Gonçalo Guerreiro in a Polaris, leading overall and among the SSVs, João Ferreira in a Toyota in the Ultimate category, and Henk Klaassen in a Tauros in the Challenger category lead the 38th edition of the Baja TT Sharish Gin-Reguengos de Monsaraz-Mourão, organised by the Motorsport Section of the Sociedade Artística Reguenguense, after a first day of competition featuring a prologue that set the starting order and a 66-kilometre selective section.
The 38th edition of the Baja TT Sharish Gin-Reguengos de Monsaraz-Mourão kicked off the FIA and FPAK cross-country calendar with a prologue in which the crew Luís Cidade/Valter Cardoso, at the wheel of a Can-Am in the SSV category, set the fastest time with 4m12.2s. They were followed by João Ferreira/Filipe Palmeiro (Toyota), first among the Ultimate cars, 0.6s behind, and Tiago Reis/Nuno Morais (MMP), first among the Challenge cars, 7.1s behind. The next positions went to Herlander Araújo/Tiago Magalhães (Polaris), Pim Klaasse/Joel Lutas (Tauros), Daniel Silva/Gonçalo Magalhães (MMP), João Dias/Nuno Sousa (Polaris), João Lourenço/David Monteiro (Can-Am), Miguel Barbosa/Carlos Mendes (Polaris), with Tiago Patrocínio/Paulo Fiúza (Can-Am) rounding out the Top 10. National champion Gonçalo Guerreiro (Polaris) was unable to finish the prologue within the maximum allowed time after a mishap during the section.
In the afternoon, competitors tackled Portel 1, a selective section with 66.47 timed kilometres. Gonçalo Guerreiro, navigated by Pablo Moreno, set the best time and took the lead of the race with an advantage of 1m05s over the crew João Dias/Nuno Sousa, both in T4 SSVs. Third place went to João Ferreira/Filipe Palmeiro (Toyota), first among the Ultimate cars, 1m14s behind.
Gonçalo Guerreiro:
"We had some bad luck in the prologue. We were very strong. We were in first place, but we ended up with both left-side wheels caught in barbed wire. The car was completely stuck in the middle of the road. We cut the barbed wire. It took us about 30 minutes and, because of that, our penalty was starting last for the second special. We switched on attack mode and won the stage by a margin of 1m05, which is excellent. We also had to run in some dust because we had to pass around five competitors on the road, which cost us time. We were having a good stage, giving it everything. In terms of driving and pace notes, everything was fantastic. I want to thank the team because, after what happened in the prologue, our car was damaged and they made the necessary parts changes in record time. The car was excellent. I'm obviously very happy with today, even though it wasn't all perfect, but we are currently leading the race, which is what matters most. There are still two days to go, but for now I'm very pleased."
João Dias:
"It's a positive first day. We've been out of action for a few months professionally, and it hasn't been easy to balance everything. We did a shakedown last week, and to arrive here already with this pace on the first day is very good. It was a tough special, it was very hot, the terrain is very dry, but it turned out to be a good day for us, with no problems. The car is impeccable, so we can attack again tomorrow. Tomorrow I'll attack where I feel comfortable and save the car where I need to be more calculating. There are many T1+ cars capable of winning this race. Today we ran on a twistier circuit, which is why we stood out a little in the times. I believe tomorrow the race will move into faster, more open areas. We'll see at the end of the day tomorrow."
João Ferreira:
"We opened the road, at a race we're very used to. The fact is that the second section was very difficult. I'd never experienced anything like it in Reguengos, with a lot of vegetation, it was hard to see the track. It was all very linked together and very twisty, my top speed was really low, I only reached 130 km/h, but we had a clean stage, without making mistakes, and we tried to keep a strong rhythm. Tomorrow is when the real race begins. We hope to return to the typical Reguengos routes. It's going to be a very long day, we have to do two passes of 150 km and then there's still Sunday, so everything is still open. We're a little behind, we lost more than a minute to the leader, but we'll see."
After the top three came the crew João Ramos/Jorge Carvalho (Toyota), second among the Ultimate cars, 4s behind João Ferreira. The next positions went to Pedro Carvalho/Romeu Martins (Polaris T4), Alejandro Martins/João Rato (Mini T1+ Ultimate), Henk Klaassen/Sasha Sirpanyavuthi (Tauros), first among the Challenger cars, Miguel Barbosa/Carlos Mendes (Polaris T4), Mário Franco/João Miranda (Can-Am T3), with Ruben Rodrigues/Rui Paulo (Can-Am T4) closing the Top 10. The other categories/classes are led after Portel 1 by Fernando Barreiros/José Marques (Isuzu STOCK), Lino Carapeta/Fábio Carapeta (Ford T1), Cláudio Carapeta/Sérgio Inocêncio (Bowler T8) and Américo Santos/Jorge Monteiro (Nissan T2). Among the women, Maria Luís Gameiro (Mini T1+), navigated by Rosa Romero, leads.
On the second day of the 38th Baja TT Sharish Gin Reguengos/Mourão 2026, participants face SS2, a 170-kilometre section that will be run twice.
Official press release
