, Paul Nagle said: “The going on the stages today was fairly rough in places and indeed had been slippery in the early part of the day. We’re a little off the pace we’d like to be setting, but we know from the other competitors that everyone is having the same issues with the terrain, so we’re not too concerned just yet.”

Gareth MacHale said that the objective for the second leg of the event tomorrow was to keep the going steady and stay out of trouble on what would be a long day of competition. The event concludes on Sunday afternoon.

At the end of the first leg, reigning World Champion Sebastian Loeb is leading the pack just 3.1 seconds ahead of Marcus Grohnholm. Mikko Hirvonnen is in third place with Petter Soldberg and Danni Sordo fourth and fifth.

Day Two

Irish duo Gareth MacHale and Paul Nagle have moved up the rankings on the second leg of Rally Portugal today, ending the day’s special stages in 14th place overall.

Despite losing their intercoms on the morning’s second stage and thus completing the stage without pace-notes, the pair turned in solid times to improve on their standings following yesterdays’ competitive sections.

There were some changes in the driving conditions since yesterday, with overnight rain contributing to slippery terrain, resulting in more challenging stage for all competitors and leading many to note severe tyre wear by the end of the day.

Sebastian Loeb took the quickest time with an impressive 40.5 second lead ahead of Finland’s Marcus Gronholm. Mikko Hirvonen secured third place with Petter Soldberg and Danni Sordo in fourth and fifth.