Grist wants changes to Portuguese ‘mud bath’

Torrential rain has left many of the stages coated in thick mud and with some tests scheduled to be used twice, there is mounting concern that later runners might get stuck on the first pass and hold up the top crews when they try a repeat run.

"The conditions are just unbelievable," said Grist. "I've never seen a European event looking like this - it's as slippery as Indonesia. People were getting stuck on the recce and I can see the same thing happening on the rally itself. I've put forward some ideas on what could be done, because in my view you need to cut more than 100km of stages just to give the event a chance."

Tomorrow evening's superspecial in Baltar is also under the spotlight. Grist is concerned that a mud-filled watersplash could cause a hazard on the twin-track layout. "They've got a screen about a metre high between the lanes," said Grist, "and as it stands, one of the cars is going to get showered with mud as the other goes through the 'splash. It's muddier than Cardiff was on last year's Rally GB."

Other stars backed Grist's concern. Four-times world champion Tommi Mäkinen said: "It's easily the worst I've ever seen it here. In some places there's just pure mud, in other places there are hard rocks. This will be an extremely difficult rally for everyone."

Organisers are reviewing the situation and schedule, although sources indicate that they might be reluctant to scrap tomorrow evening's opening stage, which is run on a paying spectator basis.