WRC 2018 6 2018-05-17 2018-05-17 https://r2.thesportsdb.com/images/media/event/thumb/qtcqbb1527702764.jpg https://r2.thesportsdb.com/images/media/event/poster/eyofkk1527702733.jpg The Rally de Portugal (formerly: Rallye de Portugal) is a rally competition held in Portugal. First held in 1967, the seventh running of the race, the 7º TAP Rallye de Portugal was the third event in the inaugural FIA World Rally Championship in 1973. The rally remained on the WRC calendar for the next 29 years, and after being dropped for 2002–2006, the event returned to Portugal in 2007. During the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s, Rally de Portugal was a mixed event between asphalt and gravel. Currently it is an all-gravel event. Rally de Portugal has been awarded "The Best Rally in the World" five times and in 2000 "The Most Improved Rally of the Year". The most successful driver in the history of the rally is Finland's Markku Alén, who has won the event five times (1975, 1977, 1978, 1981 and 1987). Hugely popular event on technical and tricky gravel roads based around Matosinhos, near Porto, in the north of the country.Thursday evening start at picturesque Guimarães Castle is followed by big power slides for the crowds at Lousada rallycross circuit. The first full day heads north for three repeated stages around Viano do Castelo, near the Spanish border. It ends with two tests in Porto’s city centre streets. Saturday is the longest leg, journeying east to demanding roads in the Cabreira Mountains. Three stages are driven morning and afternoon.Sunday is all about Fafe and its enormous crowds. All five stages are in the municipality, including a double pass over the legendary test itself. 574078