Aurélie Sacchelli, Media365, published on Thursday 01 May 2025 at 2:36 p.m.
Sébastien Ogier, who is playing the part -time WRC season, will start from the Rally of Portugal in two weeks, where he will defend his title.
He is the record holder of victories at the Rally of Portugal, and he will still be present this year! At 41, Sébastien Ogier will take part for the 14th time in his career in the Rally of Portugal, in two weeks. A rally which he has already won six times, in 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2017 and 2024, and where he will therefore defend his title. The Toyota driver is playing the 2025 part -time season, as has already been for him since the 2022 season, because he wants to have more time to take advantage of his family, but Portugal will indeed be part of his program. This year, Sébastien Ogier already took part in January in the Monte-Carlo rally, which he won for the tenth time (a record), before taking a break and returning for the Canaries rally in April, where he finished second Behind Kalle Rovanperä, his teammate at Toyota. He will therefore also be present for the WRC rally at the May Calendar, on the Matosinhos paths, near Porto. And even if he only participated in two out of four rallies this season, the Gapençais occupies fourth place in the general classification, at a point in the world champion Thierry Neuville (Hyundai), who nevertheless played all the races. Toyota, who decided to change the color of his cars, going from black to gray, for the seven rally rallys of the season on earth (up to Chile rally in September), will be present in Force in Portugal with, in addition to Sébastien Ogier, Elfyn Evans (championship leader), Kalle Rovanperä, Takamoto Katsuta and Sami Pajari.
Fourmaux and Loubet will also be there
The other Frenchman in the running in Portugal in the Category-Reine will of course be Adrien Fourmaux (30 years this Saturday), currently sixth in the ranking, driving the Hyundai. In total, twelve cars will be engaged in the Rally1 category, unheard of since October 2022. There will also be a record number of 45 cars in rally2, including French Pierre-Louis Loubet (28 years old), who had driven in Rally1 with Hyundai and M-Sport, and who signed up last week with the British stable, where he is therefore back.
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