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Baja TT Montes Alentejanos 2023: Baixo Alentejo reveals the first winners of the 2023 Portuguese championship
Find more about the region where the race took place: www.guiarural.pt
CARS
João Ramos in a Toyota T1+ wins first race of the season
The duo formed by João Ramos and Pedro Ré at the controls of a Toyota Hilux T1+ was the big winner of the Baja TT Montes Alentejanos| ESC Online 2023 after repeating the triumph today in the timed stretch of 145.50 km held in the Alentejo lanes of Beja.
João Ramos finished the race with an advantage of almost two minutes for the Toyota Hilux of the duo Tiago Reis/ Válter Cardoso that won the T1. The last place on the podium was occupied by Armindo Araújo/Luís Ramalho, winners of the T3 category. The duo Luís Portela Morais/Tiago Neves in OT3 Overdrive and João Dias/João Miranda in Can-Am completed the top 5 as well as the podium of the T3 category.
Next positions for Lino Carapeta/ Rui António (Ford Ranger), Miguel Casaca/João Luz (Volkswagen Amarok) and Edgar Reis/Tiago Neves ((Toyota Hilux). On the way were the Czech duo Petr Hozác/ Mareck Sykora (Mini Paceman) and Lourenço Rosa/Joaquim Dias (Toyota Hilux T1+), who were on the top of the classification.
For João Ramos: "this race was a great achievement given our little knowledge of this new car. It is completely different and has more difficult particularities. But, above all, it requires kilometers and adaptation. My final objective for this race was to finish, and it was accomplished. Of course, the victory in all the stages was the cherry on top of the cake. I collected the maximum number of points and this gave the whole team a huge boost for a very good season and Championship", said the driver.
Other category wins went to Rui Sousa/ Carlos Silva (Isuzu DMax) in T2, Rui Farinha/Rui Pita (Can-Am), in T4, Nuno Tordo/Filipe Salgueiro (Nissan Navara) in T8 and Cesário Santos/Alexandre Gomes (Nissan Navara), in T9.
SSV NON-FIA
João Monteiro / Nuno Morais in Can-Am grab the first victory of 2023
João Monteiro, accompanied by Nuno Morais driving a Can-Am, was the big winner of the competition for SSVs in the Baja TT Montes Alentejanos| ESC Online 2023, race organized by CPKA - Club for the Promotion of Karting and Automobilism, held this weekend in the beautiful lanes of Beja.
The former Portuguese champion, was the fastest in the two days of race and secured the victory in the opening race of the National Cross-Country Championship 2023 with an advantage of 53s for the 2nd ranked. João Monteiro was satisfied with the work done: "I think we started with the right foot. We worked for that and the team and the car were up to it. Today we managed the race well, we had a 40-second advantage, which isn't much in such a competitive championship. But we managed to win the two selective sectors of the race and we are happy with this victory" he pointed out.
Second place for Luís Cidade also in Can-Am, navigated by Pedro Mendonça, while Roberto Borrego, in an identical machine, reached the third place. Next positions for Nelson Caxias, Ricardo Sousa and Avelino Luís who, all in Can-Am, filled the podium of veterans. Pedro Ferreira, Jorge Passanha and Pedro Pinha, also in Can-Am, occupied the 7th, 8th and 9th places. Rui Serpa on a Can-Am, closed the top 10 and triumphed in the Stock Class, while Paulo Fernandes, on a Yamaha, won the TT2 and the duo Dorothee Ferreira/Noemie de Sousa won the Ladies Cup.
MOTOS
Martim Ventura wins the 2023 Baja TT Montes Alentejanos| Esc Online
Martim Ventura on Yamaha, current junior champion, was once again the fastest in the last selective sector and guaranteed victory and the championship leadership. The rider added to his absolute triumph the victory in the TT2 Class and in the Junior Trophy. At the end of the race, Martim Ventura was happy with the result achieved "it was a fun race with very varied terrains. In technical courses I had some difficulties, but I think I managed to overcome all the setbacks. It was a good race and we'll go on with a good rhythm to the next race of the Championship", said the pilot.
The champion António Maio, also on a Yamaha, occupied the 2nd place with a 49.2s handicap, while Gustavo Gaudêncio, on a Honda, closed the podium both in the overall and the TT2 Class. Miguel Castro and Daniel Jordão, both on Husqvarna, took the next overall positions. TT3 champion Micael Simão, on a Husqvarna, was 6th overall and won this class, while, in 8th place, João Duarte won the TT1 class in his debut at the wheel of a Honda. Christophe Lajouanie (Sherco) in the Veterans and Celso Colaço (Husqvarna) in the Promotion were the remaining winners.
QUADS
Rafael Carvalho triumphs among the quads
In the Quad competition the young Rafael Carvalho, on Yamaha, repeated the triumph achieved in this race in 2002. He also triumphed in the Junior Class and finished the race with a 45s advantage over Fernando Cardoso on an identical bike. This last selective sector of 145.50 km was won by Luís Fernandes. In the general classification Tiago Teixeira was third and Daniel Silva was fourth. Micael Horta closed the top five in a race that had Marco Pedroso as the winner among the veterans. All of these pilots were riding Quad Yamaha.
At the end of the race Rafael Carvalho was very pleased with this victory and stated that: "I really like this race, it is very fun. We rode well from the beginning and did everything right. Yesterday I had a little out of the track, however, it was nothing complicated. This year I'll fight for the title, but let's see how it goes. I take this opportunity to wish my friend João Vale a speedy recovery", he said.
You can find a very large image gallery with 4000 images on our image bank here: www.imagensdesportivas.com
This race was valid for all Portuguese Championships, including Cars and SSV-FIA (FPAK), Motos, Quads and SSV-Non FIA (FMP)
This text is an automatic translation of all the official press releases from Baja TT Montes Alentejanos. You can find the portuguese versions on www.todoterreno.pt
Source: Baja TT Montes Alentejanos / CPKA / A2 Comunicação
Photos: Rally-Raid Network / Imagens Desportivas
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