João Ferreira and Filipe Palmeiro secured an excellent second place at the Baja TT Norte de Portugal, the third round of the Portuguese Championship. The Portuguese duo managed to win all three special stages in the MINI JCW Rally 3.0d, outperforming the more agile side-by-sides on the narrow tracks. However, a subsequent time penalty on Saturday evening cost them both the lead and ultimately the victory.
Ferreira and Palmeiro started the Baja on Friday with a second-place finish in the prologue, whose times did not count towards the overall classification. Saturday initially went perfectly for the two Portuguese drivers: they won both special stages and took the overall lead. However, a repair stop on the final liaison stage to the service park took too long, causing the crew to check in late. As a result, they received a five-minute time penalty, which dropped Ferreira and Palmeiro back to second place overall.
On Sunday, the duo gave it their all to make up the 3:26-minute deficit. However, they only had 79.88 kilometers to do so. They delivered a strong performance on the short special stage and came close to regaining the lead. However, they touched a tree, which caused a puncture. In the end, they had to settle for second place with a gap of just 39 seconds.
Nonetheless, it was a very strong performance against the side-by-sides, which had an advantage on the narrow sections — the next T1 vehicle finished the Baja in tenth place.
Ferreira and Palmeiro will have little time to catch their breath. The two Portuguese drivers will compete next weekend at the Baja Extremadura in Spain — this time, however, for the first time with the MINI JCW Rally 3.0i!
João Ferreira (MINI JCW Rally 3.0d): "Overall, it was a good Baja for us. We were able to win all the special stages. Unfortunately, we had a problem on a liaison section. It was a good weekend, and our performance was strong. Sadly, the final result doesn’t fully reflect that."
Overall standings
1. G. Guerreiro / P. Huete – Polaris – 5h 16m 48s
2. J. Ferreira / F. Palmeiro – MINI JCW Rally 3.0d – 5h 17m 27s
3. T. Reis / P. Fiúza – Taurus – 5h 21m 29s
4. W. Galo / J. Pires – Polaris – 5h 26m 45s
5. L. Cidade / V. Cardoso – Can-Am – 5h 27m 57s
Source: X-Raid
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