by The duo Ricardo Teodósio/José Teixeira (Hyundai i20 N Rally2) was fastest in the Fafe super-special stage, first in the Rally Serras de Fafe Felgueiras, Boticas, Vieira do Minho and Cabeceiras de Basto, with a final time of 1 : 27.9 d., beating Erik Cais/Igor Bacigál (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) by 0.2s.
Miko Marczyk/Szymon Gospodarczyk (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) closed the first day of the rally with the third fastest time, 1.3s behind Teodósio, while Hayden Paddon/John Kennard (Hyundai i20 N Rally2) and Simone Tempestini (Sergiu Fabiau). Rally2 evo) finished with exactly the same time in the short section, where the most important thing for the competitors was to be careful qb, finish without problems and without losing too much time.
At the end of the 1.43 km of the city separate, all on cobbled terrain, which made it quite slippery, but provided a good show to the very public present in the center of Fafe, the duo Filip Mareš / Radovan Bucha (Skoda H Fabia Rally2 evo) finished sixth fastest, 1.7s behind the Algarve driver’s time, followed by Tom Kristensson / Andreas Johansson (Citroën C3 Rally2) 1.8s behind and with the same record was duo Mikko Heikkilä / Samu Vaaleri (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) rounded out the top 10 of 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) were fastest for a long time, with a time of 1:29.9s, followed by Armindo Araújo/Luís Ramalho ( Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo ), but after 32 riders completed the timed section, Ricardo Teodósio / José Teixeira (Hyundai i20 N Rally2) took the fastest time and with that began to lead the Rally Serras de Fafe classification. The record of 1:27.9 seconds went to the top of the time sheet.
Pedro Almeida/Mário Castro (Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo) still managed to set a faster time than Armindo Araújo and his co-driver Luís Ramalho, moving into third place in the Portuguese championship, 2.4 seconds behind Teodósio. Bernardo Sousa / Inês Veiga (Citroen C3 Rally2) finished with the same time as Armindo Araújo and in fifth place, 3.1 clear of the leader, as well as Pedro Meireles / Pedro Alves (Hyundai i20 N Rally2).
Efren Llarena/Sara Fernandez (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) were first on the road for the short evening special in the center of Fafe, clocking a time of 1:31.1s.
The first pairing to depart for the Serras de Fafe Rally special that counts towards the Portuguese Rally Championship was Craig Breen / James Fulton (Hyundai i20 N Rally2), who were fastest in qualifying and decided to be third on the road. Breen’s final time was 1:29.9s, 0.4s better than Hayden Paddon/John Kennard (Hyundai i20 N Rally2), who at the time were the fastest pairing (1:29, 5 sec.).
Simone Tempestini/Sergiu Itu (Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo) managed to finish the short opening stage of the Portuguese race in the same time as Paddon and Kennard, taking second place in the classification.
After most of the European Rally duos, out came the duo of national champions Armindo Araújo/Luís Ramalho (Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo), having executed a special without a problem to finish 1.5 seconds behind Paddon’s time and 1.1 second behind Breen who was the fastest in CPR at the time. At a time when the rain was falling more heavily, the next pairing was José Pedro Fontes/Inês Ponte (Citroen C3 Rally2), finishing 4.5 seconds off the best time in the stage and 4.1 seconds behind the Irishman from Team Hyundai Portugal.
When Erik Cais/Igor Bacigál (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) hit the road, he set a good pace in his Skoda, finishing the night section with the fastest time, 1.4 seconds off Paddon’s time.
Miguel Correia/Jorge Carvalho (Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo) were the third Portuguese duo to take to the road, but finished 2.8 seconds behind Breen, who held the fastest record among CPR competitors, and 4.6 seconds off the best special time. Correia did not finish the special very satisfied.
After 32 riders completed the stage, Ricardo Teodósio showed what he was up to and won the best record, starting to lead the time, both at ERC and CPR level.
The Serras de Fafe Rally continues tomorrow, with 4 stages in the morning section and where a very muddy road is expected, with Teodósio leading the classification.
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Photo: @World/André Lavadinho
