[Portugal P-WRC] Debut Victory For Araújo On Home Rally

Portuguese driver Armindo Araújo and co-driver Miguel Ramalho scored the first P-WRC victory of their career on their home event in their Mitsubishi Lancer EvoIX, on the third round of the 2009 FIA Production Car World Rally Championship, Vodafone Rally de Portugal.

After a tight battle for second, Martin Prokop (CZ, Mitsubishi) won the fight on the last stage, finishing 1min 07secs behind Araújo but just 6secs ahead of rival Eyvind Brynildsen (N, Mitsubishi) who was leading Prokop until the last stage when his differential broke, and had to settle for third. Araújo was awarded the Abu Dhabi Spirit of the Rally award for his efforts and the result sees Araújo take the lead in the P-WRC standings, three points ahead of Patrik Sandell (S, Skoda). Brynildsen and Prokop lie third and fourth in the standings respectively
but now equal each other on points, six adrift of Sandell.

Local guest driver Bruno Magalhães (P, Peugeot) made his mark initially, pulling out a lead ahead of 2006 P-WRC Champion Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT, Subaru) by SS2. But the Qatari driver set a fantastic time on SS3 to take a comfortable 23.1sec lead over the Portuguese. Unfortunately, Magalhães’ engine died on the next stage seeing him sidelined from the rally. Al-Attiyah held position until SS6 when broken steering truncated his day and saw him drop back to eighth by the end of the day, allowing a strategically-driving Araújo into the lead.

For some reason Araújo claimed to be ‘still sleeping’ at the start of day two and combined with a couple of good stage times from Patrik Flodin (S, Subaru), the Swede claimed the lead, leaving Araújo to chase. Then disaster struck for Flodin when he rolled his Impreza 15km into SS12, which saw him retire. By then, Araújo was flying again as he took 38.9secs off his nearest rival on SS12 alone and by the end of day two, the Portuguese held a comfortable 2min 14.5sec lead over Brynildsen.

Brynildsen had a difficult rally with that was ridden with mechanical woes. It started 2km into SS4 when he was left with just second and fourth gears caused by a gear linkage problem and the gearbox broke again on SS7, leaving him with only two usable gears. The team changed the gearbox overnight. Day two started well but a gearbox niggle once again reared its ugly head on SS8. Then he lost his brakes just 5km into SS11, hit a tree as a result which damaged a wheel and bent a suspension arm which again, he repaired on the road section. Repairs took a while, however, and he incurred a 50sec penalty for starting SS12 late but the fact that he was able to get through the two day’s worth of problem-ridden stages is testament to the young Norwegian’s skills as a mechanic.

Prokop expected the roads to be cleaner early on day one so he drove quite cautiously to stay out of trouble. But on SS6 he lost the use of his front brakes as the screws came loose from the brake disc and an electrical problem plagued him on SS7. Starting day two in fourth place, he upped his pace and began to take more risks to fight for a better position. He possibly pushed too hard as he broke a differential on SS12. He made the most of Brynildsen’s sleepy start to the final day, taking 26.8secs out of him on S14.
However, the final nail in Brynildsen’s coffin was a broken rear differential on the start line of the final superspecial stage so he lost 8secs to a chasing Prokop. Having gone into the stage just 1.5secs apart, it was impossible for the Norwegian to hold second position, and reluctantly relinquished it to the Czech driver.

After dropping down the order on day one following his broken steering, Al-Attiyah confidently worked his way back up the leaderboard to fourth, to save as many valuable points as possible, promoting him to fifth in the P-WRC standings,
three points behind Prokop.

Pirelli Star Driver Mark Tapper (NZ, Mitsubishi) had a few issues with engine power on the opening group of stages and on SS2 he overshot a junction which cost about 15secs, although he enjoyed the opening day. He struggled a bit on SS8 as he had raised the ride height overnight to protect the car but it changed the handling for the worse and then the power steering went half way through the next stage. But he continued his first WRC event outside his home country trouble-free on the final day, to score his first P-WRC points for fifth.

The power steering on Gianluca Linari’s (I, Subaru) Impreza broke half way through SS2 and from SS3 he struggled with a lack of engine power. On SS4 he stopped for about a minute in the stage with a broken turbo, waiting to let the next competitor pass so he didn’t hold him up, and then on SS5 the power steering broke again. The car was mechanically sound for the final two days and the Italian scored the first P-WRC points of his career for sixth.

Gaurav Gill’s (IND, Subaru) rally didn’t get off to a good start as he broke a suspension arm at the end of SS2, seeing him incur 25 minutes of penalties in stages not completed through the rest of the day. He had a better start to day two but he slipped off the road just 6km before the end of SS11, which bent a wheel so he finished the day cautiously. Day three was problem-free and he also scored the first P-WRC points of his career for seventh.

The P-WRC’s other Pirelli Star Driver Martin Semerád (CZ, Mitsubishi) went off the road and into a ditch on SS3 but while he incurred little damage, he could not rejoin the stage. He also took on board a hefty quota of penalties for not finishing the day. Unfortunately things didn’t improve for the P-WRC’s youngest competitor as a broken front suspension 12km into SS10 on day two sidelined him again. A trouble-free final day, however, allowed him to score his first P-WRC point for eighth.

Entered into the event by the organisers, Ricardo Moura (P, Mitsubishi) was contesting his first WRC event. He found the opening group on day one quite demanding and was surprised by the speed of the other P-WRC drivers but he drove carefully and had no problems. Backed by the Azores government, his main aim was to reach the finish so he paid little attention to the times of his competitors and he drove his own rally. Unfortunately, a broken rear differential on SS14 denied him the chance as he was unable to finish the stage and was forced to retire.

Driving for the Errani Team, Thomas Privé (F, Mitsubishi) went off the road and into a ditch a third of the way into SS3 and, unable to rejoin, couldn’t finish the day’s stages. The 2008 French gravel Champion had a spin on SS8 but then went off the road on SS10 which caused too much damage to continue.

Latvian driver Andis Neiksans (Mitsubishi) made a careful start, improving his pace notes through the first day to gain confidence and increase his speed. Unfortunately, transmission problems early on day two saw his rally come to an end.

After leading at the start of the rally, Bruno Magalhães (P, Peugeot) suffered a blown engine 7km into SS2 truncating his event.

Gabor Mayer (H, Subaru) went off the road on SS3 after hitting a rock and rolling his Impreza twice which damaged the roll cage, forcing him to retire.

P-WRC series leader Patrik Sandell’s (S, Škoda) luck finally changed as he went too fast into a corner on SS2, clipped a bank just 3km before the end and rolled. A damaged roll cage meant it brought his rally to a swift end.

Bernardo Sousa (P, Fiat Abarth) rolled his Fiat Abarth Grande Punto in an accident on the final shakedown test before the start of the rally. Unfortunately the car was damaged beyond repair preventing him from starting.

Sadly, the only other Abarth Grande Punto of Jaromir Tarabus (CZ, Fiat Abarth) was also the subject of an accident on the shakedown test and was also unable to start the event.

Egoi Eder Valdés Lópes (E, Subaru) did not start the rally after injuring his hand on a glass door, which resulted in stitches, just a few days before the event was scheduled to start.

As Frédéric Sauvan’s (F, Mitsubishi) co-driver was involved in an accident on a rally before the start of Portugal, he was unable to start the rally. He has changed his nominated event to Rally Argentina.

1st – Armindo Araújo, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX:
“I am very, very happy! We have won the P-WRC here and now we are in first place in the P-WRC standings and we have done it in our home country so I feel very confident. And I feel very proud standing on the podium here – I have the best fans in the world!”

2nd – Martin Prokop, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX:
“We were able to keep a good speed over the weekend. We had some problems with the car but we were lucky because others had more problems than us. Today was a really good fight with Eyvind [Brynildsen] and second place is good stuff for the season. We will now try and win in Argentina.”

3rd – Eyvind Brynildsen, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX:
“I can’t believe it. We broke the rear diff on the start line of the superspecial so we just had to go around slowly and we lost about 8secs to Prokop. I just can’t believe it. I’m fed up with getting seconds and thirds now – I just want to win. I know I can! We just need some luck.”