Emil Lindholm, who is starting at the WRC Vodafone Rally de Portugal for the first time in his driving career, is currently preparing for the upcoming event with his new co-driver. Reeta Hämäläinen, 33, will sit next to Lindholm in WRC Portugal and the rest of the rallies of the season.

 

Lindholm tells there is no drama involved in changing the co-driver.

 

“We worked together with Mikael (Korhonen) for a long time and he did his job in the car and outside of it exceptionally well. My support group and I wanted a change and we decided to go with Reeta”, Lindholm says.

 

“Our roads parted and we are still friends and I wish them both good luck to the future rallies. I am with them in spirit and continue to watch Emil’s rallies in the future”, Korhonen says.

 

Lindholm and Hämäläinen are currently driving tests with Toksport Škoda Fabia R5 Evo in Portugal for the upcoming event. The rally, which starts on Friday, will run 20 special stages with a total length of 337.51 km. The new duo is preparing for the future with care.

 

“We have already done note exercises together and Reeta has become familiar with my style. In the tests we were able to practise for the first time in a rally car, the functionality of our cooperation, and everything works well. It's really nice to be able to drive on gravel again. My goal is similar to that in Croatia, to drive my own good performance towards the finish line. We are aiming to the podium”, Lindholm says.

 

Although the route is new to Lindholm, he has been able to study it in advance with the help of route videos provided by the organizers.

 

“There is a variety of different type of gravel roads ahead of us where average speeds vary widely. Sunday has clearly the most fast and well-maintained routes. Friday there are quite a few slow sections and Saturday again very demanding roads; fast routes in some places and really narrow and slow roads in others”, Lindholm tells.

 

“Dust can be its own problem. The two-minute start between cars is not enough for the dust to settle, so it should also be taken into consideration with the notes. We have good tests under our belt so everything is good for the upcoming rally. The situation we have is really good”, Lindholm reminds.

 

The first special stage of the WRC Vodafone Rally de Portugal will start on Friday morning at 10:08 Finnish time. The day's program includes a total of eight special stages with a total length of 122.88 km. The longest and most demanding day of the rally is Saturday, driven in the Cabreira Mountains, which has seven special stages with a total length of 165.16 km.

 

On the final day of the rally on Sunday, five more special stages (49.47 km) will be driven. The competition ends in the iconic special stage Fafé (11.18 km), known of its jump, where the first competitor will start at 14:18 Finnish time.