PUMAS PREPPED FOR PORTUGAL

As the FIA World Rally Championship returns to Europe for a series of consecutive gravel events, three Ford Puma Rally1s are prepped for the ever-popular Vodafone Rally de Portugal – Grégoire Munster and Josh McErlean joined by Latvia’s Mārtiņš Sesks.

Based in the coastal town of Porto, the event incorporates 24 speed tests across 344.5 competitive kilometres. The sandy, clay-based stages put grip at a premium whilst becoming more rocky and rutted over the second pass. Fast and technical in nature, blind corners over crests are a regular occurrence and the crews must muster all their skill, speed, and bravery in pursuit of a strong result.

Preparing for the challenge ahead, all three crews completed a full day of testing last week – refamiliarising themselves with loose-surface rallying, dialling their set-ups into the expected terrain and finding the balance between Hankook’s soft and hard compound tyres.

Having produced a stage-winning performance last time out on gravel, Munster and co-driver Louis Louka will be hoping for more of the same next week. With previous experience of the Portuguese stages, the Luxembourg driver is keen for another strong showing and eager to kickstart the championship’s European gravel campaign in style.

Portugal is also a familiar event for McErlean – the Irishman tackling the Iberian event on four previous occasions and securing an impressive ninth overall and second in WRC2 last year. Joined by Eoin Treacy on the notes, the pairing will be looking to put that experience and familiarity to good use as they prepare to showcase their potential on gravel.

Returning to the wheel of the Puma, Sesks is keen to reaffirm his pace alongside co-driver Renārs Francis. The youngster has not been resting on his laurels since his previous outing in Sweden – contesting three rounds of the Portuguese Rally Championship with a Past Racing prepared Ford Fiesta Rally2 and demonstrating his speed with a string of competitive stage times that saw him lead the popular Rali Serras de Fafe through the early stages.

Elsewhere in the team, Romet Jürgenson and Pierre-Louis Loubet will both take to the wheel of the Ford Fiesta Rally2 as they pursue success in the highly competitive WRC2 category. While Loubet has vast knowledge of the Portuguese stages – contesting the event for an incredible tenth time next week – this will be Jürgenson’s very first encounter of the popular event.

Richard Millener, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Principal, said:

“Rally de Portugal is the perfect gravel rally to kick-off this long sequence of loose surface European events, it always provides the action! It’s also always nice to see a big fan turnout here.

“It’s a busy one for us in the M-Sport camp, we’re fielding six cars in total across Rally1 and WRC2 so it’s going to be a huge challenge for the team this weekend. Our last event in Gran Canaria was tough, but both Grégoire and Josh are much more familiar with the roads here in Portugal so should have more confidence going into the rally.

“It’s great to welcome Mārtiņš back to the team too. He showed some very impressive pace on gravel last year in the Puma and he has a lot of potential to do well over the next few events.

“It’s also nice to have two Rally2 cars here and to have Pierre-Louis back with us alongside Romet. Pierre-Louis has a lot of experience here, but it’ll be his first time back in the Fiesta so he will need to take a measured approach. Hopefully working alongside Romet, who has some good experience in the car now, they can make good progress throughout the weekend.”

Grégoire Munster said:

"I’ve had a really good feeling during the test. The whole team is clearly motivated to bounce back after Canarias, so I’m looking forward to a strong event around Porto. It’s typical to have two kinds of stages here—some with a softer surface, like in Fafe, and others that are rougher with a hard base. Portugal always feels like two events in one! M-Sport has shown in the past that the car can be really competitive here, so we’re aiming for a good result."

Josh McErlean said:

"It feels great to be heading back to Rally Portugal—this event holds some really good memories for us. I can’t wait to get going again, this time in a Rally1 car. It’s the start of the gravel season and there's no better place to kick it off. The fans, the atmosphere, the roads—everything about Portugal is just mega."

Mārtiņš Sesks said:

"I'm really looking forward to summer and the start of the gravel season with Portugal. I competed in Portugal once before, in 2021, in Junior WRC. I think some of the stages will be similar, and I hope having some knowledge of them will help. We've also done two rallies with Past Racing in the Portuguese championship, which should be helpful as well. We've done some good preparation, but this will still be a demanding event, and I know everyone's very focused on doing well here. Our goal remains to keep developing, stay consistent, and stick to this approach throughout the season. We're excited to see what we can achieve on gravel this year!"

Romet Jürgenson said:

“Portugal is one of those legendary events that you always want to do, I’m glad that this year we have the chance to do it! Even though its our first time there, I think we’re going to really enjoy the event. The stages look amazing, and obviously I still feel more natural on gravel so that should also help. We’re looking forward to doing a good, solid, mistake-free event; the goal is to try to improve our pace throughout the weekend.”

Pierre-Louis Loubet said:

“First of all, I’m very pleased to be back in the team and to be back driving again in a Rally2 car in the WRC2 category. I’m looking forward to hopefully doing well on a rally I know really well, so let’s see what we can do! There will be a lot of discovery for me with this car, but from what I’ve seen it’s a good package and the tyres are new for everyone, so maybe there’s some opportunity for us.”

Images provided by Dpmotormedia. Published 09 May 2025.