SS1: Hirvonen lights up Lisbon with stage win

Vodafone Rally de Portugal has got underway with a spectacular superspecial stage in the capital Lisbon. Drivers tackled the all-asphalt test in groups of three or two depending on their priority status and were cheered all the way by the 30,000-strong crowd.

Based in Belem, the riverside area of Lisbon to the south west of the city centre where 600 years ago boats left Portugal to discover the world, the stage was shown live on Portuguese television and took place in largely sunny conditions.

Mikko Hirvonen, driving a Ford Fiesta RS WRC, was fastest over the 3.27-kilometre stage, to open up a 1.3-second lead over Sebastien Loeb heading into the rally’s first gravel stage on Friday.

Hirvonen, the world championship leader, set a time of 2m49.6s to head a Citroen DS3 WRC trio of Loeb, Petter Solberg and Sebastien Ogier. Jari-Matti Latvala was fifth in the second works Fiesta with Federico Villagra heading ex-Formula One world champion Kimi Raikkonen.

There was drama on the stage when Mads Ostberg slid into a concrete retaining wall. The impact resulted in his Fiesta’s front-right becoming detached and Ostberg limped to the end of the stage on three wheels.

Running on gravel tyres with loose-surface settings, drivers faced a tough task to guide their cars unscathed over three laps of the slippery asphalt stage. “It was slippery in a few places because there was some water down on the road but I really enjoyed and the crowds are fantastic,” said Matthew Wilson after setting the eight fastest time.

Armindo Araujo was the leading Portuguese driver in 10th overall in his MINI John Cooper Works Super 2000, the car’s first appearance on a world championship rally.

Norwegian Anders Grondal was the fastest of the Production Car World Rally Championship runners in his Subaru Impreza.

The superspecial stage also marked the start of the inaugural FIA WRC Academy. Yeray Lemes was the fastest of the 18 rising stars that are competing in identical Ford Fiesta R2s on six rounds of the world championship this year.

Standings after SS1: