Rally de Portugal: WRC2 field with 22 Škoda crews at FIA World Rally Championship’s fifth round

• Entry list of the Rally de Portugal shows 53 cars in the WRC2 category
• Placed third and fourth overall respectively in WRC2, Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 drivers Gus Greensmith and Fabrizio Zaldivar want to close in on the leader
• For Estonian Robert Virves (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2), the Portuguese gravel event is the first WRC2 points scoring round of the season

After the tarmac round on the island of Gran Canaria, the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) returns to gravel with Rally de Portugal (15-18 May 2025). Gus Greensmith/Jonas Andersson of team RaceSeven are leading 19 Škoda crews competing for WRC2 points, the highest number of any brand in the category. Three more are competing in the rally without qualifying for WRC2 points.

After four rounds, the WRC2 overall standings list two Škoda drivers in the top 5: RaceSeven’s Gus Greensmith from England is third. He competes together with Swedish co-driver Jonas Andersson. Greensmith emphasises: “The Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 is fast and very reliable, which is important on tough gravel roads like those around Porto,” Toksport WRT’s Fabrizio Zaldivar from Paraguay follows in fourth place, he is joined by Italian navigator Marcelo Der Ohannesian. Both drivers are looking to close the gap to the leader at the Rally de Portugal.

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According to the regulations, drivers cannot compete for WRC2 points at more than seven rallies. For 24-year-old Estonian Robert Virves, who is sharing a Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 of team Toksport WRT with co-driver Jakko Viilo, Rally de Portugal is the first nominated event of the 2025 season. “I love to drive on gravel, it would be great to start our WRC2 campaign with a good result,” Virves looks ahead.

The Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 crew of Nikolay Gryazin and Konstantin Aleksandrov (Delta Rally Team) achieved just that with third place in WRC2 at the recent Rally Islas Canarias. However, Gryazin has not nominated the Rally de Portugal as one of his WRC2 points-scoring events. Instead, the pairing is defending its RC2 class victory from 2024.

Other Škoda crews hoping for big WRC2 championship points are the Finns Mikko Heikkilä/Kristian Temonen (TGS Worldwide) and Lauri Joona/Samu Vaaleri (MS Munaretto) as well as Italians Roberto Daprà/Luca Beltrame (Delta Rally Team) and multiple Portuguese champion Armindo Araújo, who listens to co-driver Luís Ramalho (The Racing Factory).

Rally de Portugal gets underway late on Thursday afternoon (15 May) with the ceremonial start in the picturesque city centre of Coimbra. Competitors will then head to Figueira da Foz for the opening super special stage. On Friday (16 May), ten special stages and more than 146 kilometres of tough gravel roads in the Arganil region follow, before the crews reach the service park at Porto’s Exponor exhibition grounds. On Saturday (17 May), nine mostly sandy stages are scheduled.

On the second loop in particular, deep ruts and large stones dug up by the rally cars increase the risk of punctures. The choice of tyres is the key to success. Softer compounds improve traction on sandy surfaces, while harder rubber guarantee less wear and more resistance to damage. On Sunday (18 May) the Fafe area with fast and smooth gravel roads including the famous jump conclude the event. All in all, the teams must tackle 24 stages over a total distance of 344.50 kilometres.

Did you know, that…

…the Škoda Fabia in Rally2 specification made its FIA World Rally Championship debut at Rally de Portugal 2015?
…Rally de Portugal was first held in 1967 and in 1973 was one of the founding events of the World Rally Championship?
…that until 1994 the rally started in Estoril close to Lisbon and the first leg was held on tarmac – including sometimes a show stage on Estoril’s Formula 1 track – while the remaining stages were all on gravel?
…since 1995 the event is completely run on gravel?
…from 2007 to 2014 the rally was held in the southern Portugal’s Algarve region before moving to the Porto area in the north of the country?

Standings WRC2/Drivers (after 4 of 14 events)
1 Yohan Rossel (FRA), Citroën, 50 points
2 Oliver Solberg (SWE), Toyota 35 points
3 Gus Greensmith (GBR), Škoda, 25 points
4 Fabrizio Zaldivar (PRG), Škoda, 23 points

Standings WRC2/Teams (after 4 of 14 events)
1 PH Sport, Citroën, 67 points
2 Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT NG, Toyota, 54 points
3 Toksport WRT, Škoda, 32 points

2025 FIA World Rally Championship