Twin run on the new 2.03km stadium stageThe design of the ‘superspecial stage' at this year's Rally of Portugal, announced at the event's presentation at the 2006 Wales Rally GB and to be held in the rally base at the Algarve Stadium, has been finalised.
The 2.03Km
test will be a side-by-side run, with two cars competing together, in front of a potential crowd of 20,000 spectators. However, the spectacle will not only take place at the end of the event, which returns to the FIA World Rally Championship in 2007.
The Superspecial will kick-off the event on the evening of Thursday 29 March instead of a ceremonial start and will be repeated as the final stage to close the competition on Sunday 1 April.
The organisers have carried out a test of the superspecial layout, to evaluate the project and identify any areas which required further development. Using the latest specification of Group N car driven by local Ricardo Teodósio, the test couldn't have gone better.
Rally de Portugal Clerk of The Course, Pedro Almeida explains; “There is no need to make any modifications in the track. The bends have a good design and the spectacle is already guaranteed.
We have all the security control, even with two cars running at the same time on the circuit and from the spectators' point of view, it couldn't be better.”
Source Rally de Portugal
