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The Nairobian

Bumper entry for Rally de Portugal

Sports

By Agencies | May 17, 2021

**Sebastien Ogier of Toyota Gazoo Racing**. [Courtesy: Motorsport.com]

Ten World Rally Cars feature in a bumper 81-car entry for Vodafone Rally de Portugal that takes place on Thursday through to Sunday.

Round four of the FIA World Rally Championship also boasts big numbers in the support categories, with a combined total of 37 WRC2 and WRC3 competitors set to serve up plenty of action.

Croatia Rally winner Sébastien Ogier tops the list along with regular Toyota Gazoo Racing team-mates Elfyn Evans, Kalle Rovanperä and Japanese hotshot Takamoto Katsuta in a quartet of Yaris World Rally Cars.

Thierry Neuville and Ott Tänak will be joined by Dani Sordo in the Hyundai Motorsport camp. The Spaniard will drive an i20 World Rally Car for the first time since Rallye Monte-Carlo with new co-driver Borja Rozada alongside. Adrien Fourmaux is back for his second stint in a World Rally Car

Gus Greensmith and Adrien Fourmaux will spearhead M-Sport Ford's Fiesta World Rally Car attack. Fourmaux is back in the saddle thanks to a strong showing at last month's Croatia Rally where he finished fifth.

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Hyundai 2C Compétition fields a single i20 car for Pierre-Louis Loubet. The Frenchman will be debuting with new co-driver Florian Haut-Labourdette after recently announcing an end to his partnership with co-driver Vincent Landais.

In WRC2, the 12-car entry is the biggest for the series’ premier support category in over two years.

Despite a disappointing result in Croatia, Andreas Mikkelsen tops the order in a Toksport-prepared Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo. Team-mate Marco Bulacia joins him for this season's first gravel rally.

Teemu Suninen will once again pilot a Ford Fiesta Rally2 for the M-Sport Ford squad. The Finn was second in Croatia and could be one to watch, whilst other key protagonists will include Mads Østberg, Esapekka Lappi, Oliver Solberg and Nikolay Gryazin.

The 25-strong WRC3 entry list is headed by French pairing Yohan Rossel and Nicolas Ciamin in similar Citroën C3 Rally2 cars. Polish star Kajetan Kajetanowicz is also entered in a Skoda following his Croatia Rally win.

Mads Østberg is back, fresh off his win in Croatia

Some of the biggest intrigue in Portugal will be reserved for car 57, driven by André Villas-Boas. The former Porto, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur football manager has been an avid rally fan for some time and will make his WRC debut in a Sports and You-prepared Citroën in WRC3.