Bumper entry for Portugal’s WRC clash

The upcoming Vodafone Rally de Portugal (19 - 22 May) has attracted a whopping 80 entries including a three year high for the number of top line World Rally Cars.

Nineteen World Rally Cars are on the entry list for the Matosinhos-based fifth round of the season, more than any round since Rally Sweden in 2013.

The event also features a full house of support classes, with 25 entries in WRC 2, six in WRC 3, 11 in the Junior WRC and ten more in the Drive DMACK Fiesta Trophy (DDFT).

Defending world champion and last year’s Portugal runner-up Sébastien Ogier heads the Volkswagen entries along with his team-mate and last year’s Portugal winner Jari-Matti Latvala. Andreas Mikkelsen will drive a third Polo R under the Volkswagen Motorsport II banner.

Hayden Paddon and Dani Sordo are the the two nominated points-scorers for Hyundai’s manufacturer team, while Thierry Neuville and Kevin Abbring represent the second-tier squad - with Abbring driving a 2015-spec i20 car.

The M-Sport World Rally Team’s hopes ride again with Fiesta RS pilots Mads Østberg and Eric Camilli, and there are similar cars for Ott Tänak, Henning Solberg, Martin Prokop Jaroslav Melicharek, Yazeed Al Rajhi and Lorenzo Bertelli.

The Abu Dhabi Total World Rally team returns with DS 3 World Rally Cars for Kris Meeke, Stéphane Lefebvre and Khalid Al Qassimi. The bumper WRC car entry is rounded off by MINI John Cooper Works driver Valeriy Gorban.

Fifty-two competitors across WRC 2, Junior WRC, WRC 3 and DDFT is a record high this season for the support categories.

The three leading drivers in WRC 2 are on the Portuguese list, while the opening round of the Citroën-powered Junior WRC is sure to mix things up in WRC 3 where the drivers also score points.

Also making their season debut are the ten runners in the Ford Fiesta R2-based DDFT.