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Motorsport

”It is not ideal” - WRC drivers speak out after 14-hour Friday at Rally Portugal

WRC Thierry Neuville World Rally Championship (Organization) Gus Greensmith Josh McErlean Toyota

World Rally Championship drivers voiced their concerns over Rally Portugal’s demanding itinerary headlined by 14 hours behind the wheel on Friday.

The fifth round of the WRC season has undergone a schedule tweak this year that has included the addition of two extra stages on Friday. It meant crews tackled 10 stages beginning with a first test at 7:35am before eventually returning back to the Porto service park at 9pm.

Across the day drivers and co-drivers spent 14 hours in their cars covering a total distance of 683 kilometres, of which 146km were competitive stages. The day was only punctuated by two 20-minute remote services and two short regroups. The action will then resume on Saturday with the first car checking out of the service park at 6am, which will mark the start of another 13 hour day.

Kalle Rovanperä, Jonne Halttunen, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 (Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool)

The WRC is no stranger to long days during rallies with the challenge part of the category’s DNA, but many drivers feel this weekend’s schedule has been too extreme.

“A crazy long day. I think it’s a bit too long. We are 14 hours in the car and tomorrow we are waking up at 5am again,” said Rovanpera after finishing stage 11 in fourth, 28.3s behind rally leader Hyundai’s Ott Tanak.

“I think in the future we need to see a bit. The point is not that we cannot do it, we can do it, we are here. But at some point it’s a safety issue, everyone is going to be so tired.”

Rally leader Tanak, who scored his 400th WRC stage win on stage 11, to open up a 7.0s lead over Sébastien Ogier, admitted the timetable was “tough” - a sentiment many of his rivals shared.

“It has been pretty bad. The worst of it is that there is not even a proper 20 minute or 30 minute lunch or anything. It is 10 minutes, gulp down what you can and you are off again. It is not ideal,” said championship leader Elfyn Evans, who ended the day 1m09.0s off the lead after opening the roads.

“It is also bad from the point of view that we have spectators at the regroups and none of us feel like doing anything. There were a few people annoyed with me at the regroup, but I had to say to them that I can’t even finish my lunch.”

Reigning World Champion Thierry Neuville highlighted that crews will usually spend two hours preparing for the next batch of stages, analysing onboard videos before they can rest after returning to the service park.

“It was tough and the day is still not even over yet as we still have to prepare for tomorrow. It is a bit too long for my liking. I like it when it is tough and challenging, that is usually where we are good but maybe this time it is a bit too long,” said Neuville.

Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1 (Photo by: Fabien Dufour / Hyundai Motorsport)

WRC2 driver Gus Greensmith says the championship should have long days in its calendar, but believes more thought should be put into the timetable to ensure crews have enough time to rest.

“Nobody is happy about it at all. You do 14 hours and all we have had today is a 10-minute break and for most of the stages the cockpit temperatures have been between 40-50 degrees, and we can’t carry that much water, so we are limited to two litres of water, and we are not eating properly,” said Greensmith.

“It is a long day and I think the championship should have long days, but we shouldn’t be starting the next day five hours later.”

M-Sport’s Josh McErlean admires the challenge of long itineraries, and felt the day was “okay”, but admitted he would be in favour of longer midpoint service in future.

“You want long days to add drama into it,” said McErlean. “I would be happy for long days as long as there is a longer service in the middle. I think we had nine minutes in the regroup to eat. Other than that I can do it, and if you look at Dakar those guys are doing it all night, it is ok.”