ALGARVE, Portugal // Skydive Dubai Rally Team driver Rashid Al Ketbi and German co-driver Karina Hepperle return to FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) action at this weekend’s Rally of Portugal.
The Dubai-based driver has been away from the WRC special stages since his premature departure with transmission problems from last year’s Rally of Spain.
But Al Ketbi was back behind the wheel of his Ford Fiesta R5 at last weekend’s Fafe Rally Sprint in northern Portugal, taking third place among the WRC 2 registered drivers in an event that was won by defending WRC champion Sebastien Ogier of France.
“I was quite happy with this performance bearing in mind it was my first time back in the WRC since Spain last year,” said the Emirati, who did take part in the Dubai International Rally last December.
“Now we can look forward to the first event in Portugal this week. Last year was a disappointing one for me in Portugal and it will not be easy this year with the strength of the entry, but Karina and I are well prepared and raring to go.”
The Portuguese event has attracted one of the strongest entries for some time and Al Ketbi faces fierce competition in the WRC 2 category. Championship leader Yuriy Protasov of Ukraine heads the field in his Ford Fiesta R5, but the likes of Finland’s Jari Ketomaa, Ireland’s Robert Barrable and Sweden’s Fredrik Ahlin will be hoping to achieve the win.
Qatar’s Nasser Al Attiyah and Abdulaziz Al Kuwari also return to the WRC for the first time this season in WRC 2, and Kuwaiti driver Salah bin Eidan teams up with new American navigator Alessandro Gelsomino.
The Fafe Rally Sprint was an ideal venue for Al Ketbi to shake down his Ford Fiesta before the start of his WRC programme. In its third year, the event ran over a six-kilometre section of the Fafe-Lameirinha special stage, near Porto in the north of Portugal, and attracted about 100,000 spectators.
Ogier heads to the Portuguese round of the WRC with an overall championship lead of just three points over Volkswagen Motorsport teammate Jari-Matti Latvala. Sharjah’s Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi is also entered with the Citroen Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team.
The Rally of Portugal begins on Thursday. After the traditional start at Estoril, near Lisbon, there will be an opening stage at Praco do Imperio close to the Jeronimos Monastery, a Unesco World Heritage Site, before the route ventures south towards the Algarve for three legs of gravel special stages in the Baixo Alentejo and Serra do Caldeirao hills north of Faro.
The Rally of Portugal was first held in 1967 and was one of the founding events in WRC in 1973.
After losing its place in the calendar when bad weather ruined the 2001 event, rally officials moved the race from the north to the south of the country and it regained its slot in the calendar in 2007.
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Uefa Nations League: How it works
The Uefa Nations League, introduced last year, has reached its final stage, to be played over five days in northern Portugal. The format of its closing tournament is compact, spread over two semi-finals, with the first, Portugal versus Switzerland in Porto on Wednesday evening, and the second, England against the Netherlands, in Guimaraes, on Thursday.
The winners of each semi will then meet at Porto’s Dragao stadium on Sunday, with the losing semi-finalists contesting a third-place play-off in Guimaraes earlier that day.
Qualifying for the final stage was via League A of the inaugural Nations League, in which the top 12 European countries according to Uefa's co-efficient seeding system were divided into four groups, the teams playing each other twice between September and November. Portugal, who finished above Italy and Poland, successfully bid to host the finals.
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Rating: 1 out of 4
Running time: 81 minutes
Director: David Blue Garcia
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Aston Villa 2 (Grealish 11', Mings 66')
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Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
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