The organisers of Vodafone Rally de Portugal have published the entry list for the forthcoming event, round six of the FIA World Rally Championship season, which starts on 27 May.
One of the highlights of the 2009 season, the event returns this year with the largest number of entries of the season so far featuring 75 crews from 33 countries.
The rally will count towards seven series: WRC (Manufacturers and Drivers), S-WRC (S-2000 cars), J-WRC (Junior), Ford Fiesta Sporting International Trophy, Pirelli Star Driver and the Portuguese Championship.
Topping the list in the WRC category is championship leader Sebastien Loeb of the Citroen Total World Rally Team. He and team-mate Dani Sordo will drive C4 World Rally Cars. In the manufacturer's second tier squad, former F1 world champion Kimi Raikkonen will join Sebastien Ogier at the Citroen Junior World Rally Team, while Norwegian Petter Solberg will campaign a privately-entered C4 alongside British navigator Phil Mills.
Rally New Zealand winner Jari-Matti Latvala joins Mikko Hirvonen as the two points nominated Ford Focus entries for the BP Ford Abu Dhabi team. Abu Dhabi driver Khalid Al Qassimi will pilot a third car for the squad.
The Stobart M-Sport team will field two Focus RS WRCs for Henning Solberg and Matthew Wilson, while Munchis World Rally Team driver Federico Villagra will start his fifth rally of the season in another Focus World Rally Car. American extreme sports star Ken Block returns to the WRC with his Monster World Rally Team Ford Focus.
The event has also attracted a number of entries from privateer WRC class drivers including Mads Ostberg (Subaru Impreza WRC 2008), Jean-Marie Cuoq, Frigyes Turan and Spyros Pavlides (Peugeot 307 WRC) and the Ford Focus WRC drivers Rene Kuipers and Laurent Carbonaro.
Portugal counts as the second round of this year's Junior World Rally Championship and has attracted a strong field of 10 entries. Series leader Aaron Burkart (Suzuki) heads the Junior list followed by the men behind him in the standings, Renault drivers Alessandro Broccoli and Kevin Abbring.
The Super 2000 (S-WRC) category also features 10 entries and is headed by series leader Xevi Pons (Ford). Skoda driver Per-Gunnar Andersson will be Pons' closest championship rival in Portugal following the decision of Martin Prokop to miss the event. Portuguese Peugeot 207 driver Vitor Pascoal receives a one-off wildcard entry for his home round of the series.
Source: WRC
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