For many, the memory is very much present when the rally cars arrived at Estoril Circuit in what was considered the best Rally in the World. This year the challenge is back, with the Rally of Portugal Historic coming to the race track, joining this motorsport party. Mikko Hirvonen and Ari Vatanen will be the stars of the rally to be featured in the commemorative slalom that is part of the Estoril Classics program, an activity that joins countless Formula 1 races that will take place over the weekend and bring together generations of motorsports enthusiasts.

 

It was in the 1972 TAP International Rally that Estoril Circuit hosted for the first time the best rally in the world, just a few months after it’s inauguration. Shortly after the start, in heavy rain, a special stage was held on the track. A few days later, at the end of the rally, the survivors returned to the finish line, to the first of many consecration slaloms, before a crowded main bench. This would become one of the great traditions of the Rally of Portugal, abandoned when the rally took place in the North, but which remains alive in the Rally of Portugal Historic, also organized by the Automobile Club of Portugal.