MEDIA INFORMATION
BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal
April 2nd-7th, 2024
FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC), round 3
For immediate release
Thursday, March 28th, 2024
SAINZ AND BRANCH AIM TO DEFEND W2RC LEADS IN PORTUGAL
GRÂNDOLA (PORTUGAL): Four-time Dakar Rally winner Carlos Sainz and Botswana biker Ross Branch head to next week’s BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal determined to maintain the leads in their respective drivers’ and riders’ categories on round three of the FIA and FIM World Rally-Raid Championships (W2RC).
After missing the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, Sainz has teamed up with fellow countryman Alex Haro in an X-Raid Mini JCW Rally Plus for the five-day event in Portugal and Spain. He gave Team Audi Sport a maiden victory in the Dakar in January before the German team’s cross-country rallying programme was curtailed in favour of a Formula One programme and the Madrid driver rejoins Sven Quandt’s X-Raid Team to continue his push for a first W2RC Drivers’ Championship.
With rival and two-time W2RC champion Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah failing to finish the Dakar and both Guerlain Chicherit and Guillaume De Mévius retiring in Abu Dhabi, Sainz still leads the series by nine points.
Al-Attiyah won the last round in the UAE on his first event with French co-driver Edouard Boulanger and heads a team of three Prodrive Hunters representing Nasser Racing by Prodrive in the W2RC Manufacturers’ Championship. The X-Rally Team’s Brazilian duo of Cristian and Marcos Baumgart drive the other two Hunters.
With Alex Winocq still recuperating from the back injury he sustained in the Abu Dhabi dunes, Chicherit teams up with Al-Attiyah’s former co-driver Mathieu Baumel in the first of an armada of Toyota Hiluxes run by Overdrive Racing and Toyota Gazoo Racing.
Chicherit was sidelined in Abu Dhabi after Winocq’s injury and team-mate De Mévius was hospitalised with a damaged vertebra. That allowed Al-Attiyah to move ahead of his rivals in the W2RC Drivers’ Championship. The Qatari holds second place behind Sainz – three points ahead of Chicherit and five in front of De Mévius.
Of the 35 entries in the ‘Ultimate’ category, 16 drivers are registered for the W2RC Drivers’ Championship and eight will count towards the W2RC Manufacturers’ Championship.
Al-Attiyah’s victory earlier this month has revitalised the Manufacturers’ series. Toyota Gazoo Racing now leads by 31 points from Nasser Racing by Prodrive. Team Audi Sport is a further point behind and the X-Raid Mini JCW Team is fourth on 35 points.
Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed Al-Rajhi, American Seth Quintero and Brazilian Lucas Moraes will represent Toyota Gazoo Racing in the W2RC Manufacturers’ Championship. The trio currently hold fifth, eighth and sixth in the Drivers’ rankings.
Portugal’s Joāo Ferreira has switched from the SSV category to drive a second X-Raid JCW Rally Plus and will represent Quandt’s team for Manufacturers’ points alongside Sainz and Haro.
South Africa’s Saood Varawa (Toyota) and Buggyra ZM Racing’s Dubai-based Aliyyah Koloc are also registered for W2RC Drivers’ Championship points.
Seven of the 32 ‘Challenger’ entrants are registered for the FIA W2RC Championship. The Can-Am Factory Team’s Rokas Baciuška and Austin Jones hold first and second in the section in their Maverick X3s and will go head-to-head on the Iberian Peninsula.
They are currently separated by 14 points following the Lithuanian’s pair of second places and Jones picking up points for third on the Dakar and the win in the UAE.
Argentina’s Nicolas Cavigliasso is a distant fourth with the Brazilian Marcelo Tiglia Castaldi in fifth in a Taurus T3Max and Saudi Arabia’s Dania Akeel holding sixth at the helm of a Wever Sport Taurus T3 Max. Portuguese drivers Ricardo Porém (MMP Can-Am) and Mário Franco (Yamaha) have also registered for points in Portugal.
Saudi Arabia’s Yasir Seaidan has a 59-point advantage over the FN Speed Team’s Sebastian Guayasamin in the ‘SSV’ standings. The Saudi claimed victory at the Dakar and was the top W2RC-registered finisher in Abu Dhabi with co-driver Michael Metge.
Five of the 19 vehicles entered in the SSV category are registered for the W2RC. Only Fans Racing’s Rebecca Busi, Spain’s Ricardo Ramilo and French veteran Claude Fournier complete the line-up. Busi, Ramilo and Fournier currently hold sixth, eighth and 10th in the W2RC’s SSV standings.
Branch aims to defend 12-point FIM lead
Hero Motorsport Team Rally’s Ross Branch arrives in Grândola with a 12-point cushion over two-time Dakar winner and Monster Energy Honda Team rider Ricky Brabec, courtesy of a pair of second-place finishes in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
The FIM entry list in Portugal features 53 motorcycles and 11 quads with 13 bikers and seven quad riders registered for the W2RC.
Behind Branch and Brabec, South African rider Aaron Mare holds third place in the rankings after picking up maximum points at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. Brabec’s team-mate Adrien van Beveren of France is a close fourth – a mere point behind Mare – and Jose Cornejo and top seed Pablo Quintanilla are fifth and sixth.
Cornejo has recently announced his decision to leave the Honda line-up and is absent from the entry in Portugal, where Germany’s Sebastien Bühler represents the team alongside Quintanilla, Brabec, Van Beveren and Tosha Schareina.
Duust Racing’s French rider Jean Lepan holds a six-point lead in the FIM Rally-Raid World Cup for Rally 2 riders on his KTM. Husqvarna’s Romain Dumontier is his closest challenger after scoring maximum points at the Dakar. Lepan’s Polish team-mate Konrad Dabrowski is third. The youngster also leads the Junior category by 17 points.
Bas World KTM Racing Team’s Bradley Cox and Stojrent Racing’s Jan Brabec are fourth and fifth in the rankings. Cox’s team-mate Mathieu Doveze is also present in Portugal and is classified seventh in Rally 2 behind the absent Toni Mulec.
Argentina’s Manuel Andujar (Yamaha) scored maximum points at the Dakar and will hope to defend a four-point advantage in the FIM Rally-Raid World Cup for Quad riders. His closest challenger is Saudi Arabia’s Hani Al-Noumesi with the absent Alexandre Giroud and Abdulaziz Al-Ahli holding third and fourth.
Competition in Portugal and Spain will come from the top-seeded Slovakian Jurag Varga, who holds fifth in the W2RC’s quad standings, and Lithuania’s seventh-placed Antanas Kanopkinas on a CFMoto CForce machine.
Ends
World Rally-Raid Championship (worldrallyraidchampionship.com)
The Rally Raid Portugal race | Rally Raid Portugal | 2 a 7 de abril 2024