• Armindo Araújo and Luís Ramalho have a double target in the “best rally in the world”: the national champions want to discuss the top places in the portuguese championship race and finish the rally as the best Portuguese team;
• Iago Gabeiras and Adrian Varela will focus their efforts on fighting for victory in the Peugeot Rallye Cup Ibérica, which will take place on Friday’s leg;

Tomorrow starts the 2023 edition of the Vodafone Rally de Portugal, with the justly called “best rally in the world” promising, once again, 4 days of great emotion and three of intense competition.

Thursday is reserved for the Shakedown and for the symbolic start of the rally, in Coimbra, with the competition taking place over the days of Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with the teams facing 329.06 km of timed stages.

The Racing Factory is present at the ACP organized race with strong ambitions to provide all the conditions for the pairs Armindo Araújo/Luís Ramalho (Skoda Fabia Raly2 EVO) and Iago Gabeiras/Adrian Varela (Peugeot 208 Rally4) to be on the line for supremacy on the three “combat fronts” in which they will be inserted.

Armindo and Luís arrive at the Rally de Portugal after a spectacular comeback in the previous round of the Portuguese Rally Championship and, the seven-time national champion driver, clearly assumes two objectives for this clash:

“This is undoubtedly the rally that we all look forward to and that brings us extra motivation as it is our world championship rally. We will fight for the best possible result for the CPR, with the accounts to be closed on Friday, and then we will continue in search of being able to finish as the best Portuguese team”.

The accounts for this 4th race of the Portuguese Rally Championship will be sealed in the 1st stage, which will take place on Friday. The program will include the great novelty of this year’s edition, with the dispute of the Super Special in Figueira da Foz that closes the race in what concerns the Portuguese Rally Championship. Until then, the teams will face seven stages, with a double pass through Lousã, Arganil and Gois, and the passage through the timed section of Mortágua, which will be the Power Stage of the portuguese championship.

As for Iago Gabeiras, the Galician rider arrives at Vodafone Rally de Portugal with high motivation, after the magnificent performance and top result he achieved in the opening day of the Peugeot Rallye Cup Ibérica.

Ahead of him will be another heated clash, being clearly among the candidates to dispute the victory in the competition that, in this rally, will be disputed only during the 2nd stage of the race, which included 7 Specials, passing, twice, by Vieira do Minho , Amarante and Felgueiras, together with the Lousada Super Special, for a total of 144.88 km timed, integrated into a complete course of 668.12 km.

“As in the last few years we will be at Rally Portugal with great enthusiasm for racing in the World Championship and we rarely have this opportunity. We’re going to try to fight for the first places in the Peugeot Cup, but with a head, always keeping the mechanics in mind. The leg has very good stages, especially Vieira do Minho. Amarante will be a very tough section, with the surface very broken, especially in the final part, as the Terras da Aboboreira Rally was held there just two weeks ago, so we face the rally with great enthusiasm and we will try to preserve the mechanics and achieve a position on the podium”, stated Gabeiras.

For his part, Aloísio Monteiro, CEO of The Racing Factory, is direct and assertive in assuming the team’s objectives:

“TRF is prepared for this unique rally. The technical team worked immensely to give Armindo and Luís, as well as Iago and Adrian, all the conditions for them to carry out what they are so good at doing: fighting step by step for top results and, obviously, always with the aim in the wins”.

The “boss” of The Racing Factory emphasizes that “our preparation was, as always, very intense and aimed at facing the enormous particularities of the Rally de Portugal, especially regarding the length and hardness of the stages, with the entire structure prepared to, at the same time, throughout the race, work so that nothing is missing from our pairs. I am firmly convinced that we will achieve an excellent result together!”.

The Vodafone Rally de Portugal 2023 will have all its stages broadcast live on WRC.TV and Sporttv.