With one event remaining, Andrea Mabellini and Miko Marczyk are eight points apart in their respective pursuits of second place in the final standings behind Teemu Suninen, who secured the coveted ERC title on JDS Machinery Rali Ceredigion last month.

And Jon Armstrong, last year’s ERC runner-up who has recently completed his first season in the FIA World Rally Championship’s top tier upon graduating, believes both drivers will be doing all they can to finish second rather than third following the gravel-based Rally 6 Cities North of Portugal.

Having placed fourth in 2024 and third in 2025, Pirelli-equipped Mabellini (above) holds the initiative, especially as he has no scores to drop. As well as trailing Mabellini in the standings, Michelin-supplied Marczyk, last year’s champion, faces the prospect of discounting his lowest score, which is currently seven points.

“It’s something that’s really good to have on your CV, something nice to highlight to your sponsors and partners that you finished runner-up in the European championship,” Armstrong said. “In terms of who those stages would suit better, Andrea is getting used to the car still on all these different surfaces, so it’s a different scenario compared to last year for him. I also know whenever it counts, Miko can really pull it out of the bag.

“It will be interesting to follow and there’s a big entry list, so it will be a matter of staying in the mix with each other and trying to get the best result without maybe needing to get a win for that second place.”

Lancia Corse HF driver Mabellini was a non-finisher on the previous gravel round of the ERC, May’s BAUHAUS Royal Rally of Scandinavia. The Italian, 27, is hoping for better luck in Portugal. “The weather can be crazy at the end of October but it is like it is, we will catch what is waiting for us,” he said. “We will enjoy the event and do some big slides on the gravel.”

Marczyk (above) used the break between JDS Machinery Rali Ceredigion and the ERC finale by doing something rather unusual: he set a new Guinness World Record for the longest electric car trip on a single charge, a new standard of 1338 kilometres. The ORLEN Team driver previously set a Guinness World Record for the longest journey on a single tank of fuel, a distance of 2831 kilometres, in 2025.

As well as the battle to finish second in the overall standings, the FIA ERC4 and FIA Junior titles are between Hankook-shod ADAC Opel Rally Junior Team drivers Timo Schulz (above) and Tom Heindrichs, the younger brother of Hyundai WRC star Thierry Neuville. Click HERE to find out more.

A near-capacity 31 Rally2-powered drivers will contest Rally 6 Cities North of Portugal – including Nikolay Gryazin, Roope Korhonen, Kris Meeke, Léo Rossel, Mārtiņš Sesks (below) and Jan Solans – which is based in Fafe and starts and finishes in Guimarães. Click HERE for the full story and click HERE for more on Portugal’s return to the ERC after a two-year break.

The FIA European Rally Championship for Teams will also be decided on Rally 6 Cities North of Portugal with Team MRF Tyres in the ascendency, while Kalum Graffin and Petr Kačírek will battle to finish runner-up in FIA ERC3.

Other highlights include Tymek Abramowski and Ville Vatanen stepping up from FIA ERC3 to FIA ERC1 as their prizes for winning the ERC Fiesta Rally3 Trophy in 2025 and 2026 respectively.

Meanwhile, National Match Rally returns on Rally 6 Cities North of Portugal this week when France takes on the host nation looking to hit back from its defeat to Italy in the summer.

Following the inaugural edition on July’s Rally di Roma Capitale, Fédération Française du Sport Automobile (FFSA), the driving force behind the National Match Rally concept, has joined forces with its Portuguese counterpart, Federação Portuguesa de Automobilismo e Karting (FPAK), to contest National Match Rally part two.

Representing Team France on Rally 6 Cities North of Portugal are WRC2 contenders Arthur Pelamourgues/Bastien Pouget, Léo Rossel/Florian Barral and Pablo Sarrazin/Yannick Roche, plus Sarah Rumeau/Julie Amblard, the recently crowned French Gravel champions for 2026.

FFSA president Pierre Ragues won’t be eligible for National Match Rally points, but he will be competing on the event to round out his first full season of ERC competition alongside co-driver Julien Pesenti.

Team Portugal, meanwhile, is made up Portuguese championship title contenders Pedro Almeida/António Costa, multiple national title winners Armindo Araújo/Luis Ramalho, 2025 Portuguese Junior champion Guilherme Meireles and Luís Cidade, who has switched from cross-country to stage rallying this season. Meireles and Cidade are co-driven by Pedro Alves and Jorge Carvalho respectively.

How to watch?
Fans across the globe can experience the excitement and drama of the ERC with every stage of every rally broadcast Rally.TV platform. In addition, the ERC is broadcast in a number of countries around the world and fans are advised to check local listings for details.

Rally 6 Cities North of Portugal: the key numbers
Stages: 17
Competitive distance: 181.10 kilometres
Total distance: 733.73 kilometres