RALLY OF GREECE

Bruno Magalhães: "Historical victory for me and for Portugal ..."

Bruno Magalhães today achieved a brilliant and odd victory in the Acropole Rally, third round of the European Rally Championship. The Portuguese driver and his navigator, Hugo Magalhães managed to escape the traps of one of the most demanding and mediated events and achieved a remarkable achievement for Portuguese motoring. It was the first victory of the season and the first Portuguese general victory in Greece, joining in this way its name to pilots like Jari-Matti Latvala, Sébastien Loeb, Sébastien Ogier, Mikko Hirvonen, Marcus Gronholm, Petter Solberg, Colin McRae, Richard Burns , Carlos Sainz, Miki Biasion, Didier Auriol, Juha Kankkunen, Markku Alén, Timo Salonen, Walter Röhrl, Michèle Mouton, Ari Vatanen, among others.The three days of rallying and the treacherous classifications have put the riders to the test with Bruno Magalhães leaving unharmed, section after section, having adopted the best strategy in a rally in which the slightest error can be fatal. Having finished the day comfortably yesterday, today's four qualifiers were made with anxiety and double caution to finish the race with 29.1 seconds and a second-place lead."It's a dream come true. A huge happiness for having achieved this magnificent result in a test like this that is in everyone's imagination.

Aloísio Monteiro successfully completed the difficult task of finishing third

We overcame second place last year, we significantly reduced the gap to the leader of the Championship and we are in the title fight. It was impossible to run better. It was crazy and today was very difficult: we had a lot of pressure, we knew we could not go wrong. I think it is a historic victory for me but also for Portugal and I dedicate it to the whole team that always did their best to ensure that the car was able to withstand the toughness of the qualifiers, my family that supports me unconditionally but above all, the sponsors, who continue to bet and believe in my career, "explained the runner-up.
Returning to the victories, the Skoda Fabia R5 team from ARC Sport are now hoping to continue the project and fight for the title that escaped them in 2017: "We needed this result a lot, we showed our value and our qualities. Now we want to go ahead and discuss the victories proves the proof, "concluded Bruno Magalhães confident in the future in the European Rally.



José Luis Abreu-Sportauto, direto de Portugal