Ricardo Teodósio from Algarve among the fastest at the start of the Rally of Portugal
Algarve native Ricardo Teodósio (Toyota Yaris) was the third fastest among the competitors in the Portuguese Rally Championship (CPR) in the Figueira da Foz super special, which opened the 58th edition of the Rally of Portugal, yesterday, May 15, with Northern Irishman Kris Meeke (Toyota Yaris) leading.
Meeke, the national champion, beat the competition with a time of 2.23.6 minutes in the 2.94 kilometres of the Figueira da Foz super special stage, which marked the start of what is also the fifth round of the World Championship (WRC) , beating the Spaniard Dani Sordo (Hyundai i20) into second place, 0.9 seconds behind. Ricardo Teodósio (Toyota Yaris), racing “at home”, finished third, 5.4 seconds behind.
The Northern Irishman, who was the overall winner of the Portuguese race in 2016, when he was racing for the official Citroën team, achieved the 11th best time among all participants, 5.5 seconds behind the fastest, the British driver Elfyn Evans (Toyota Yaris), second among drivers in the WRC2 category.
This is the fourth scoring event for the CPR, which saw the Northern Irishman win the three rounds already held, in Felgueiras, Algarve and Amarante.
Pedro Almeida (Skoda Fabia) was fourth, six seconds behind, with José Pedro Fontes (Citroën C3) in fifth, with the same time, followed by Armindo Araújo (Skoda Fabia), who lost three tenths of a second more.
The CPR round will only take place this Friday, with the final classification being determined at the end of the 10 planned special stages, with a total of 146 timed kilometres.
From Saturday onwards, the drivers who choose to continue in the race will only fight for the honorary title of best Portuguese in the Rally.
We are counting on you to investigate and report
Jornal do Algarve
