SOUTH RACING
MEDIA INFORMATION
BAJA DO PINHAL
Portuguese National Championship of Cross-Country Rallies (CNTT), round 3
June 16-17, 2017
For immediate release
Sunday, June 18th, 2017
SOUTH RACING’S PORÉM SUFFERS SETBACK TO PORTUGUESE NATIONAL CROSS-COUNTRY SERIES BID AT BAJA DO PINHAL
· Ford Ranger driver wins opening stage and then suffers broken drive shaft
· Victory in Castelo Branco falls to Portugal’s Alejandro Martins
CASTELO BRANCO (PORTUGAL): South Racing’s Portuguese driver Ricardo Porém suffered a setback to his hopes of winning the 2017 Portuguese National Championship of Cross-Country Rallies (CNTT) title at Baja do Pinhal, round three of the series, on Saturday.
The Ford Ranger driver teamed up with co-driver Luis Marques on this occasion, as regular partner Hugo Magalhães had FIA European Rally Championship commitments at the Cyprus Rally with Bruno Magalhães.
The runner-up in Baja de Loulé and winner of the Baja Capital Dos Vinhos de Portugal led after the super special stage and at the overnight halt on Friday, but sustained a broken drive shaft after the first passage control on Saturday’s stage and was forced to retire.
“Ricardo was leading the race when he broke a drive shaft,” reflected South Racing’s managing director Scott Abraham. “It was disappointing but it looks as though we are still leading the championship. It was not ideal because our biggest competitors also had troubles of their own. Now we go back to the drawing board and focus on Baja Spain, where we will be running two Ford Rangers for Ricardo and Xevi (Pons). We hope we can build upon the momentum we have developed this year.”
Porém made the perfect start on the first of two runs through the 9.57km Moitas super special stage and carded a time of 8min 36.03sec to snatch an outright lead of 13.15 seconds from João Ramos. Alejandro Martins was third. The Portuguese then ceded 1.77 seconds to Ramos on the second run and reached the overnight halt with a lead of 11.38 seconds in the knowledge that he would be first on the road for the longer stages.
The first stage of 190.34km looped through the remote Portuguese farmland and rural tracks around Sertã. Ramos held a virtual lead of 30 seconds through the first passage control, after 54.84km, but he lost over an hour to the second PC. Porém was not so fortunate and the championship leader stopped in the stage with his drive shaft failure and was not able to complete the route. Martins claimed the stage win in a time of 3hr 09min 05sec and found himself leading the rally by 2min 41sec from Nuno Madeira.
The second section of 136.91km started at Oleiros and finished at Sertã. Ramos clocked the fastest time and moved up to seventh in the overall rankings, but the third quickest time was sufficient for Martins to claim the outright victory from Madeira by 7min 25sec.
Round four of the competitive national series is the Baja do Douro, which takes place on July 21-22.
2017 Baja do Pinhal – final positions
1. Alejandro Martins (PRT)/José Marques (PRT) Toyota Hilux 5hr 35min 49sec
2. Nuno Madeira (PRT)/Miguel Costa (PRT) Kia Sportage 5hr 43min 14sec
3. Henrique Silva (PRT)/Rui Gomez (PRT) Mini Cattiva 5hr 45min 10sec
4. Alexandre Franco (PRT)/Rui Franco (PRT) BMW Evo XI 5hr 47min 45sec
5. Pedro da Silva (PRT)/José Janela (PRT) Mazda Proto 6hr 09min 57sec
6. Rui Sousa (PRT)/Carlos Silva (PRT) Isuzu D-Max 6hr 19min 55sec
Ends
For further information: contact Scott Abraham, South Racing, Email: Scott.Abraham@southracing.com, Tel: + 49 172 6662880.
www.southracing.com
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