João Ferreira was the winner of the Baja Portalegre 500, a race counting towards the FIA Bajas World Cup and the Portuguese Off-Road Championship (CPTT). This edition of the biggest event in national off-road was marked by rain and a lot of mud on the stages, even leading to a premature end of the last selective sector due to the conditions.
Nasser Al-Attiyah (Nasser Racing/Prodrive Hunter) was one of the big names present and started by winning the prologue ahead of Luís Portela de Morais (G Rally OT3) by 2.3s. Mattias Ekström (Can-Am Maverick) was third and Ferreira (MINI) started with the fourth fastest time in yesterday’s short stage.
Then it was Adam Thomelius’ turn (Can-Am Maverick) to set the pace in the first selective sector, beating Ekström by seven seconds, while Al-Attiyah set the third fastest time and Ferreira repeated the fourth time. Overall, this translated into Ekström taking the lead, ahead of Thomelius by less than a second. It was a Friday that ended with everything still wide open, with the top four separated by less than half a minute.
There was a change of leader in the morning selective sector on Saturday, with Ferreira setting the pace with a time of 1m33.6s, ahead of Yazeed Al Rajhi (Overdrive Toyota). This result allowed him to take a commanding lead in the overall standings. João Dias (Can-Am Maverick) set the third fastest time, 3m01.7s behind. By not letting Ferreira pass in a part of the stage, Al-Attiyah was penalized by 20 minutes, ruling him out of contention.
In the afternoon, the final selective sector took place, in which Armindo Araújo led a trio of Can-Am Mavericks and set the pace. He finished 29 seconds ahead of Dias, with Alexandre Pinto in third. Al Rajhi was fourth, with a 21.8s advantage over Ferreira in fifth. It was not enough to overtake Ferreira in the overall standings, and so he achieved his second victory in Portalegre. He beat Al Rajhi by 2m21.6s.
Closing the overall podium was Dias, who also won in the T3 category by beating Araújo by 33.9s. Pinto was third in that category and fifth overall. Thomelius followed, while Miguel Barbosa (Toyota) returned to off-road action with a final seventh position, being the third in the T1+ category.
In the exclusive CPTT event, Ricardo Sousa (Can-Am Maverick) was the big winner, and by a clear margin: the second-placed Marco Cardoso (Can-Am Maverick) finished 10m19.1s behind. Sérgio Vitorino, also in a Can-Am Maverick, completed the podium, followed by Nuno Matos (Opel Mokka Proto) who prevailed in the T8 category against Nuno Tordo (Nissan Navara) by 1m50.6s.
Top ten of the final overall standings (FIA):
Top ten of the final overall standings (CPTT):
