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Itinerary revealed for Azores ERC opener

The itinerary for the Azores Rallye, the opening round of the 2019 FIA European Rally Championship season, has been published. While it maintains a similar structure to previous years, a number of changes have been made for next month’s event.

Following the official test on Monday 18 March, reconnaissance and scrutineering take place on Tuesday and Wednesday with the popular City Show, held on Ponta Delgada’s main avenue featuring a revised, albeit attractive, layout when it takes place on Wednesday night.

Remédios is once again the setting of the Qualifying Stage on Thursday morning, ahead the Coroa da Mata stage signalling the start of the rally proper that afternoon. Returning to the itinerary for 2019, it’s a slightly longer version than previously at 11.10 kilometres.

The new stage two starts in Mediana and finishes in Remédios and covers various parts of the old Soluções M stage, while stage three is famous Grupo Marques superspecial, which incorporates a few small changes this year.

A longer, 10.90-kilometre Pico da Pedra is first up on Friday 22 March, but with much less Tarmac running than before. The mythical Sete Cidades stage is next and promises to be more spectacular than in previous years. The tweaked route will also be less testing for two-wheel-drive machinery.

The new Vista do Rei Feteiras is next. Also more two-wheel-drive friendly, the stage starts near Vista do Rei and includes a section of the old Feteiras stage albeit in the opposite direction.

After all three Friday morning stages have been repeated in the afternoon, the day ends with a return to the Grupo Marques superspecial.

The rally visits the oldest geological part of São Miguel in the municipality of the Nordeste mountains on Saturday. After a run through a longer version of Graminhais, the iconic Tronqueira stage remains unchanged.

A single visit to Vila Franca São Bras, which has been revised to include less Tarmac, completes the morning loop, while a shorter-than-previously afternoon loop includes re-runs of Graminhais and Tronqueira.

More details of the rally will be revealed during the official presentation on 26 February.

Zdroj: fiaerc.com