Paulo Ferreira - Rali Vieira do Minho | Interview with Paulinho

An Interview with Paulo Ferreira, the USA living rally driver, who done an event in Portugal after a long time, while representing Samsonas Motorsport brand.

How was Your weekend?

Weekend was great, relaxing with friends and enjoying the beautiful WRC stages.

I.Pūkis, P.Ferreira, E.Snitkas and M.Samsonas - representing Samsonas Motorsport and Domingos Sport Competição — I.Pūkis, P.Ferreira, E.Snitkas and M.Samsonas – representing Samsonas Motorsport and Domingos Sport Competição

How did you manage to deal with the new car, co-driver, roads and tires?

The new car was very different, we tried to make several changes but wasn’t enough to make the balance to what we were hoping for. The new co-driver, was great, we had to adapt to each other very quickly because the nature of the rally being very technical very difficult with a lot of dangerous zones and how uneven the terrain is, lots of crests, bumps, and rough areas. The tires were also something new, MRF, took a bit of time to get used to, but nothing we couldn’t adapt to, they were round and help pressure so no problem 😊

P.Ferreira / I.Pūkis - Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX — P.Ferreira / I.Pūkis – Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX

www.ewrc-results.com database shows, that You were rallying only in United States? Is it true?

I have done other rallies that are not in the EWRC database, Portugal in the ’90s, South Africa 2006 and 2008, and England in 2012, and also 1 in Lithuania in 2018 but we had an accident there before starting.

Can You tell the biggest similarities and differences between the United States and Portugal in terms of a rally?

In Portugal the level of competition is very high all the way from 1^st to 65^th, in America, the competitive level is more from 1^st to 15^th, after that it’s just people having fun with no intentions of running the whole championship.

Tell us about your collaboration with M.Samsonas

Martynas is a good friend of mine, and also a busy partner because I represent the Samsonas brand in America and help that way with my longtime connections in the motorsport industry.

Any plans to do more European rallies?

Yes of course, but just like this rally, it’s nothing we plan long in advance, it just depends if it makes sense to do a rally to represent Samsonas brand.