Tribune News Network
Grandola (Portugal)
Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah and his co-driver Edouard Boulanger sealed a hard-earned victory at the bp Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal in Grandola on Sunday afternoon.
The Prodrive Hunter crew had to defend an overnight lead of 2min 41sec over Portugal’s Joao Ferreira and the second quickest time on the day’s stage enabled the Qatari to move 12 points clear of Carlos Sainz in the unofficial FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) Drivers’ Championship standings and lift Nasser Racing by Prodrive into contention for the W2RC Manufacturers’ crown.
Al Attiyah, who had a winning margin of 2min 49sec, said: “Portugal is almost my second home. I have a lot of friends here and I’m really happy to win this fantastic race. Thank you to all the fans and thanks to the organisation. It was a very technical race and we had to be smart. After the win in Abu Dhabi, winning here is very important because it enabled us to take the lead in the World Championship.”
The final stage was split into two sections with the first looping around Grândola for 101km before a final regroup took competitors into a short 3.7km sprint in front of live television cameras and thousands of spectators.
Ferreira and Filipe Palmeiro enjoyed a superb event over home terrain in the first of the latest X-Raid Mini JCW Rally Plus machines and held off Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Lucas Moraes and Armand Monleon to claim the runner-up spot, despite losing the bonnet on the Mini.
Ferreira said: “It’s difficultto explain the emotions I experienced throughout the week. We received incredible support from this unique audience in the world in a very varied and beautiful race. The tension was high because there was a lot of attention around us, but everything went very well and I confess that I didn’t imagine finishing in second place on my debut with this car in W2RC.”
Moraes overhauled Ferreira’s team-mates Carlos Sainz and Alex Haro and pushed the Spaniards down to fourth position, the result also lifting Moraes into contention for the top three in the title race.
Despite Moraes’ third place and the fastest time on the final stage, it was a disappointing event for Toyota with early season front-runners Guerlain Chicherit and Guillaume de Mevius struggling to make headway and Yazeed Al Rajhi having to battle his way back to fifth after a crash on stage three.
Al Rajhi said: “It was not easy for us after the accident two days ago and we lost a lot of time. Thanks to Carlos Barbosa and all his team for the organisation. We enjoy it here and we feel like it was home. I think Timo (Gottschalk) and I did a good job. We had some bad luck on one of the days but we had a lot of fun. Thank you to the crowd, which was exceptional.”
Can-Am Factory Racing’s Rokas Baciuska and his Spanish co-driver Oriol Vidal secured a vital victory in the Challenger category and extended their lead over team-mates Austin Jones and Oriol Mena in the W2RC’s Challenger standings.
The Brazilian duo of Cristian Baumgart and Gustavo Gugelmin finished seventh overall and picked up vital points for the Manufacturers’ Championship in the second of the Prodrive Hunters. Portuguese driver Francisco Barreto guided his Toyota Hilux to eighth.
Sebastien Loeb and co-driver Fabian Lurquin gained useful experience of the terrain and the event in general in their Red Bull-backed Taurus T3M. Loeb begins his W2RC campaign with the Dacia brand later in the season in preparation for a full programme of events in 2025.
Meanwhile, the G Rally Team’s Luis Portela beat Loeb to the final stage win.
Loeb, who finished 22nd overall, said: “The special stages here are very good, some are even spectacular. We had a lot of mud and had to adapt to a different car from another category. We achieved the objective of getting to know the race so that we can return here next year with the Dacia.”
The South Racing Can-Am Team duo of Joao Monteiro and co-driver Nuno Morais won the SSV category and finished 16th overall in their Maverick XRS Turbo RR but were not registered for the W2RC.
Spaniard Ricardo Ramilo finished second and first of the W2RC contenders. Santag Racing’s Rui Serpa came home third but runaway W2RC leader Yasir Seaidan retired his Can-Am on Saturday.
Carlos Barbosa, President of the organising Automóvel Club de Portugal (ACP), said: “I’m very happy. It was a difficult race to organise with rain and tricky conditions but the ACP team did a fantastic job. The public and Portugal deserves a World Championship race with all the big stars of the Dakar. It is only necessary for Portugal Tourism to understand this so that we can have the event here again next year.”
Schareina holds off Buhler to top in motorcycles
Monster Energy Honda Team rider Tosha Schareina managed to hold his nerve over the closing kilometres to seal a crucial start-to-finish victory in the motorcycle category at the bp Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal.
Schareina needed to defend a lead of 4min 33sec over a short loop of 101km around Grandola and then across a short 3.7km televised sprint finale in front of large numbers of spectators. He started fifth on the road and the third quickest time saw the Spaniard claim a winning margin of 4min 38sec over the second-placed Hero Motorsports Rally Team rider Sebastien Bühler.
The result sets up a fascinating tussle between Monster Energy Honda and the Hero Motorsports Rally Team for the W2RC at the remaining two rounds in Argentina and Morocco.
