The event marks a return to the iconic gravel roads in Northern and Central Portugal, encompassing 344.91km of competitive distance across 23 demanding stages. The roads reward commitment, yet grip levels are lacking for early runners – while those running later are likely to face treacherous rocks in the ruts.

Hyundai Motorsport has enjoyed success in Portugal in previous years, having claimed 11 podiums, including a victory in 2018. The team is confident it has a competitive package in the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 to challenge at the top of the classification.

Q+A with Hyundai Motorsport WRC Sporting Director Andrew Wheatley

How important is Rally de Portugal as a benchmark for where the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 stands on loose gravel surfaces?

“As the first of the European gravel events that will define the second half of 2026, Rally de Portugal is very important to gauge the performance of the team. Portugal has been an event with good speed and good results for Hyundai Motorsport in the past.  We know that the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 is fast in these conditions and we have been working hard to further improve reliability step-by-step. This event shares a similar profile to Acropolis, Sardinia and Saudi, so this will be a good opportunity to assess performance for the upcoming events.”

What are the team’s goals for the event?

“Our targets in Portugal are more ambitious than the last couple of events. While we expect that our competitors have not stood still over the winter, we are bringing most of what we have learned from our testing in 2026 to Rally de Portugal. With a good start order on Thursday and Friday, we are confident that we can be in a position to fight for the podium – but with Oliver Solberg and Sébastien Ogier also in good starting positions, the job will be slightly more complicated. It looks like there could be some rain around the recce, which could reduce the deficit of starting first on the road, but we believe we have three crews with the speed to fight for the podium.”

What makes Rally de Portugal unique?

“Portugal is an event that has a huge amount of history in the WRC – some of the stages have been used many times over a number of years, so the drivers often have good experience of the conditions. This means that it is often a rally of pure performance, which puts additional pressure on the reliability of the car.  Added to this, another key challenge is that the drivers start on Thursday afternoon, covering 10 tough stages until Friday night with just a remote service in Arganil. The fans in Portugal are also super knowledgeable and from the first pre-event test, they are following every minute of the action. A solid performance here can give a good kick-start to the gravel campaign.”

Views from the crews

Adrien Fourmaux said: “The season really starts now in Portugal, because it’s a different surface to everything that has come before. Testing has been good, and we are much more comfortable and confident with the pace on gravel. I like Rally de Portugal, and I’ve always been competitive here. I’ve been unlucky with some punctures or technical issues in the past, but we go to Portugal with the motivation to push and get the best result possible. The fans are some of the best in the world at Rally de Portugal, I’m looking forward to seeing them.”

Thierry Neuville said: “I have lots of great memories of Rally de Portugal – including it being one of my first events in Junior WRC in 2010 – and a couple of podiums and a win too. It's a tough event; the most difficult thing is managing the differences in stage profiles across the three or four days. You have the more abrasive and rough stages, but also the smooth and sandy ones. This year, there will be a complete mix of both on every single day, which is something new to the itinerary. We’ve set our targets high, our car should also be more competitive on gravel, so we're looking forward to it.”

Dani Sordo said: “My goal is clear:  to bring home a good result to the team and fight for the podium at a minimum. It's difficult to switch from tarmac to gravel, especially because my recent rallies in the Portuguese Championship, plus Canarias and La Llana, were all on tarmac. We did one day of gravel testing before Rally de Portugal and the feeling is completely different. It was hard at the beginning, but it's getting easier. We're confident we have a good car for gravel and we'll be much more competitive than we were in Canarias. I want to do well in front of the Portuguese fans.”