BP Ford Abu Dhabi Team's driver Jari-Matti Latvala was fastest at this morning’s pre-event Shakedown test for Rally Portugal.
The five-hour test session took place on a 5.03km gravel road at Vale de Judeu, 11km from the Service Park at the Algarve Stadium.
Weather conditions were dry throughout with clear skies and a temperature of 20°C.

Latvala made three passes through the stage in his Ford Focus RS WRC, recording a best time of 3min 08.1sec on his final attempt. “The car feels really, really good and I’m confident with the set-up I have found,” said Latvala. “The engine improvements seem to be working well too, so I’m feeling really positive.”

Defending World Champion Sebastien Loeb was seventh fastest, but said road cleaning made it difficult to read too much into the times.
“I only did two passes fairly early on and the road got faster as the session went on,” he said. “When I did my passes I was the fastest and the car felt good, so it’s okay for me.”

Citroen Junior Team driver Conrad Rautenbach crashed mid-way through the session but is confident his C4 WRC will be repaired in time for this evening’s Super Special Stage.
“We altered the car before the run and it felt good, so were pushing on a bit,” explained Conrad. “But I was carrying too much speed on a right-hand corner, cut it a bit too much and clipped a tree stump. It was a big impact. It pushed the damper through the top mount and threw us off the road. We were lucky not to roll. It doesn’t look too bad, though, hopefully the guys can sort it.”

There was worse luck, however, for Portuguese P-WRC star Bernado Sousa who crashed his Fiat Abarth Grande Punto S2000 ahead of his rally debut with the car.
“It happened when I touched a rock on the inside of a right-hand corner,” Sousa told wrc.com.
“The steering-arm broke and on the next corner we drove off the road and into a gravel bank. I’m okay, but my co-driver Jorge has gone to hospital for checks because he has some pain in his shoulder. The car is badly damaged and as far as this rally goes, it looks bad. Even if they can fix it, I won’t compete if Jorge can’t do it with me. It’s so disappointing. This event has been full of bad luck for me - we even broke down on the recce.”

A crash later in the session for fellow Punto driver Jaromir Tarabus means it’s unlikely either of the two Abarth cars will make the start.

WRC Vodafone Rally de Portugal - top shakedown timetable:

1. LATVALA. Ford Focus RS WRC 08. 3:08.1
2. P. SOLBERG. Citroën Xsara. 3:08.2
3. HIRVONEN. Ford Focus RS WRC 08. 3:10.5
4. WILSON. Ford Focus RS WRC 08. 3:11.9
5. NOVIKOV. Citroen C4. 3:12.2
6. H. SOLBERG. Ford Focus RS WRC 08. 3:12.4
7. LOEB. Citroën C4 WRC. 3:13.1
8. SORDO. Citroën C4 WRC. 3:13.3
9. OSTBERG. Subaru Impreza WRC2008. 3:13.6
10. VILLAGRA. Ford Focus RS WRC 08. 3:13.7
11. OGIER. Citroën C4. 3:14.0
12. GRONHOLM. Subaru Impreza WRC2008. 3:17.0
13. Al QASSIMI. Ford Focus RS WRC 08. 3:19.4
14. SANDELL. Skoda Fabia Super 2000. 3:24.9
15. NIKARA. Mitsubishi Lancer EvoX. 3:27.9