MEDIA INFORMATION
bp Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal
April 2nd-7th, 2024
FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC), round 3
For immediate release
Saturday, April 6th, 2024
AL-ATTIYAH MAINTAINS LEAD; STAGE WIN FOR AL-RAJHI IN SPAIN
GRÂNDOLA (PORTUGAL): Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and his co-driver Edouard Boulanger continue to lead bp Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal after the fourth stage in Western Spain on Saturday afternoon.
The Qatari opened the road and erred on the side of caution over the demanding and abrasive terrain. The defending W2RC champion was content to come home with the seventh quickest time but he saw his lead trimmed to 2min 41sec when second-placed João Ferreira came home fifth on the day’s stage.
Al-Attiyah said: “We opened the road and tried not to waste time. It was an okay day. I’m happy to finish the stage without any problems. Let’s see how it goes tomorrow.”
After an almost Dakar-like day for its duration on Friday, Saturday’s itinerary offered a competitive section entirely in Spain. The 208km stage ran to the south of Badajoz in the vicinity of the communes of Zafra and Fregenal de la Sierra before a long road section returned competitors to Grândola in Portugal.
Ferreira and Filipe Palmeiro remain Al-Attiyah’s closest challengers in the first of the two front-running X-Raid Mini JCW Rally Plus machines. Carlos Sainz and Alex Haro moved up to third place in the second car – 59 seconds behind the Portuguese after picking up another 20-second penalty – with Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Lucas Moraes and Armand Monleón holding fourth in the first of the Hiluxes, a further eight seconds adrift.
Ferreira said: “We managed to set a strong pace and gain time from Nasser, who is our direct opponent. On the other hand, the advantage we have over Carlos is nothing..because it’s Carlos Sainz! But I’m very happy.”
Finishing fourth on the day enabled Sainz to pick up two stage points and he edged into an unofficial five-point advantage over Al-Attiyah in the W2RC Drivers’ Championship. Sainz said: “It was a good day. We attacked as much as possible.”
Moraes said: “Very cool special with less water. It was good to go. Of course, we are in contention for the top three overall, so we can’t exaggerate. Let’s speed up tomorrow.”
Overdrive Racing’s Guillaume De Mévius and Yazeed Al-Rajhi were the early pace-setters and they were joined by Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Seth Quintero at the front of a stage where the five-point bonus for victory eventually fell to Al-Rajhi with Quintero collecting four and De Mévius picking up three to give Toyota a 1-2-3 finish. Al-Rajhi’s stage performance enabled the Saudi to climb from ninth to fifth in the general classification.
Al-Rajhi said: “We caught the car in front of us and drove 40km behind it. With each stop, I told him we were behind and to let us pass. When we finally managed to do so, we increased the pace and managed to win the special stage.”
Quintero added: “It’s fantastic to see so many people throughout this race. Today’s stage was no exception.”
“It was the first day without any problems for us,” said De Mévius. “It was good to reach the end of this stage and know that we were finally able to ride at our best.”
Can-Am Factory Racing’s Rokas Baciuška Spanish co-driver Oriol Vidal began the day in fifth overall with a useful cushion in the Challenger category. Ghislain de Mévius claimed the stage win on an excellent day for the Belgian De Mévius brothers but the Lithuanian maintained a lead of 7min 11sec in the Challenger category, although he slipped to sixth overall.
De Mévius’s delight at winning the special was short-lived, however, and the Belgian was handed a five-minute time penalty at the end of the stage.
Brazilian driver Cristian Baumgart holds seventh in the second of the Prodrive Hunters, Portuguese driver Francisco Barreto (Toyota) overhauled fellow countryman Armindo Araújo (Can-Am) to snatch eighth and Ricardo Porém (Can-Am) rounded off the top 10 with Porém running second of the W2RC-registered Challenger drivers.
Sébastien Loeb and co-driver Fabian Lurquin ceded a lot of time to their rivals on day three after suffering engine overheating issues on their Taurus T3M. The nine-time WRC champion noticeably eased his pace to prevent serious engine damage but was on the attack on day four in a bid to move up the Challenger standings.
The Frenchman initially finished seventh overall on the day, 1min 04sec ahead of João Dias in his Santag Racing Can-Am Maverick X3, with the G Rally Team’s Luis Portela coming home in third. But Loeb was later awarded a 2min 10sec penalty and this gifted the stage win to Dias for a few minutes. Dias was then penalised by two minutes himself and Loeb regained the stage win!
Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Saood Variawa had been one of the early pace-setters in the Ultimate category but he was penalised for three speeding infractions on day three and the Stewards decided to impose a two-hour penalty on the South African and give him a disqualification from the event, suspended as long as there were no further speeding breaches. Variawa took the decision to retire before the day’s stage after additional mechanical issues.
João Monteiro and co-driver Nuno Morais extended their lead in the SSV category and held 14th overall, but attention in the W2RC focused on the registered drivers running behind.
Spaniard Ricardo Ramilo continues to hold second in the category and first of the W2RC contenders after championship leader Yasir Seaidan’s technical woes on Friday.
SCHAREINA EXTENDS HIS MOTORCYCLE LEAD; MAIO FASTEST
Monster Energy Honda Team rider Tosha Schareina increased his lead in the motorcycle category at the bp Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal to 4min 34sec after clocking the fifth quickest time on the abrasive fourth and penultimate stage in Spain.
Through co-operation with the Junta de Extremadura, the Diputacion de Badajoz and the MCV (Motor Club de Villafranca), the ASO and the ACP were able to lay on a 208km stage entirely in Spain to the south of Badajoz. A long road section then returned competitors to Grândola in Portugal.
Schareina was on top form from the start of the day’s special and the Spaniard delighted the home fans with some sensational riding.
Despite opening the road, he led through all the early time controls and had carved out a lead of 50 seconds over Hero Motorsports Rally Team rider and main rival Sebastien Bühler at the 108km point to extend his virtual rally lead to 4min 30sec. He increased that cushion to 54 seconds through 152km although Bühler reduced the deficit to 48 seconds after 186km, as António Maio moved in front and held on to claim his first stage win. All the leading riders complained of excessive tyre wear on the abrasive surfaces.
Schareina said: “At the beginning it was very good. In the first 100km we were leading. After that, the tyres were completely destroyed and we survived the last 150km!”
The win for the Portuguese on his Yamaha WF was the first for the brand on a round of the FIM World Rally-Raid series since Adrien van Beveren won the last special at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge in 2021. Maio retained fourth overall behind the third-placed runaway Rally2 class leader Bruno Santos (Husqvarna).
Maio said: “I loved the stage. I had never ridden here, but the stage was fantastic, fast, slippery and to my liking. I had to attack from the beginning but with safe riding and I didn’t make any mistakes. I made a choice of tyred thinking about these two stages and I think it had an effect.”
Santos added: “I don’t think anyone was expecting such abrasive terrain because, at the end of 100km, we no longer had a rear tyre. I think I had a good second part of the stage, because it was more my style.”
Bühler said: “It was a difficult stage because after 100km the tyres were practically finished. I had to manage the ‘mousse’ of the tyres well to get to the end. At some points, it was almost like a Sunday ride!”
Honda’s Skyler Howes continued to hold fifth overall and his team-mate Adrien van Beveren’s climb through the field continued. The Frenchman moved up to sixth at the expense of Sherco’s Lorenzo Santolino with the second quickest time.
Van Beveren said: “A very different stage to the ones in Portugal. I knew that managing the rear tyre would be important. I tried to manage it but, at the end of 50km, the tyre was already very worn out. In the second part, everyone was already with the slick tyre and it was a little scary because the bike slid a lot when braking.”
Ross Branch of the Hero Motorsports Rally Team continues to hold eighth overall and Chile’s Pablo Quintanilla and Spaniard Edgar Canet round off the top 10. Canet holds second in Rally2 but trails Santos by 20min 49sec.
Bas World KTM Racing Team’s Bradley Cox was sixth on the day and holds 11th and third in Rally2, extending his cushion over Frenchman Mathieu Doveze (KTM).
Portuguese Honda rider Gonçalo Amaral continues to lead the Rally3 section although his brother Salvador was quickest on the day and trimmed the deficit to 10min 48sec.
Poland’s Kamil Wisniewski claimed the stage win in the quad category, as Argentina’s runaway leader Manuel Andujar hit trouble on the Spanish stage, stopped to fix an issue on the rear of his machine, then crashed and lost the outright lead to his fellow Yamaha rider.
Wisniewski now holds a 5min 49sec advantage over Frenchman Gaetan Martinez to take into the final short stage close to Grândola on Sunday morning. Lithuania’s Antanas Kanopkinas is third after picking up a two-minute penalty.
Ends