Preview: TAP Rallye de Portugal.

After two highly specialised events this year, Rally Portugal is widely regarded as the first representative round of the World Championship.

Held on gravel roads, ranging from rocky sections in central Portugal to sandy stages further north, the rally provides a traditional challenge to temper outright speed with avoiding damage from potentially car breaking tracks.

Fierce conditions during the winter meant that many roads were badly damaged so very little useful pre-rally testing has been carried out in Portugal this year. Nearly all pre-event testing up to now was carried out in Spain instead.

Last weekend the weather changed for the better and the sun was seen in North Portugal again but earlier this week more rain arrived... Nobody knows what it will be like for the rally!

In the past weeks the local authorities have been repairing the roads. All the roads have been made passable in time for the start of reconnaissance and work is now in hand to make them in as good quality as possible before the event.

New for this year will be the Rally headquarters located at Europarque, Santa Maria da Feira, south of Porto, but the route itself remains similar to before.

Rally Portugal will be the final World Championship Rally before the arrival of Citroen, with all the other six registered teams are to be present, meanwhile the Drivers' Championship couls barely be closer with three drivers, Tommi Makinen, Carlos Sainz and Harri Rovanpera, tying for the lead.

Meanwhile, the Saturday schedule has been brought forward by 30 minutes to enable all the Championship drivers to tackle the last stage in comparable conditions, before the onset of dusk in potentially dusty air.

In Group N neither of the joint leaders Olivier Gillet or Stig-Olov Walfridsson have entered: meaning that the top placed contender could well be Manfred Stohl.

Under the FIA rules all the competitors in the Teams' Cup must take part, In Portugal they will be headed by Henrik Lundgaard (10 points) and the veteran Stig Blomqvist (6 points).

News from the teams:

Mitsubishi currently lead the Manufacturers' Championship with 23 points, while lead driver Tommi Makinen, who will have a new car in Portugal, will be looking to put the mistake in Sweden behind him as he tries to break away from the chasing pack.

''This will be the first chance to accurately evaluate the progress of our car, particularly after fitting the new rear suspension," said Chief Engineer Bernard Lindauer. "For this rally we have developed this further, with new rear uprights and wishbones, designed to give more travel on the rebound. We anticipate that legs one and three, where there are often deep ruts, will provide the usual challenge for wheel travel and rideheight.''

The event will mark Tommi Makinen's 100th entry on a World Championship Rally. In this period of time he has won no fewer than 21 world championship rallies and gained four World titles, and is the ninth driver to reach this level of experience.

His first World Rally appearance was in 1987, when his challenge for the lead in Group N ended with a spectacular accident. He is currently the longest serving member of any team, and now in his seventh season with Mitsubishi.

Ford's challenge will again be headed by Carlos Sainz and Colin McRae, with Francois Delecour also entered.

This weekends event will be Ford's first official rally entry for the Focus WRC on gravel with Pirelli tyres. Their two days of testing in Portugal, according to project engineer Gunther Steiner, ''Proved little, but at least we know we have good water-proofing!''

The team will provide new cars for Sainz and McRae, with McRae planning to use a mechanical, rather than electronic, gear change system.

Skoda hope that the bad weather damage expected in Portugal will lead to rough roads for the event, to the benefit of their drivers, Armin Schwarz and Bruno Thiry.

''Rough roads could be good for Skoda!" said Schwarz. "I do not I think I have seen conditions in Portugal so bad for the last ten years. Our concentration on shock absorber testing might prove to have been very important.''

Thiry will enter his fourth event for Skoda with a record to maintain. He has scored world championship points on each previous occasion!

Portugal will mark the debut of the second generation Hyundai Accent WRC, with full details to be announced at a launch on Tuesday evening before the event in Porto.

Alister McRae had a high speed accident in testing last week in Spain in the brand new car. Fortunately neither he nor test codriver Ian Grindrod were hurt, but the car was destroyed.

Subaru will enter cars for: Petter Solberg, Markko Martin and Toshihiro Arai - this will mark the first time since Sweden 1996 that Subaru has entered a four-car team!

Portugal will be the first appearance for Japanese driver Arai in a works specification car, having impressed the team with his Group N performances last year.

To help Arai and Australian co-driver Glenn Macneall prepare for the rally they have recently been 'processed' by the Prodrive 'Human Performance' advisers. Both driver and co-driver are expected to appear in a new slim line style!

The team will field new cars for Burns and Solberg.

Peugeot will enter the same squad as in Sweden, where Harri Rovanpera won on his first outing with the team.

Rovanpera has been told ''No team orders but, please, finish ahead of non-Peugeot drivers!" said team manager Jean-Pierre Nicolas. Each team driver has had two days of testing, with the French marques cars having no new technical novelties in Portugal.

A total of seven 206 WRC's have been entered, more than ever before. All four privately run cars will be in identical specification. ''This will provide a good comparison between the drivers...'' added Nicolas - who won the rally as a Renault Alpine driver in 1971, 30 years ago!

Part-time official driver Gilles Panizzi will drive a Peugeot for HF Grifone, while the latest Peugeot driver to enter the World Series will be Kris Princen, winner of the recent Boucles de Spa.

Citroen drivers Philippe Bugalski and Jesus Puras had been busy last week testing in Spain, ready for Puras' entry at the Mediterraneo European Championship all-asphalt rally near Alicante, on 3rd March.

That event was the first competition appearance of the definitive version of Citroens car. However, Bugalski and Puras will contest Portugal as part of their on-event experience programme with Saxo Kit Cars.

Other top drivers:

The inclusion of this event as the second round of the FIA Teams' Cup guarantees a strong international second-level entry of drivers with World Rally Cars. On the entry list are no fewer than nine Toyota Corolla WRCs - all of which are privately run!

TTE were testing this week at Arganil, with one day for each of the drivers they are supporting. Teams' Cup leader Henrik Lundgaard is on new ground: ''I have never rallied in Portugal before, Halkidikis was my only previous all-gravel event. That day of testing for me was very important.''

The Allstar drivers Hamed Al Wahaibi and Frederic Dor have each done two days testing near Fafe. Reason for Al Wahaibi's late retirement in Sweden, when lying second in Teams' Cup, was due to clutch problems which blocked the gearbox, the originating cause still not known.

In Group N co-driver Daniel Stillo is fully recovered from the illness which forced him to withdraw from Monte-Carlo and will make his first event as Gabriel Pozzo's co-driver, in Portugal.

Meanwhile, Italian driver Gianluigi Galli will not start after having his competition licence suspended by his national federation until 26th March following illegal recceing carried out in Sweden.