The second round of the 2010 Fiesta SportTrophy International (FSTi) series got underway on Thursday evening as the competition joined the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) for the Vodafone Rally de Portugal.  This was the third time that the FSTi series had visited Portugal and the gravel road surfaces combined with the Algarve's warm climate proved challenging for the six Fiesta R2 entries and one GpN Fiesta ST.

The event kicked off in the Algarve Stadium on Thursday evening with an exciting Tarmac Super Special Stage. Constructed in 2004, huge crowds flocked to the football stadium to watch the FSTi drivers go head to head round the spectacular flood-lit 2.03km speed test.  Unlike the rest of the rally, the Super Special had a smooth asphalt surface, which on gravel tyres meant a serious lack of grip for the FSTi crews.                                                                                                                                

Swedes Victor Henriksson (22) and Håkan Palm took an early lead and produced the fastest stage time in the opening test, followed by Christian Riedemann (22) and Josefine Beinke who were 0.8 seconds behind the Swede. Harry Hunt (21) and co-driver Sebastian Marshall finished in third, 1.3 seconds behind Henriksson.  Majed Al Shamsi and co-driver Alan Harryman lost time due to an overshoot on one corner.

The opening stage on Friday, Santa Clara 1, was the day's longest at 22.72km and, despite suffering with a fever, Majed Al Shamsi with co-driver Alan Harryman took the fastest stage time on the Emirate's birthday, with Bader Al Jabri (25) and co-driver Stephen McAuley 18 seconds behind. Riedemann finished in third position, 34.7 seconds behind Al Shamsi.  Henriksson stopped 10 km into the stage due to a broken driveshaft and had to retire, incurring a 30 minute SupeRally penalty. Hunt lost over 19 minutes after an off-road excursion 8 km into the stage, resulting in a loss of five minutes and a bent steering arm.  The Brit went off for a second time whilst changing a pacenote, this time losing almost 15 minutes and causing brake loss for the remainder of the day.

After his misfortune in SS2, Hunt went on to win the 20.21km, Ourique 1.  He was 16.9 seconds faster through the stage than Al Shamsi and 39.4 seconds faster than Al Jabri who finished in third position.  Despite losing 19 minutes in the previous stage, Hunt made up the time on the road section and arrived just one minute late at the stage start.  Despite losing his brakes completely 10 km from the stage finish, he still managed to set the fastest FSTi time.

A 21.36 km, Silves 1, was to round off the final stage of the morning loop and saw Al Jabri finish fastest, with Riedemann just 0.2 seconds behind.  Brothers Miguel Monteiro (a new father as of the previous night) and co-driver Paulo finished in third, 29.2 seconds behind Al Jabri in their older GpN Fiesta ST.  Sultan Al Ameri (25) and co-driver Killian Duffy rolled during the stage after driving onto loose gravel and faced a 20-minute SupeRally penalty - the damage to his car was found to be too severe to continue on the following days.  A bolt from Al Shamsi's front arm suspension became loose and fell out during refuelling, halting his rallying for the remainder of the day.

At the end of the morning loop, Al Jabri led the FSTi class with Riedemann close on his tail, 21.8 seconds behind.  Monteiro lay comfortably in third position, 1:56.4 minutes behind Al Jabri.  During the morning service, fencing wire was removed from Hunt's brakes but no major changes were made to the other cars.

Friday afternoon kicked off with a repeat loop round the 22.72 Santa Clara 2 stage.  Hunt finished the stage first with Riedemann 35.2 seconds behind. Al Jabri came third, 57.9 seconds behind Hunt.  Hunt's brake issued remained, although he reported it had slightly improved after the morning service. Riedemann's stage time promoted him to first place and he moved into the FSTi lead.

SS6, a repeat of Ourique  (20.21 km), saw Hunt seizing the stage win, with Riedemann 40.2 seconds off his pace and Al Jabri almost three minutes behind.  Al Jabri was held up in the dust of the preceding car for 7 km and was forced to stop several times to allow the dust to clear, driving on with partial visibility.

The final stage on Friday afternoon's loop saw Hunt make his fourth fastest stage time of the day as he finished the 21.36km test 40.2 seconds ahead of Riedemann and 47.2 seconds ahead of Al Jabri.  Monteiro had a puncture 5km from the end of the stage, but managed to continue on without having to stop to change it.

At the end of the first full day of action, Riedemann led the FSTi class by 1:40.8 minutes to Al Jabri who was in second position. Monteiro finished the day in third position, 6:59.0 minutes behind the leader.

Saturday's stages were the longest of the event for the FSTi crews and comprised of six gravel tests covering 135.10 km based north of the service park.  Stages were very narrow, with several blind crests and included a repeat loop of the rally's longest stage, 26.20km Almodovar (SS8 and SS11), which kicked off the morning and afternoon loop.

Despite getting stuck in the dust of the car ahead of him for 2 km and bending his steering arm, Hunt and birthday boy Sebastian Marshall continued their stage winning streak from Friday afternoon and finished SS8 fastest, 1.1 seconds ahead of Henriksson.  Riedemann was third-fastest in the stage, 51.9 seconds behind Hunt.

Bader Al Jabri and Stephen McAuley stopped during SS9 (Vascao 1, 25.23 km) due to the loss of their rear wheel.  This was to help Henriksson, who was trapped in Al Jabri's dust, but was released into clear air after the Emirate had stopped.  15 km into the stage, the Swede lost his brakes due to excessive left-foot braking, but was still able to set the fastest stage time, followed 34.2 seconds behind by Riedemann and a further 45.3 seconds by Al Shamsi, who was still suffering from a fever.  Hunt  ran slightly wide and clipped a bank, which bent his rear beam.  5 km later, the Briton hit a gulley; the impact bent his wishbone and loosened his dash.

Having developed a problem with their intercom on the previous road section, Marshall's pacenotes were only heard sporadically by Hunt, whose day was called to a halt 4 km from the end of SS10 (S. Bras de Alportel 1) with a broken steering arm. Henriksson had managed to pump some pressure into his brakes on the previous road section, so had partial brakes on this 16.12 km stage and was fastest in stageby 13.6 seconds to Riedemann and 29.2 seconds to Al Shamsi. The Monteiro brothers stopped half way through the stage due to the loss of their rear wheel.

The midday service was routine, with the exception of Henriksson changing his brake discs and Al Shamsi arriving one minute late into regroup, thereby incurring a ten second penalty.  At the end of the morning loop, the Day 1 positions had been held, with Riedemann leading by 6:18 minutes to Al Jabri and 11:27.4 minutes to Monteiro in third place.

A repeat of the 26.20 km Almodovar 2 stage kicked off the morning loop with all drivers appreciative of the rough conditions.  Henriksson produced the quickest stage time, with Al Shamsi 17.8 seconds off the Swede's pace and Riedemann 49.8 seconds adrift.

Henriksson continued his winning streak for SS12 (Vascão 2, 25.23 km) and SS13 (S. Brás de Alportel 2, 16.12 km), with Al Shamsi and Riedemann respectively in second and third positions. The final stage of the day witnessed problems with Al Shamsi's front suspension and the Ermirate lost 30 seconds behind in the dust kicked up by the car ahead of him.  He also noticed that the car was not handling correctly, but his crack team managed to find and fix the problem in the evening service, while Hunt's team worked through the night replacing the car's sub-frame , rear beam and sump in order to get it back on the road for Day 3.

Due to the retirement of Monteiro and Al Jabri earlier in the day, the leaderboard was still topped by Riedemann (the only driver to have completed all 13 stages) with a huge gap of over 18 minutes to Al Shamsi, with Al Jabri now over 23 minutes off the lead.

The final day on Sunday was the shortest of the event - the stages were not as rough as Saturday but more technical in nature.  The action was centred around two gravel stages each run twice in the Serra do Caldeirão hills north of Faro and the final test was a second visit to the Super Special Stage at the Algarve Stadium.

The morning's loop was opened with SS14 (Felizes 1, 21.28 km), where a cautious drive from Henriksson nonetheless gave him the fastest stage time, followed 24.8 seconds slower by Hunt and 43.1 seconds in front of Al Jabri.  Having shaken off his fever, Al Shamsi pulled his handbrake too hard in stage, thereby braking it and overshooting a hairpin bend.

Henriksson again produced the fastest stage time for SS15 (Loulé 1, 22.51 km), 45.6 seconds ahead of Al Jabri and 48.6 seconds ahead of Al Shamsi, who still had no handbrake and overshot another hairpin bend. Hunt's stage was eventful, as he pulled over 5 km into the stage, believing he had a puncture.  However, this was not found to be the case; instead a bolt had fallen out of his suspension arm and the driver continued cautiously through the stage, losing just under five minutes.  By the end of the stage, a driveshaft had worked its way loose as a result and, having struggled to fix the problems, Hunt and Marshall arrived into service 29 minutes late - another minute late and the crew would have been excluded for exceeding the 30 minute time limit.  For this, they received a 4:50 minute penalty.  Once again, Henriksson admitted to being too hard on the brakes and lost some braking capability 4 km towards the end of the stage.  At the end of the morning loop, Riedemann continued to lead by over 18 minutes to Al Shamsi, with Henriksson promoted into third place.

SS16 (Felizes 2, 21.28 km) had become increasingly rough with two passes of 75 cars and proved to be a real car breaker.  One rock concealed within the water splash was responsible for Riedemann, Henriksson and Hunt all bending their steering arms.  The young German would suffer the most from this, when his steering arm broke a further 3 km later, ending the German's otherwise faultless rally.  Henriksson also incurred a puncture and lost second place to Al Jabri in the standings by dropping two minutes by driving slowly through the stage in order to limit any further damage. Al Jabri finished the stage fastest, 26.9 seconds ahead of Al Shamsi, with Hunt in third38.2 seconds behind Al Jabri.

Having stopped to fix his steering arm on the road section after SS16, Henriksson checked into the next time control five minutes late, which incurred the crew a 50 second penalty.  With the opportunity of making up the time and snatching second place back from Al Jabri, the Swede eagerly awaited the start of SS17 (Loulé 2, 22.51 km), but was to be sorely disappointed when the stage was stopped.  Notional times were awarded, leaving Henriksson 28.8 seconds behind Al Jabri - an impossible gap for the Henriksson to close on the remaining 2.03 km Super Special Stage.

The final test saw Henriksson's fourth stage win of the day, 0.9 seconds ahead of Hunt and 3.5 seconds ahead of Al Jabri.  Al Shamsi took the FSTi win in Portugal at the end of the eighteen stages, 3: 47.4 minutes ahead of Al Jabri who finished in second place.  Following his five stage wins (worth one point each), Hunt is promoted into the lead going into

FSTi winner Majed Al Shamsi said:

"This win is really unexpected.  I got a puncture going into SS17 and prayed the stage would be stopped - and it was!  I was certain that we were going to finish in second behind Christian [Riedemann], so it was a real surprise to find myself in first.  This was a tough rally, which we didn't finish last year; so first and second for Team Abu Dhabi is great.  I need to thank everyone on the team for all their efforts and for helping to give me such a great birthday present!"