Rautiainen said: “The itinerary included two new stages this year, which made Friday a longer day than usual for everybody. But it’s something that needs to be done in Portugal because there is a reliance on including as many municipalities as possible within the route to support the rally and make it happen.
“A mammoth Friday made for a strong opening to the rally and we kept all but one of the P1 crews in the game. The crew that did retire was due to an unfortunate mechanical issue that can occur on any rally.
“We also look to the event organizers to freshen up their routes and, while it’s not a rule, it’s always nice for at least 20% of the route to be renewed yearly.
“Of course, we would not look to include a day as long as Friday on every round of the championship, but a day like this in Portugal can work. However, the volunteers, police, army and medical support is vital, not just on the stages but also on the access roads, parking areas for fans, etc. It’s a huge number of people needed and, like on every rally, without volunteers nothing would be close to being possible.
“We’ve always counted on a very strong level of organization in Portugal, they have done this for decades and you can see this in every aspect of how the rally is run, so I am pleased how the rally went.”
Event winner Sébastien Ogier told DirtFish a preferable solution for drivers would be to just condense the hours spent in the car during the day.