This time the break between events was short – just a few weeks, and we will be able to enjoy the wonderful views of Portugal again. The Vieira do Minho Rally is different from the first two events, as the Portuguese Main Championship is now taking a break until the end of April, while the Portuguese Promo Championship continues. In this championship, the main class is N5. Therefore, everything is a little different here compared to the last two rallies in Fafe and the Algarve.
These differences can be seen in the list of participants – significantly fewer R5/Rally2 cars. In this case, there are only 5, but among them are some fast guests from the main championship of Portugal. Then we see that instead of the usual 4 N5 cars, there are 3 more, and in total, we already have quite a good number of these machines. One each of Citroen C3, Peugeot 208 and Toyota Yaris N5 are there. Another point is that the competitors will have slightly lower mileage, both in terms of special stages and liaison, as everything will take place near the town of Vieira do Minho. There will also be no qualifying stage and the N5 cars have been given significantly better starting numbers.
As for the competitors, we will see the same trio again, joined by Martynas Samsonas. Portuguese rally veteran Adruzilo Lopes, who is still very fast, will try to further consolidate his position in the championship with the Škoda Fabia N5. It’s great to see the ever-quickening crew of Miguel Carvalho / Antonio Reis with the Hyundai i20 N5. We will also see the family crew of Joao and Luis Araujo with the Ford Fiesta N5. They will be joined by three other cars. Perhaps the strongest challenger to the new trio is Rui Borges on Citroen, who switched to this car last year and fought for the title of Promo champion with Adruzilo Lopes, finishing second. Ricardo Marques, who previously had a very active career, has recently rented a Peugeot 208 N5 from Spain and is driving this rally few years in a row. The situation is similar for Henrique Moniz – after an active career, the Portuguese driver now only takes part in rallies from time to time. This will be his debut with the Toyota Yaris N5.
Since Martynas Samsonas and Ervinas Snitkas won this rally in 2021 and visited it in 2022, the Vieira do Minho Rally has changed a little. It used to be a rally consisting of two stages driven three times each, which were combined into the WRC Portugal Vieira do Minho stage. The format has changed somewhat since last year – now these two SSs are only run twice, and there is a third SS that is also part of another WRC Portugal Special stage. There is a city special stage from 2022. Another change – this time Friday will not just be episodic, so competitors will have to tackle the 12.91km special stage twice. On Saturday, there will be the traditional Vieira do Minho stages of 10.67 km and 15.17 km long driven twice, separated by a service zone and a drive through the streets of Vieira do Minho. At the end of the rally, the competitors will once again tackle the city stage of Vieira do Minho, but only for spectators and show purposes. The weather conditions in this part of Portugal are pretty bad. Although the temperatures are similar or even lower than in Lithuania, there is a lot of rain and wind.
| Nr. | Driver | Co-driver | Car | Team | Class | |||
| 6. |  | Adruzilo Lopes | | Paulo Leones |  | Škoda Fabia N5 | P4-17 | |
| 7. | | Miguel Carvalho | | António Reis |  | Hyundai i20 N5 | P4-17 | |
| 8. |  | Martynas Samsonas | | Ugnius Vainevičius | | Škoda Fabia N5 | Samsonas Motorsport | P4-17 |
| 9. | | João Araújo | | Luís Araújo |  | Ford Fiesta N5 | P4-17 | |
| 16. | | Rui Borges | | Luís Ribeiro |  | Citroen C3 N5 | P4-17 | |
| 18. | | Ricardo Marques | | Paulo Marques |  | Peugeot 208 N5 | P4-17 | |
| 19. | | Henrique Moniz | | Jorge Diniz |  | Toyota Yaris N5 | P4-17 |
