ANDn a press conference held today, called to reiterate the maintenance of the super special stage of the World Rally Championship (WRC) in Figueira da Foz, Manuel Domingues, councilor responsible for Sports, addressed some changes to the layout of what, this year, will be the first stage of the rally.
Therefore, according to the mayor, the urban classification test will once again take place on Avenida de Espanha and in the car park attached to it (known as Parque das Gaivotas), but with three roundabouts designed inside this space.
Two of the roundabouts, according to Manuel Domingues, will be crossed by the drivers as if it were a “figure eight” and the jump existing in 2023 inside the car park — which limited the drivers’ performance as it preceded a left turn – – will be placed, this year, approximately in the middle of one of the straights of Avenida de Espanha (near the Barra pilots building), being done in the east – west direction.
“It was understood, this year, that some changes could be made. The leap [do ano passado] It was a bit scary for the pilots. The route, in distance, is the same, there is the jump [fora do parque de estacionamento] and interior changes”, observed Manuel Domingues.
“This year, the first event of the rally, which is the super special, takes place in Figueira da Foz [em 2023 foi apenas a 8.ª classificativa]with the riders and their teams spending the night in Figueira da Foz and, the following day, leaving here for the special stages in the Central region [Mortágua, Lousã, Góis e Arganil]”, added the councilor.
The Figueira da Foz urban super special is 2.94 kilometers long and is scheduled for 7:05 pm on May 9, after the symbolic start of the rally, which takes place in Coimbra at 5 pm.
Regarding the maintenance of the super special in Figueira da Foz and the issue raised on Tuesday, by the Chamber of Coimbra, which intends to recover, in 2025, the urban stage from which it gave up in 2023, Manuel Domingues recalled that Figueira da Foz signed the last year and for three years a contract with the Automóvel Clube de Portugal (ACP) that guarantees him, precisely, the right of option until next year, inclusive.
“Coimbra can say what it wants (…) The municipality of Figueira has the right to choose in these three years, if it understands it can continue to hold the super special in Figueira da Foz, if it doesn’t understand it the decision will be ours”, he emphasized .
This assessment will be carried out in November, although Manuel Domingues has anticipated that, from the outset, the municipality of Figueira da Foz will not give up organizing the super special, as Coimbra did in 2023.
The ACP, in a brief statement released on Wednesday, also reiterated that Figueira da Foz “receives and wins the first super special of the WRC Vodafone Rally de Portugal, in accordance with the contract that gives it this right of option until 2025”.
Scheduled for next Tuesday, according to Manuel Domingues, is the signing of the protocols with the ACP for the Rally of Portugal, by the six municipalities of the Central region, in a ceremony to take place, like last year, in Casa do Paço, on the riverside of Figueira da Foz.
JLS // JEF
Lusa/End
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