Norway’s Mads Ostberg and Belgium’s Thierry Neuville could not be separated over the opening 3.36-kilometre stage of Rally Portugal, setting identical times of 2:36.6 seconds.

For both, it was a continuation of the impressive form that they showed at the last event in Argentina, where Ford driver Ostberg was among the front-runners before Hyundai’s Neuville ultimately came through to take his second win of the season.

Both looked spectacular in their respective heats on the Lousada stage, with the event’s trademark large crowds creating an incredible atmosphere.

New Zealand’s Hayden Paddon was just 0.1s behind in his Hyundai, while the other driver that impressed last time out, Elfyn Evans, was a further 0.3s back in his D-Mack-shod Ford Fiesta (Ostberg is also running D-Mack tyres in Portugal).

Evans was followed by this morning’s fastest driver in Shakedown, Hyundai’s Dani Sordo (+0.5s), and championship leader, M-Sport’s Sébastien Ogier (+0.7s).

Ostberg, who pipped Paddon in his heat by just a tenth of a second, was happy to have taken bragging rights in such a tight battle in front of so many fans.

“It was a close one,” he said. “I saw after one lap it was close, so I pushed more on the second [lap]. A few small mistakes, but I’m happy with the time.”

There were no notable problems for any of the WRC manufacturer drivers.

In WRC2, Andreas Mikkelsen started off in the same way he finished his last event in the Skoda Fabia R5, setting a 2:40.4 – which was 1.6s faster than his nearest rival, Teemu Suninen.

The rally proper commences tomorrow morning, with the second stage; the 26.7-kilometre Viana do Castelo. Crews will face a total of eight stages and approximately 150 competitive kilometres on Friday, culminating with two blasts through the streets of central Braga.

Kris Meeke admits that two heavy crashes on the last WRC round in Argentina have knocked his confidence ahead of this week's Rally de Portugal [18 - 21 may].

The Northern Irishman won the championship's Portuguese counter last year but he heads to it this time on the back foot after an incident-filled season so far.

From the high of victory on round three in Mexico, Meeke retired with an oil system failure on the round that followed in Corsica, before a double retirement in Argentina, capped by the biggest crash of his career when his Citroën C3 rolled eight times.

"Argentina was wild – nothing went as planned. It happens sometimes, you just have to put it behind you. I feel okay ahead of Portugal, although I can't say I'm overflowing with confidence," said Meeke, who took part in the team's pre-event test in Sardinia last week.

"I think that the work done in our recent test sessions will help us move in the right direction. I'm pleased to be competing at this rally. Obviously, I have some fond memories of winning here in 2016. Quite a lot of changes have been made to the course, so in a lot of cases we'll have to start from scratch with the pace notes. Concentration will therefore be key in recce, as well as in the rally."

Portugal will be the first time that Citroën's WRC squad will run at full strength with four C3 WRCs. Meeke, Craig Breen and Stéphane Lefebvre will be nominated to score manufacturers' points, while Khalid Al Qassimi returns to the WRC after more than six months away to make his competitive debut in a new-generation car.

"I know that it is a real step up compared with the cars used in previous seasons," said Al Qassimi. "My aim will be to build my confidence gradually, without taking any big risks. I'm delighted to be taking part in what is one of my favourite rallies. The atmosphere is always very special."

After three podiums so far this year, Estonian Ott Tanak is enjoying his best ever start to a WRC season, and it's a record he is eager to extend this week when the championship shifts to Rally de Portugal.

Catapulted back into the big league this year as defending champion Sebastien Ogier's team-mate at M-Sport, the Estonian lies fourth in the drivers' standings on 66 points and has reason to feel optimistic after a hard-fought third place on the most recent round in Argentina.

“Portugal starts a series of gravel events that I’m really looking forward to. I’ve always enjoyed the Portuguese roads and we’ve shown good speed there in the past," said Tänak, who has tackled the rally six times before.
 
“I feel as though we’ve developed a lot recently and should be looking towards the podium at every gravel event to come. That has to be our goal in Portugal and I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do.
 
“With the competition so close at the moment, we’ll need to be fully focused and at the top of our game if we want to deliver another strong result. That’s certainly our aim and we’ll be giving it our all as always.”
 
Tänak and co-driver Martin Järveoja took part in a five-day pre-event test in the north of Portugal, where work focused on evaluating set-up configurations and confirming findings from the squad's research and development test in April.

With M-Sport leading both the drivers’ and manufacturers’ championship standings, team boss Malcolm Wilson is eager to see the team continue its top-three form. 

"Our goal always has to be the podium. With our drivers we have a good chance of maintaining our impressive run and the whole team will be working towards that end," he said.

"Ott will be full of confidence following an impressive display in Argentina. The stage is set for a great event and, although the win is anyone’s for the taking, that’s where our eyes will be firmly fixed.”

The upcoming Rally de Portugal [18 – 21 may] promises to be a treat for spectators, with a star-studded 65-strong entry that includes 14 new-spec world rally cars - more than any other round of the season so far.

This year's 50th anniversary running of the gravel-surface WRC classic boasts an impressive list of entries across four FIA Championship categories - with two WRC manufacturers represented at full strength for the first time.

In its most ambitious entry since returning to the WRC, Toyota will be competing with three Yaris WRCs, as rising star Esapekka Lappi joins Juho Hänninen and Jari-Matti Latvala, winner of Rally Sweden.

Citroën will enter four C3 WRCs instead of the usual three, for Mexico winner Kris Meeke, Craig Breen, Stéphane Lefebvre and Khalid Al Qassimi.

M-Sport will also enter four cars. Defending world champion Sébastien Ogier, winner of the first round of the year, will be joined by Ott Tänak, Elfyn Evans and Mads Østberg.

Finally, Hyundai will be entering its usual line up of Thierry Neuville (winner in France and Argentina), Hayden Paddon and Dani Sordo.

Also competing in pre-2017 WRC cars are WRC Trophy contenders Martin Prokop (Ford), Valeriy Gorban (Mini) and Jean-Michel Raoux (Citroën) making a total of 17 WRC cars on the list.

Portugal is the first mandatory event in WRC 2 and 20 registered drivers will be in action. Skoda Fabia R5 drivers Andreas Mikkelsen and Pontus Tidemand head the support category entry list, which also features Eric Camilli and Teemu Suninen in M-Sport Ford Fiesta R5s. Last year's Junior WRC winner Simone Tempestini and 2015 Junior title winner Quentin Gilbert will also compete.

The rally also features six entries in the two-wheel-drive WRC 3 championship.