Guerlain Chicherit leads the BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal after the opening day of the third round of the World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC). The event takes place in the Alentejo region and will also have a passage through Extremadura in Spain.
On Wednesday, the 4km prologue kicked off the competition, with Nasser Al-Attiyah (Nasser Racing by Prodrive/Hunter) being the fastest. The Qatari beat Luís Portela Morais (G Rally Team) by four seconds, with the Portuguese being the strongest of the Challengers. Miguyel Barbosa (Taurus) set the third fastest time, while the second in the T1 Ultimate category was Lucas Moraes (Toyota) in fifth place overall, six seconds behind Al-Attiyah.
In the first stage, with 101km timed, Chicherit set the pace. The Overdrive Racing driver, aboard a Toyota, completed the course in 1h13m54s to beat teammate Yazeed Al Rajhi by just 28 seconds. Moraes was third, 48 seconds behind, with the top five closed out by MINI’s Vaidotas Zala (Unique Racing Team) and Carlos Sainz (X-Raid). Al-Attiyah set the sixth fastest time.
The overall leader is Chicherit, with a 28-second lead over Al Rajhi. Moraes, Zala, and Sainz occupy the following positions, with the top five separated by 1m17s. Al-Attiyah, in sixth, is 1m19s off the lead.
In the Challenger category, the leader is João Dias (Santag Racing/Can-Am) after winning the first stage, holding a 37-second lead over Alexandre Pinto (Can-Am). In third is Rokas Baciuska (Can-Am Factory Team) exactly one minute behind, while Sébastien Loeb (Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team USA by BFG) is in fourth, 1m52s behind.
Regarding the SSVs, João Monteiro (South Racing Can-Am) set the pace in the first stage to lead the overall classification 41 seconds ahead of Ricardo Ramilo (Can-Am), while Rúben Rodrigues (Can-Am) holds the third position. Yasir Seiadan (Race World Team/Can-Am), who stepped onto the Dakar podium in January, is fourth in the category 2m45s off the lead.
