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- Yacopini and Esteve Pujol classified in 14th and 20th overall
- Chicherit and de Mévius suffer setbacks to W2RC challenges
- Krotov, Baud and Amos finish demanding event on Iberian Peninsula
Overdrive Racing and Toyota Gazoo Racing suffered a minor setback to their quest for honours in the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) Drivers’ and Manufacturers’ Championships at the five-day bp Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal.
Lucas Moraes and Armand Monleón were the highest-placed of the Toyota crews in third overall and moved into contention for a serious title challenge as a result. Saudi driver Yazeed Al-Rajhi and his German co-driver Timo Gottschalk led the event outright for a short time in their Overdrive Racing Toyota until they lost over half an hour following a crash on a third day that crossed the border for a night halt at Badajoz in Spain. That incident pushed Al-Rajhi down to ninth but a stage win and a determined fight back by the Saudi lifted him to fifth overall at the finish in Grândola. He now holds third in the W2RC Drivers’ Championship.
“What a great fight,” said Moraes. “Firstly, congratulations to the entire organisation for managing to put together this race. It is very important to have the World Cup in Europe. An overall podium and victory in this stage are important points for the championship.”
Al-Rajhi said: “It was not easy for us after the accident two days ago and we lost a lot of time. Thanks to Carlos Barbosa and all his team for the organisation. We enjoy it here and we feel like it was home. I think Timo (Gottschalk) and I did a good job. We had some bad luck on one of the days but we had a lot of fun. Thank you to the crowd, which was exceptional.”
The Overdrive Racing duo of Guerlain Chicherit and Guillaume De Mévius both lost ground on event winner and championship rival Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah. Two successive daily retirements under the new Sporting Regulations mean that a crew cannot continue and Chicherit and co-driver Mathieu Baumel were sidelined after two days.
De Mévius and Xavier Panseri also suffered delays early in the race with brake issues and an alternator failure and spent the rest of the week playing catch up on the third round of the W2RC. Third quickest on stage four, the Belgian reached the finish in a subdued 54th.
Juan Cruz Yacopini and Daniel Oliveras overcame power steering belt issues to reach the finish in 14th and Isidre Esteve Pujol and Jose-Maria Villalobos guided the Team Repsol Toyota to the finish in 20th with Overdrive Racing support.
Denis Krotov and Konstantin Zhiltsov and the French father and daughter crew of Lionel and Lucie Baud overcame their fair share of problems to reach Grândola in 42nd and 53rd, with Baud excelling on the final stage with the fourth quickest time.
The Italian pairing of Eugenio Amos and Paulo Ceci were classified in 55th. Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Seth Quintero and Dennis Zenz were 43rd after delays early in the event. Technical issues sidelined young Saood Variawa in the third of the Toyota Gazoo Racing cars.
Overdrive Racing also offered technical support to Tiago Reis and Valter Cardoso, who are taking part in the Portuguese All-Terrain Championship (CPTT). They held 15th overall after the opening day but were forced to retire on day two.
Action commenced with a tricky Prologue stage of 3.53km that was largely better suited to the Challenger cars after recent weather. Al-Attiyah carded the fastest time amongst the Ultimate crews in a top 10 that featured seven Challenger crews. TGR’s Moraes and Seth Quintero were classified in fifth and eighth and Overdrive Racing’s Chicherit, De Mévius, Al-Rajhi and Baud were 11th, 15th, 16th and 18th. Yacopini and Krotov were 32nd and 36th and Amos and Esteve Pujol finished 47th and 51st.
The afternoon’s opening 100.28km stage started in Santo André and ran via Sines, Santiago do Cacém and Ortiga to finish in Relvas. Chicherit was in inspired form and the Frenchman beat Al-Rajhi by 28 seconds to claim the outright lead. Moraes gave Toyotas a clean sweep of the podium places.
Variawa held sixth, Yacopini and Krotov were 15th and 17th and Amos and Baud held 21st and 24th. But mechanical issues cost De Mevius valuable minutes and he slipped back to 57th overall. Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Quintero stopped with technical problems early in the stage and incurred additional time penalties that saw the American down in 82nd.
The second stage was shortened to 166.29km and started 45 minutes later than scheduled because of persistent morning fog. Al-Rajhi was the first driver to finish and the third quickest time enabled the Saudi to maintain second place. Al-Rajhi said: “We opened the road after the (Guerlain) Chicherit crash, around km30. We did our best and Timo (Gottschalk) did a great job. I think it went well.”
TGR’s Saood Variawa started strongly and was quickest to the 98km checkpoint and held on to snatch the outright lead for the first time on a W2RC event. His delight was short-lived, however: he was awarded a 30-minute time penalty soon after the stage finished and plummeted out of contention.
Chicherit stopped on two occasions early in the stage with technical issues after an accident and was passed by his main rivals. But the second stoppage after 79km was terminal for his stage ambitions and the Frenchman was forced to abandon the track and head back to the bivouac with a fistful of time penalties to follow.
De Mévius damaged his Toyota after 48km. Any ambitions of remaining in contention for top W2RC points were ruined. Moraes held sixth overall after the stage, Yacopini and Amos were 15th and 16th, Krotov was 21st and Esteve Pujol held 30th. Baud slipped back to 44th.
Chicherit’s disappointing second stage ruined the Frenchman’s chances of claiming the outright victory but, like team-mate De Mévius, he focused on stage wins and extra W2RC points. The Frenchman admitted that his problems on day two began when he lost around 10 minutes crossing a ford behind a biker who was stuck and then he clouted a tree stump in a field and tore the lower right suspension triangle off the Hilux. He began the day in 69th with De Mévius holding 54th. But a mechanical issue forced Guerlain to return to the bivouac for the second day in succession and his Portuguese adventure was over.
Competitors in the car section tackled a different route to the motorcycles and quads on day three and a stage of 282km in a day’s route of 746km wound its way through the Portuguese countryside and crossed the border into the Extremadura region of Spain and a night halt in Badajoz.
Despite a puncture, Moraes was the best of the Toyotas in third place, but Al-Rajhi barrel-rolled his Hilux and the resultant time loss pushed the Saudi down to ninth. Yacopini held 19th after breaking his power steering belt, Esteve Pujol was 24th, but Krotov, Quintero, Baud, De Mévius and Amos were well down the rankings in 45th, 48th, 57th, 58th and 59th overall.
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.
De Mévius and Al-Rajhi were the early pace-setters and were joined by 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.”
The final stage was split into two sections with the first looping around Grândola for 101km before a final regroup took competitors into a short 3.7km sprint in front of live television cameras and thousands of spectators.
Moraes finished the opening section ahead of Al-Attiyah and went on to clock the fastest time to pick up the five bonus points, while Al-Rajhi had opened the road and confirmed fifth overall.
Action in the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship resumes with the Desafío Ruta 40 in Argentina on June 1st-7th.
2024 BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal – result:
1. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Edouard Boulanger (FRA) Prodrive Hunter 10hr 02min 57sec
2. Joāo Ferreira (PRT)/Filipe Palmeiro (PRT) Mini John Cooper Works Rally Plus 10hr 05min 46sec
3. Lucas Moraes (BRA)/Armand Monleón (ESP) Toyota GR DKR Hilux 10hr 06min 33sec
4. Carlos Sainz (ESP)/Alex Haro (ESP) Mini John Cooper Works Rally Plus 10hr 09min 09sec
5. Yazeed Al-Rajhi (SAU)/Timo Gottschalk (DEU) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 10hr 20min 08sec
6. Rokas Baciuška (LTU)/Oriol Vidal (ESP) Can-Am Maverick X3 10hr 23min 30sec
7. Cristian Baumgart (BRA)/Gustavo Gugelmin (BRA) Prodrive Hunter 10hr 25min 07sec
8. Francisco Barreto (PRT)/Carlos Silva (PRT) Toyota Hilux 10hr 25min 46sec*
9. Armindo Araújo (PRT)/Pedro Ré (PRT) Can-Am Maverick X3 10hr 31min 14sec*
10. Nicolas Cavigliasso (ARG)/Valentia Pertegarini (ARG) Taurus T3Max 10hr 31min 52sec
11. Ricardo Porém (PRT)/Luis Marques (PRT) Can-Am Maverick X3 10hr 33min 10sec
12. Alexandre Pinto (PRT)/Bernardo Oliveira (PRT) Can-Am Maverick X3 10hr 34min 18sec*
13. Austin Jones (USA)/Oriol Mena (ESP) Can-Am Maverick X3 10hr 41min 26sec
14. Juan Cruz Yacopini (ARG)/Daniel Oliveras (ESP) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 10hr 49min 54sec
15. Mário Franco (PRT)/João Serôdio (PRT) Yamaha YXZ 1000R Turbo 10hr 50min 25sec
16. João Monteiro (PRT)/Nuno Morais (PRT) South Racing Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR 10hr 50min 31sec*
17. João Dias (PRT)/João Miranda (PRT) Can-Am Maverick X3 10hr 51min 03sec*
18. Hélder Rodrigues (PRT)/Gonçalo Reis (PRT) Can-Am Maverick X3 10hr 56min 18sec*
19. Ricardo Ramilo (ESP)/Fausto Mota (PRT) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR 11hr 03min 50sec
20. Isidre Esteve Pujol (ESP)/Jose-Maria Villalobos (ESP) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 11hr 04min 32sec*
42. Denis Krotov (KGZ)/Konstantin Zhiltsov (ISR) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 13hr 41min 03sec
43. Seth Quintero (USA)/Dennis Zenz (DEU) Toyota GR DKR Hilux 16hr 44min 54sec
53. Lionel Baud (FRA)/Lucie Baud (FRA) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 30hr 53min 55sec
54. Guillaume de Mevius (BEL)/Xavier Panseri (FRA) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 31hr 00min 32sec
55. Eugenio Amos (ITA)/Paulo Ceci (ITA) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 33hr 48min 57sec
Saood Variawa (ZAF)/François Cazalet (FRA) Toyota GR DKR Hilux RETIRED – SS3
Guerlain Chicherit (FRA)/Mathieu Baumel (FRA) Toyota Hilux Overdrive RETIRED- AFTER SS2
Tiago Reis (PRT)/Valter Cardoso (PRT) Toyota Hilux RETIRED – SS2*
- denotes NOT registered for W2RC
Source: Overdrive Racing
Photos: Rally-Raid Network / ImagensDesportivas
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