Rallye de Portugal

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The Rallye de Portugal is the largest rally racing event held in Portugal. First held in 1968, the sixth running of the race was the third event in the inaugural FIA World Rally Championship in 1973. It remained on the calendar for the next 29 years, but from 2002–2006 it was no longer a WRC event. However, the WRC will return to Portugal in 2007.

The most successful driver in the race's history is Finland's Markku Alén, who has won five times (1975, 1977–78, 1981 & 1987).

The first edition was run in 1967. In 1973 it obtained world championship status. It was won by French driver Jean-Luc Thérier in an Alpine-Renault A110 1800. During the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s it was a mixed event between asphalt and gravel.

It was awarded five times the "Best Rally of the World" award and in 2000 the "Best Rally of the Year". ^[1]

The Rally of Portugal has an important aspect which once made it so famous or maybe infamous: crowd control. During the 1970s and especially the 1980s, Portugal was known for spectators standing on the roadway even as the cars drove by, often resulting in near-collisions, and finally in 1986 a collision between cars and spectators.

It was the last year the Group B cars domininated the WRC scene. And it was because of a tragic accident which occurred during the rally that the future of Group B cars came under scrutiny. The final blow came at the Tour de Corse later that year with the death of Henri Toivonen.

In the first section of the rally (Sintra), in the "Lagoa Azul" stage, Portuguese works Ford rally driver Joaquim Santos came over a crest too fast, which led to the car getting too wide through the corner. Santos managed to avoid the crowd on the outside of the corner, but he wasn't able to avoid the crowd on the inside of the corner. The inevitable happened: the Ford RS200 left the road, plunging right into the crowd, killing three and injuring dozens more. After this accident all works teams withdrew from the rally.

Although it was tragic, it was also a logical result for the irresponsible behaviour of the Portuguese crowd throughout years. Additionally the speed of the Group B cars was a contributing factor.

It wasn´t only dangerous for the crowd, but also for the drivers themselves. Former world champion Timo Salonen admitted at the '86 edition that he was scared to run first on the road. Walter Röhrl had his own theory on the crowd situation. "You just have to see the crowd as a wall and not as spectators" he said. A harsh approach, but realistic given the situation.

It did not necessarily go any better in following years. At the ´87 edition a privately-entered car plunged into the crowd. Luckily enough this only led to minor injuries, but the crowd control wasn´t much improved. It wasn't until the early 90s that the Portuguese rally became an example for better crowd control and for being a great rally itself. Crowds were no smaller, but were better-behaved and more aware of the risks involved in spectating.

The last WRC edition of the Portugal rally was run under heavy rain in 2001. It was won by Tommi Mäkinen in a Mitsubishi. In 2002 it was replaced in favour of Germany.

In 2005 the organizers of the Rally of Portugal announced their intentions to rejoin the WRC, this time switching locations to an area around the Algarve. This means the character of the rally has changed. It is fully driven on gravel these days. In 2006 it ran as an official WRC candidate event for the 2007 WRC calendar and was formally incorporated into the 2007 calendar on July 5th, 2006.

Year	Event	Date	Driver Co-driver	Car
1967	1º Rallye de Portugal	???	Carpinteiro Albino Silva Pereira	Renault 8 Gordini
1968	2º Rallye de Portugal	???	Tony Fall R. Cellin	Lancia Fulvia HF
1969	3º Rallye de Portugal	???	Francisco Romãozinho “Jocames”	Citroën DS
1970	4º TAP Rallye de Portugal	???	Simo Lampinen John Davenport	Lancia Fulvia HF
1971	5º TAP Rallye de Portugal	07 October–10 October	Jean-Pierre Nicolas Jean Todt	Alpine A110
1972	6º TAP Rallye de Portugal	11 October–15 October	Achim Warmbold John Davenport	BMW 2002 Ti
1973	7º TAP Rallye de Portugal	13 March–18 March	Jean-Luc Thérier Jacques Jaubert	Alpine A110
1974	8º TAP Rallye de Portugal	20 March–23 March	Raffaele Pinto Arnaldo Bernacchini	Fiat Abarth 124 Rallye
1975	9º Rallye de Portugal Vinho do Porto	18 July–21 July	Markku Alén Ilka Kivimäki	Fiat Abarth 124 Rallye
1976	10º Rallye de Portugal Vinho do Porto	10 March–14 March	Sandro Munari Silvio Maiga	Lancia Stratos HF
1977	11º Rallye de Portugal Vinho do Porto	1 March–6 March	Markku Alén Ilka Kivimäki	Fiat 131 Abarth
1978	12º Rallye de Portugal Vinho do Porto	19 April–23 April	Markku Alén Ilka Kivimäki	Fiat 131 Abarth
1979	13º Rallye de Portugal Vinho do Porto	6 March–11 March	Hannu Mikkola Arne Hertz	Ford Escort RS1800
1980	14º Rallye de Portugal Vinho do Porto	4 March–9 March	Walter Röhrl Christian Geistdörfer	Fiat 131 Abarth
1981	15º Rallye de Portugal Vinho do Porto	4 March–7 March	Markku Alén Ilka Kivimäki	Fiat 131 Abarth
1982	16º Rallye de Portugal Vinho do Porto	3 March–6 March	Michèle Mouton Fabrizia Pons	Audi Quattro
1983	17º Rallye de Portugal Vinho do Porto	2 March–5 March	Hannu Mikkola Arne Hertz	Audi Quattro A1
1984	18º Rallye de Portugal Vinho do Porto	6 March–11 March	Hannu Mikkola Arne Hertz	Audi Quattro A2
1985	19º Rallye de Portugal Vinho do Porto	6 March–9 March	Timo Salonen Seppo Harjanne	Peugeot 205 Turbo 16
1986	20º Rallye de Portugal Vinho do Porto	5 March–8 March	Joaquim Moutinho Edgar Fortes	Renault 5 Alpine Turbo
1987	21º Rallye de Portugal Vinho do Porto	11 March–14 March	Markku Alén Ilka Kivimäki	Lancia Delta HF 4WD
1988	22º Rallye de Portugal Vinho do Porto	28 February–4 March	Miki Biasion Carlo Cassina	Lancia Delta Integrale
1989	23º Rallye de Portugal Vinho do Porto	28 February–4 March	Miki Biasion Tiziano Siviero	Lancia Delta Integrale
1990	24º Rallye de Portugal Vinho do Porto	6 March–10 March	Miki Biasion Tiziano Siviero	Lancia Delta Integrale 16v
1991	25º Rallye de Portugal	5 March–9 March	Carlos Sainz Luís Moya	Toyota Celica GT-Four
1992	26º Rallye de Portugal	3 March–7 March	Juha Kankkunen Juha Piironen	Lancia Delta HF Integrale
1993	27º Rallye de Portugal	3 March–6 March	François Delecour Daniel Grataloup	Ford Escort RS Cosworth
1994	28º TAP Rallye de Portugal	1 March–4 March	Juha Kankkunen Juha Piironen	Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD
1995	29º TAP Rallye de Portugal	8 March–10 March	Carlos Sainz Luís Moya	Subaru Impreza 555
1996	30º TAP Rallye de Portugal	6 March–8 March	Rui Madeira Nuno R. da Silva	Toyota Celica GT-Four
1997	31º TAP Rallye de Portugal	23 March–26 March	Tommi Mäkinen Seppo Harjanne	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 4
1998	32º TAP Rallye de Portugal	22 March–26 March	Colin McRae Nicky Grist	Subaru Impreza WRC
1999	33º TAP Rallye de Portugal	21 March–24 March	Colin McRae Nicky Grist	Ford Focus WRC
2000	34º TAP Rallye de Portugal	16 March–19 March	Richard Burns Robert Reid	Subaru Impreza WRC
2001	35º TAP Rallye de Portugal	8 March–11 March	Tommi Mäkinen Risto Mannisenmäki	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6
2002	36º TMN Rallye de Portugal	7 June–8 June	Didier Auriol Thierry Barjou	Toyota Corolla WRC
2003	37º TMN Rallye de Portugal	28 March–29 March	Armindo Araújo Miguel Ramalho	Citroën Saxo Kit Car
2004	38º TMN Rallye de Portugal	???	Armindo Araújo Miguel Ramalho	Citroën Saxo Kit Car
2005	39º TMN Rallye de Portugal	31 March–2 April	Daniel Carlsson Mattias Andersson	Subaru Impreza WRX
2006	40º PT-Rally de Portugal	???	Armindo Araújo Miguel Ramalho	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8