During the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s, the rally ran on a mixed surface of asphalt and gravel. Throughout this era Portugal became notorious for spectator behaviour that directly endangered lives. Fans routinely stood on the roadway as cars passed at full speed, a situation that escalated into catastrophe in 1986.
During the Sintra section, on the Lagoa Azul stage, Portuguese works driver Joaquim Santos came over a crest in his Ford RS200 and lost control. Managing to avoid the crowd on the outside of the corner, he could not avoid those on the inside: the car left the road and plunged into spectators, killing three people and injuring dozens. All works teams immediately withdrew from the rally. The incident, alongside Henri Toivonen's fatal accident at the Tour de Corse later that year, brought the Group B era under intense scrutiny and ultimately contributed to the abolition of the class.
Former world champion Timo Salonen admitted after the 1986 edition that he had been afraid to run first on the road. Walter Röhrl offered a bleaker perspective: "You just have to see the crowd as a wall and not as spectators."
Dangerous conditions persisted. At the 1987 rally, a privately entered car driven by Joaquim Guedes plunged into the crowd, killing one spectator and injuring twelve others. It was not until the early 1990s that crowd control meaningfully improved, though attendance remained large.
The final WRC edition before a five-year absence was held in 2001 under heavy rain and won by Tommi Mäkinen driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution. The event was replaced on the 2002 WRC calendar by Germany's Rallye Deutschland.
In 2005, organisers announced plans to rejoin the WRC by relocating the event to the Algarve region in southern Portugal, making it an entirely gravel-based competition. The change of character — away from the mixed-surface northern Portugal stages — was not universally welcomed by Portuguese fans, who considered the Algarve stages less exciting, and attendance reflected that sentiment. The 2006 edition ran as an official WRC candidate event, and the rally was formally confirmed on the 2007 calendar on 5 July 2006. The 2007 edition was won by Sébastien Loeb in a Citroën.
The event left the WRC calendar again briefly and competed in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge before returning to the WRC for 2009. That edition, held around Faro in the Algarve, saw Jari-Matti Latvala take the early lead before a dramatic crash in which his Ford Focus WRC rolled seventeen times down a steep mountainside. Loeb won the rally.
From 2015 the event moved back to northern Portugal, returning to its roots on fast gravel stages in that region.
The 2020 edition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sébastien Ogier is the most successful driver in the history of the Rally de Portugal, having won the event seven times: in 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2024, and 2025.
During the 1980s, the rally incorporated a special stage at the Autódromo do Estoril, adding a circuit element to what was otherwise a road-based competition.
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