Robert Kubica feels re-energised following changes at his WRC team

The Matosinhos-based event was Kubica's first since Rally Mexico in early March - and his first in M-Sport's all-new Ford Fiesta RS WRC.

Kubica finished a trouble-free ninth and looked more relaxed than he has all season.

The ex-F1 star has split with the A-Style team which ran him at the start of this year - a decision he was unwilling to discuss - and is now run partly by M-Sport.

"It is 50-50 with M-Sport now," he told AUTOSPORT.

"My mechanics [from the RK World Rally Team] are going back to the [M-Sport] factory to work on the car and this is good, they are getting good experience, knowledge and helping to develop our team.

"Looking forward, maybe it's possible to do it on our own, but right now I am happy with the way everything is going.

"It was a bad situation a few weeks ago, but we have put in a lot of work and, in the long-term, we are heading in the right direction."

Kubica said his decision to take a break from the championship was the right one, adding: "Portugal was a successful test for the entire RK World Rally Team.

"It confirmed that missing Rally Argentina to focus on reorganising the squad was the right call."

Kubica will add two more rallies to his schedule, one in Poland as he looks to find additional speed ahead of his home WRC round, and one on asphalt before August's Rally Germany.

"It wasn't ideal to come to Portugal with no test and 11 weeks out of the car," Kubica said.

"OK, the car is not completely different, but it delivers the power differently and there are changes on the powertrain.

"I would like to do more rallies, there is an event in Poland just before the WRC round which uses similar roads to those on the rally.

"And I would like to do something before Germany, but it's tricky to find the same kind of terrain."