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Find out more about the municipalities that will host the race: Portalegre, Alter do Chão, Fronteira, Nisa, Ponte de Sor, Crato
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Press Release:
The ACP's FIA Baja World Cup event kicks off tomorrow with 415 teams registered, from 20 nationalities. The 37th edition, which runs until Saturday, features Nasser Al-Attiyah, a five-time Dakar winner and two-time World Rally-Raid champion.
At the starting ceremony on Thursday evening, 415 teams will pass through the center of Portalegre, distributed among the categories of Cars (112), Motorcycles (99), Quads (36), SSV (84), Promotion / Hobby (59) and Mini Baja (25).
The heavy rains of recent weeks could increase the degree of difficulty of the 439-kilometer timed course for cars (a total of 668.9 kilometers), the 368.1-kilometer timed course for motorcycles, SSVs, and quads (a total of 524.2 kilometers), and the 183.7-kilometer course for the Promotion and Hobby categories (a total of 240.3 kilometers). As usual, the competition begins with the popular 3.7-kilometer Prologue at Herdade das Coutadas on Friday morning, which precedes a selective sector of 61.8 timed kilometers. On Saturday, the cars have two more selective sectors (totaling 373.5 kilometers), while the motorcycles, SSVs and quads ride a single sector, 303 kilometers long.
The service park and the race's operational center are located at NERPOR, which will also host the final press conference, scheduled for 18:00 on Saturday, and the prize-giving ceremony at 20:30.
The return of Nasser Al-Attiyah
The Baja Portalegre 500 is the antepenultimate event in the FIA Baja World Cup, ahead of the rounds in Dubai and Jordan. Scorable for the world competition for drivers, co-drivers, teams, T3 drivers, T4 drivers, and T4 teams, this is also the most important round of the FPAK and FMP Portuguese Off-Road Championships.
On the cars' list, Nasser Al-Attiyah, the current leader of the Bajas World Cup, who recently became two-time World Rally-Raid champion at the Morocco Rally, stands out. The five-time Dakar winner will be making his debut at the wheel of a Prodrive Hunter, the very car with which Sébastien Loeb has shone in the World Rally-Raid Championship and which will be in action for the first time in Portugal. Despite the illustrious record of the Qatari driver and prince, which includes world titles in rallying, TT and a bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics, Al-Attiyah has never managed to win the Baja Portalegre 500.
One of Al-Attiyah's main opponents promises to be João Ferreira, who, in 2022, became the youngest winner of Portalegre and of an FIA World Cup race, now at the wheel of a Mini JCW T1+ with a biodiesel engine. The former national and European champion, who recently won the Morocco Rally in the T4 category with Filipe Palmeiro, is already well acquainted with the petrol-powered Toyota Hilux T1+, which features names such as Saudi Yazeed Al-Rajhi, navigated by Timo Gottschalk, or national champions Tiago Reis and Valter Cardoso, who arrive in Portalegre motivated by winning their third CPTT title. With extensive experience in Portalegre, João Ramos (navigated by Jorge Carvalho) and Miguel Barbosa (with Paulo Fiúza) are also contenders for the top spots, also with the Hilux T1+.
Last year, the SSVs in the T3 category were just 21.7s away from an unprecedented overall win in Portalegre, through João Dias and João Miranda (Can-Am), who will be back this year, as will Luís Portela de Morais and Tomás Neves (ORT3), who completed the overall podium in 2022. In this category, there are several candidates for a top spot, such as Armindo Araújo and Luís Ramalho (Can-Am), who led the overall race last year and are currently leading the CPTT in T3. Ricardo Porém, the only driver to win the Baja Portalegre 500 four times in a row (between 2014 and 2017), is making his T3 debut with a Can-Am, on his way to his 15th participation! And what about the 33 participations (out of a possible 37) of Carlos Silva, the renowned navigator who this year is accompanying the young Portuguese Francisco Barreto in a Toyota Hilux T1+...
Baja Portalegre 500 is an Eco-Event
The Baja Portalegre 500 has an Environmental Sustainability Plan that confers "Eco-event" status on the ACP event. In partnership with the company Valnor and the municipalities of Portalegre, Ponte de Sor, Nisa, Gavião, Crato, Chamusca, Alter do Chão and Abrantes, the organization aims to achieve measurable environmental sustainability objectives throughout the event, in line with the FIA and FIM environmental codes.
As in previous years, the work carried out with Valnor is aimed at reducing the amount of waste produced, separating packaging and selectively collecting and recycling waste. At the different venues where the event takes place, particularly in the areas with the largest crowds (NERPOR, Prologue and Show Zones), containers and recycling bins are made available for sorting waste, and participants, assistance teams and spectators are encouraged to contribute to the correct separation of waste. Local training and awareness-raising activities are also promoted to disseminate best recycling practices.
At the end of the event, the amount collected from the waste produced during the event, handed over by the ACP to Valnor, will go entirely to the Portalegre Volunteer Fire Brigade.
Automatic translation from the original Portuguese version available on www.todoterreno.pt
Source: ACP Motorsport / Baja Portalegre
Photos: ACP Motorsport and Prodrive
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