The Ricardo Teodosio / José Teixeira (Hyundai i20 N Rally2) duo was fastest in the Fafe super special stage, first in the Serras de Fafe Felgueiras, Boticas, Vieira do Minho and Cabeceiras de Basto rally, with a final time of 1:27.9s, beating Eric Cayce / Igor Pasegal (Skoda Fabia RS Rally 2) by 0.2 seconds.
Mikko Marchic / Szymon Jospodarchic (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) closed out the first day of the rally with the third fastest time, 1.3 seconds behind Teodosio, while Hayden Paddon / John Kennard (Hyundai i20 N Rally2) and Simon Tempestini / Sergio Eto’o (Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo) He finished at exactly the same time in the short section, where the most important thing for the competitors was to be careful and finish without any problems and without losing too much time.
At the end of the 1.43 km private town, all on cobblestones, which made it quite slippery, but made a good show for the crowd present in the center of Fafe, the duo Philippe Marich / Radovan Buca (Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo) finished sixth fastest, a lap behind 1.7 seconds behind the Algarve driver’s time, followed by Tom Kristensson / Andreas Johansson (Citroën C3 Rally2) with 1.8 seconds behind and with the same record was the duo Mikko Heikela / Samu Valeri (Skoda Fabia R5 Evo). Craig Breen / James Fulton (Hyundai i20 N Rally2) was 2.0 seconds behind his teammate, and Fabrizio Zaldivar / Marcelo Der Ohannesian (Hyundai i20 N Rally2) closed out the top ten in the first special stage of the Serras de Fafe Rally.
For the Portuguese Rally Championship (CPR) accounts, Craig Breen / James Fulton (Hyundai i20 N Rally2) was fastest for a long time, with a time of 1:29.9 seconds, followed by Armindo Araújo / Luís Ramalho (Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo), but after completing 32 riders specified section, Ricardo Teodosio / José Teixeira (Hyundai i20 N Rally2) beat the best time and thus began to lead the classification of the Sierras de Favi rally. A record of 1:27.9 seconds went to the top of the timetable.
Pedro Almeida / Mario Castro (Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo) still managed to set a faster time than Armindo Araujo and co-driver Luis Ramalho, as they moved into third place in the Portuguese championship, 2.4 seconds behind Teodosio. Bernardo Souza / Ines Vega (Citroen C3 Rally2) finished on the same time as Armindo Araújo and in fifth place, with 3.1s for the classification leader, as did Pedro Meireles / Pedro Alves (Hyundai i20 N Rally2).
Efren Llarena / Sara Fernandez (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) was the first to hit the road on a short special night in the center of Fafe, after closing in with a time of 1:31.1 seconds.
The first duo left for the special Serras de Fafe Rally to be credited to the Portuguese Rally Championship was Craig Breen / James Fulton (Hyundai i20 N Rally2), who was fastest in qualifying and decided to be third on the road. Brin’s final time was 1:29.9 seconds, 0.4 seconds more than Hayden Paddon/John Kennard (Hyundai i20 N Rally2), who at the time were the pair with the fastest time (1:29.5 seconds).
Simone Tempestini / Sergiu Itu (Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo) managed to finish the short opening sprint of the Portuguese Grand Prix at the same time as Paddon and Kennard finished second in the classification.
After most European rally duets left the national duo Armindo Araujo / Luis Ramalho (Skoda Fabia Rally 2 Evo), having performed a privateer without any problem and finished 1.5 seconds behind Padon’s time and 1.1 seconds behind Bren who was fastest in CPR. at that time. By the time it was pouring rain, the next pair was José Pedro Fontes / Inês Ponte (Citroen C3 Rally2), finishing 4.5 seconds off the special’s best time and 4.1 seconds behind Team Hyundai Portugal.
When Erik Cais/Igor Bacigál (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) hit the road, he set a good pace for his Skoda, finishing the night section with the best time, 1.4 seconds off Paddon’s time.
Miguel Correa/Jorge Carvalho (Skoda Fabia Rally 2 Evo) was the third Portuguese duo to hit the road, but they finished 2.8 seconds behind Brin, who set the fastest record among the CPR competitors, and 4.6 seconds off the private best time. Correia did not finish the special very satisfied.
After 32 riders completed the special, Riccardo Teodosio showed what it was and beat the best record, starting to lead the schedule, both in terms of ERC and CPR.
The Serras de Fafe Rally continues tomorrow, with 4 specials in the morning section and where the surface is expected to be very muddy, and Teodósio leads the classification.
Photo: @World/André Lavadinho
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