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Baja Aragon 2023: With “fantastic result”, Moraes/Bentivoglio confirm status of top driver in Spain
Runners-up in the Baja Aragón on Saturday, Brazilians set podiums in all international races
“What a fantastic result. It’s great to be able to compete for a professional team like this. It’s a big day for us.” With these words, Brazilian driver Lucas Moraes defined his participation, along with navigator Kaíque Bentivoglio, in the traditional Baja España Aragón Rally, valid for the fourth stage of the FIA Cross-Country Rally World Championship, which brings together the main beasts of the sport. After winning the race in the stage held yesterday, on Saturday, the Belgian team duo Overdrive took their Toyota GR DKR Hilux T1+ to second place, reversing the positions with the duo formed by the fifth Dakar champion, Nasser Al-Attiyah, and the Frenchman Mathieu Baumel – who also drove a Toyota Gr DKR. In the sum of the times of the two days, Al-Attiyah and Baumel won the overall classification of Baja Aragón, with the time of 6h18min37s2 to a total of 512,3km. The French-Saudi duo also won the last two editions of the Dakar.
One of the most traditional races in the world, the Baja España Aragón completed its 39th edition on Saturday. Much of the participants, such as Lucas and Kaíque, competed in the race aimed at preparing their teams for the next edition of the Dakar Rally. Therefore, the success of this confrontation is seen as a kind of “quality seal” on the international stage. In fact, since their debut in international competitions in 2022, the Brazilians have recorded four podiums: three third places and the second obtained on Saturday.
“Our victory in the special yesterday was something to mark the career. With so many Dakar winners present, like Nasser, Stéphane Peterhansel, Carlos Sainz and Nani Roma, we have to get into the fight knowing we are on the side of giants. When we met them here in Spain, Kaïque and I joked that we don’t know if they greeted or asked for an autograph,” amused Lucas Moraes, who, among his recent achievements, also has the bicampionate in the Sertões Rally (along with Bentivoglio) and the third unprecedented place for a Brazilian in the ranking of the last Dakar Rallye (with German navigator Timo Gottschalk, who this Saturday finished ninth alongside the Saudi driver Yazeed Al Rajhi).
European curiosity – The next challenge of the Brazilians will be precisely the Rally dos Sertões, played between 11 and 19 August, the test of which are the current champions. “Sertões is a race that I have been following closely since childhood – it’s a personal passion. It is also the biggest race in Brazil, America, an incredible challenge. Here in Europe everyone asks about it,” says Moraes who, alongside Bentivoglio, has the support of Red Bull, Toyota Gazoo Racing, SpeedMax, Strava and Zapalla in his 2023 campaign.
“I and Kaik have always spent the greatest suffocation in the Sertões – every day leads you to exhaustion at some point, but it also teaches you a lot. So the fact that we are here today on the podium of the Baja Aragón is the result of what we have learned in Brazil. There are a lot of people in Brazil who can come here and make great results,” encourages the vice champion of the 39th edition of Baja España Aragón.
Automatic translation from the original Brazilian Portuguese version sent to us by:
Source: Lucas Moraes official press release / Best PR
Portuguese version available on www.todoterreno.pt
Helder