Oliveira made his way through leg one in Portugal.

Brazil World Rally Team driver Daniel Oliveira completed a tough first leg of the Rally de Portugal, third round of the World Rally Championship (WRC), taking an important step forward in his WRC maiden event.Oliveira had a smooth starting and over the kilometres he began feeling more confident with his driving. He improved considerable his pace on the second and third stages until his MINI John Cooper Works S2000 hit some problems.

On SS4 a bearing of the universal joint got loose causing some friction and forcing Daniel to slow down to lose some valuable time. On other stages it was detected a minor electrical issue in the fuel pump.

The Brazilian representative dropped down to 28th still he managed to climb several positions to finished 21th overall and claiming also the fourth place among the S2000-spec cars.

For tomorrow are scheduled six special stages, starting the first car on the road the SS 8, Almodovar, at 10:17. In total the crews will tackle the longest of the three legs with 148.10 of competitive kilometres.


QUOTES

Daniel Oliveira:

"We are able to finish the day. That's important since we have gained valuable kilometres and experience in the MINI John Cooper Works S2000. For us competing is the best way for testing and improving both the car and ourselves".

"On SS4 I started feeling something in the transmission so I decided to slow down so as not to cause any major problem. Luckily it was just before heading to the midday service and the team could fix it for the second loop. In the afternoon we have a minor issue with fuel pump but the car arrived in one piece to the service area".

"For tomorrow we look forward to keeping on the road and improving our pace".