ACP ended Coimbra’s intention to have a qualifying stage for the Rally of Portugal in 2025 – Motores

The president of the Automóvel Clube de Portugal (ACP), Carlos Barbosa, today put an end to Coimbra’s claim to once again have the urban super special of the Rally of Portugal in 2025, which it gave up two years ago.

“Coimbra chose Coldplay, now, as long as we have the contracts with Figueira, we will keep them”, Carlos Barbosa told journalists, alluding to the option made by the municipality of Coimbra, in 2023, to invest in four concerts by the British band, instead of to maintain the super special of the Portuguese World Rally Championship (WRC), which took place there in 2022.

In statements, in Figueira da Foz, on the sidelines of the contract signing ceremony with the six municipalities in the Center region that host the Rally of Portugal (Arganil, Coimbra, Figueira da Foz, Góis, Lousã and Mortágua) and with the regional entity of tourism, Carlos Barbosa also addressed the changes to the route of the opening super special of the rally – scheduled for 7:05 pm on May 9th in the riverside area of ​​that city – arguing that “it is a very cool route this year”.

“The route of the Figueira da Foz super special will be more lively this year, last year there were many straights and little spectacularity in relation to the public. This year there will be much more spectacle for the public, with more areas that [os pilotos] they have to surround (…) the Figueira da Foz area will be much more attractive this year and I hope people come in droves”, emphasized the president of the ACP.

Heard by Lusa, the councilor responsible for Sports in the municipality of Figueira da Foz, Manuel Domingues – who, previously, had already alluded to the changes to the route of the super special, namely the placement of three roundabouts inside the so-called Gaivotas car park and the relocation of the jump to Avenida de Espanha – he said that all public access to the route will be closed and paid for.

Thus, in addition to the four stands available to the public, tickets for which cost 30 euros per person (15 euros for children between 8 and 14 years old and free for 3 to 7 years old, although without the right to a seat), there will be a ticket pedestrian, around the 2.94 kilometer circuit, with a unit cost of 10 euros (05 euros for children).

On the occasion, the president of the ACP considered the Central region as “fundamental” for the Rally of Portugal, and noted the “exceptional support” given by the municipalities to the Portuguese event of the World Rally Championship, both financially and in terms of logistics and construction and repair of the dirt stages, eight, covered twice, in Mortágua, Lousã, Góis and Arganil, on May 10th.

“We are very happy and will obviously remain in the Central region”, noted the ACP’s top official.

If the terms of the contracts signed today between the six municipalities, Turismo Centro de Portugal and the ACP were not made public, the Lusa agency compiled the value of the financial support provided to the Rally of Portugal by each municipality in the Central region, concluding that the four Smaller municipalities with sections of land in their territory each invest less than Figueira da Foz or Coimbra.

Thus, the district capital, which hosts the ceremonial start of the rally (scheduled for 17:00 on May 9), invests 224 thousand euros, a value that in Figueira da Foz amounts to 300 thousand euros, although the amount collected by the box office of the super special, which in 2023 amounted to 67 thousand euros, will revert to the municipality.

The remaining four municipalities invest, in total, 325 thousand euros – Arganil 110 thousand, Mortágua 100 thousand, Lousã 65 thousand and Góis 50 thousand – to which is added another 200 thousand euros from Turismo Centro de Portugal, that is, a total of financial support exceeding one million euros.