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How to watch WRC's Rally Portugal: schedule, line-up and more

The 2024 WRC season is as open as it comes with four different winners in as many rounds to commence the campaign.

Championship leader Thierry Neuville kicked things off with victory in the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally, before Esapekka Lappi won in Sweden, Kalle Rovanpera in Kenya and finally Sebastien Ogier in Croatia.

But Rovanpera and Ogier are only contesting a part-time campaign in 2024, which leaves Neuville and Elfyn Evans at the top of the championship.

Although he is yet to win, Evans has so far been rewarded for his consistency as he’s had a top-four finish in each rally, including three podiums.

But Evans left the last round in Croatia extremely frustrated, as the points structure that is new for 2024 meant he scored as many points for finishing second as Neuville did in third.

Under the current structure, championship points are awarded at the end of both Saturday and Sunday. A sliding scale of 18-15-13-10-8-6-4-3-2-1 is given on Saturday, with 7-6-5-4-3-2-1 then awarded on Sunday while the Power Stage remains 5-4-3-2-1.

In Croatia, Neuville topped the Saturday standings but finished seventh on Sunday with no points in the Power Stage. Evans was second on the first day before scoring four points on Sunday.

(Photo by: Toyota Racing)



It meant Evans was unable to cut his six-point championship deficit to Neuville despite the Toyota driver finishing ahead of his Hyundai rival overall.

Although Adrien Fourmaux finished 17th overall, he left Croatia with 13 points for finishing fifth on Saturday and winning the Power Stage, meaning the M-Sport driver remains third in the championship but 27 points behind Neuville.

So, the early signs show that it will be a straight-up fight between Neuville and Evans for WRC glory in 2024.

WRC2 should also excite fans in Portugal with the return of five-time rally winner Kris Meeke, who last contested the category at this event in 2023.

The WRC2 championship picture is also wide open as Yohan Rossel and Oliver Solberg are tied at the top with Nikolay Gryazin just three points behind and all title contenders will be present in Portugal.

When is Rally Portugal?

Date: 9-12 May

Start time: 5pm on Thursday 9 May 2024

The 2024 Rally Portugal starts on Thursday 9 May at 5pm in the United Kingdom and local time. That is for the ceremonial start though, so the first official stage does not begin until 7:05pm that night.

Before stage one, there is also shakedown at 8am on Thursday, which gives drivers the chance to test various car set-ups ahead of the weekend.

Date 
Leg 
Leg total 
Start time 
Thursday 9 May 
Shakedown 
2.86 miles 
8am 
Thursday 9 May 
Ceremonial start 
N/A 
5pm 
Thursday 9 May 
Stage 1 
1.83 miles 
7:05pm 
Friday 10 May 
Stage 2 - Stage 5 
39.43 miles 
8:05am 
Friday 10 May 
Stage 6 - Stage 9 
39.43 miles 
2:05pm  
Saturday 11 May 
Stage 10 - Stage 13 
44.01 miles 
8:05am 
Saturday 11 May 
Stage 14 - Stage 18 
46.10 miles 
2:35pm  
Sunday 12 May 
Stage 19 - Stage 21 
51 miles 
7:05am 
Sunday 12 May 
Stage 22 (Power Stage) 
6.95 miles 
12:15pm 

How can I watch the WRC?

TNT Sports has held the WRC broadcasting rights since 2014, so it will live televise every round of the 2024 season.

This means UK residents must hold a subscription to watch WRC and TNT is available at £20 per month for a deal that includes all four sport channels, Eurosport 1 and 2 and Discovery+. Discovery+ is TNT’s live streaming platform meaning the WRC can be watched via a mobile or tablet device, as well as a console.

The WRC is also available via Rally.tv, which broadcasts the European Rally Championship and World Rallycross Championship as well. Rally.tv has two deals for new customers: an annual pass for £119.99 or a monthly pass for £12.99.

How can I watch Rally Portugal?

Coverage for Rally Portugal will begin this Thursday at 8am with TNT Sports Extra 1 broadcasting shakedown, before the ceremonial start and opening stage that evening.

TNT Sports’ Friday coverage will commence at 7:45am with early starts on Saturday and Sunday as well. However, due to the rally’s schedule, TNT Sports will be on and off with its coverage depending on the start time for each stage. For example, one programme will broadcast stages two to five in the morning with the next doing six to eight after lunch.

The same format will be followed by Rally.tv, which will also live broadcast every stage plus the shakedown and ceremonial start.

Date 
Leg 
Channel 
Coverage from  
Thursday 9 May 
Shakedown 
TNT Sports Extra 1 
8am 
Thursday 9 May 
Ceremonial start 
TNT Sports Extra 1 
5pm 
Thursday 9 May 
Stage 1 
TNT Sports Extra 1 
7pm 
Friday 10 May 
Stage 2 - Stage 5 
TNT Sports 3 
7:45am  
Friday 10 May 
Stage 6 - Stage 8 
TNT Sports 4 
2pm 
Friday 10 May 
Stage 9 
TNT Sports Extra 1 
5:30pm 
Saturday 11 May 
Stage 10 - Stage 12 
TNT Sports 3 
7:45am  
Saturday 11 May 
Stage 13 
TNT Sports Extra 3 
11:30am 
Saturday 11 May 
Stage 14 - Stage 18 
TNT Sports Extra 3 
2:30pm 
Sunday 12 May 
Stage 19 - Stage 21 
TNT Sports 3 
7am 
Sunday 12 May 
Stage 22 (Power Stage) 
TNT Sports 3 
12pm
Date 
Leg 
Channel 
Coverage from  
Thursday 9 May 
Shakedown 
Rally.tv 
8am 
Thursday 9 May 
Ceremonial start 
Rally.tv 
5pm 
Thursday 9 May 
Stage 1 
Rally.tv 
7pm 
Friday 10 May 
Stage 2 
Rally.tv 
7:45am 
Friday 10 May 
Stage 3 - Stage 5 
Rally.tv 
9:30am 
Friday 10 May 
Stage 6 - Stage 8 
Rally.tv 
2pm 
Friday 10 May 
Stage 9 
Rally.tv 
5:30pm 
Saturday 11 May 
Stage 10 - Stage 13 
Rally.tv 
7:45am 
Sunday 12 May 
Stage 14 - Stage 18 
Rally.tv 
2:30pm 
Sunday 12 May 
Stage 19 - Stage 21 
Rally.tv 
7am 
Sunday 12 May 
Stage 22 (Power Stage) 
Rally.tv 
12pm 

When can I watch Rally Portugal highlights?

Red Bull TV will run a one-hour programme at 10pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday night broadcasting highlights of each day at Rally Portugal. TNT Sports will do something similar, but instead run a 30-minute highlight package at various times: 11pm on Friday, 5:30am on Sunday and 12am on Monday.

ITV4 is also broadcasting a one-hour highlights programme and it will air on Tuesday 14 May at 8pm.

Autosport also shows daily highlights, while the official WRC platforms will upload a short package soon after the running for each day has finished.

Date 
Channel 
Time 
Friday 10 May 
Red Bull TV 
10pm 
Friday 10 May 
TNT Sports 1 
11pm 
Saturday 11 May 
Red Bull TV 
10pm 
Sunday 12 May 
TNT Sports 2 
5:30am 
Sunday 12 May 
Red Bull TV 
10pm 
Monday 13 May 
TNT Sports 1 
12am 
Tuesday 14 May 
ITV4 
8pm 

What is the route for Rally Portugal?

Rally Portugal consists of 22 special stages - the most on the calendar - covering a total competitive distance of 209.43 miles on a gravel surface. A super special stage kicks off proceedings on Thursday evening, where drivers will tackle just 1.83 miles of Figueira da Foz which is a coastal city in central Portugal.

An early start commences the action on Friday with drivers tackling 11.28 miles of Mortagua from 8:05am, before heading south to Lousa for 7.63 miles of the town. The rally then heads east for 8.7 miles of Gois before 11.63 miles of Arganil finishes the morning.

Those stages are run again on Friday afternoon, but it instead starts with Lousa before going to Gois, Arganil and finally Mortagua. There is another early start on Saturday, which features two identical loops of eight stages beginning at 8:05am.

It starts with 5.74 miles of Felgueiras - 107.44 miles north of Mortagua - before heading east for 5.4 miles of Montim. Two big stages then finish the morning with 23.14 miles of Amarante and 10 miles of Pardes before that route is repeated on Saturday afternoon.

Sunday starts at 7:05am with 12.37 miles of Cabeceiras de Basto before 6.95 miles of Fafe, while drivers then finish the morning with another run of Cabeceiras de Basto. Rally Portugal finishes with its Power Stage, which is another 6.95 miles run of Fafe on Sunday afternoon.

Rally1 entry list for Rally Portugal

Team 
Driver 
Co-driver 
Hyundai 
Dani Sordo 
Candido Carrera 
Ott Tanak 
Martin Jarveoja 
Thierry Neuville 
Martijn Wydaeghe 
M-Sport 
Gregoire Munster 
Louis Louka 
Adrien Fourmaux 
Alexandre Coria 
Toyota 
Sebastien Ogier 
Vincent Landais 
Takamoto Katsuta 
Aaron Johnston 
Elfyn Evans 
Scott Martin 
Kalle Rovanpera 
Jonne Halttunen 
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