WRC: Downpours disrupt WRC Portugal recce

Reconnaisance runs for this week's Rally of Portugal had to be altered following heavy rain on the stages inland from the Algarve.

Torrential rain brought about the cancellation of the recce of the Ourique and Santana de Serra stages on Tuesday, forcing the crews to practice those two tests on Wednesday's shakedown day.

The heavy rain has stopped and the forecast is brighter into the event now.

"There is still some mud around, but the flooding has gone from the stages," a spokesperson from the event said. "There might be some small rain around in the next couple of days, but nothing like what we have seen."

Michelin has postponed its tire recce until Thursday in an effort to ensure it offers the drivers the most up-to-date information possible. Initial concerns over the limited number of soft compound tires - the crews have 16 soft and 29 intermediate tires – look to have passed with the improving weather.

M-Sport's tire engineer George Black said: "Once Michelin has done its recce then we'll have a clearer idea of what we'll need for Friday morning. It's possible Friday morning could be a bit of a gamble, but otherwise – if the weather does what it's supposed to do – I think we should be looking at the harder tire.

"There was a lot of water around, but these roads do dry very quickly; the temperatures are rising and there's always a lot of wind around on these roads and that helps to clear them out.

"The only problem then is that you have a dry, hard and grippy surface and then a really, really slippery section which is under the trees and out of the wind."