Disclaimer:
As a service to the sport we all love and follow, Rally-Raid Network posts numerous media releases from a wide variety of sources on our website. Due to the large number, and some times short time available, it is nearly impossible to review each public release. These articles are written by reporters or press officers who work for various organizers, teams, drivers, riders, and other parties, and they do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Rally-Raid Network.
Baja TT Montes Alentejanos 2023: João Ramos starts the Portuguese Cross-Country Rally Championship
This race is valid for the Portuguese Cross-Country Rally Championship
Portugal is just one click away: visit it with Guia Rural
Started this afternoon the AM48 Cross-Country Portugal Championship, with the Prologue of Baja TT Montes Alentejanos. In a course of about 7km, the pilot from Oporto, João Ramos, who debuts in this race a brand new Toyota Hilux T1+, was the fastest, beating the National TT Champion 2021, Tiago Reis, by only 1.5 seconds.
"Getting off on the right foot is very important, winning the first Prologue of the season. We know that the record we had today is still far from the maximum potential of the Toyota Hilux T1+ and, also for this reason, our biggest goal for this race is to add kilometers. We made a very positive prologue, the result of a very thorough reconnaissance work. The fact that we are doing the first race with Pedro Ré as navigator also forced us to be more attentive, and everything went very well. At some moments I even thought that driving a previous generation T1 I could have been faster, given the experience I already had in that car. Tomorrow we'll try to be fast, but we won't exaggerate because, more important than the victory is to add experience with this car", explained João Ramos.
In this first prologue of the season, Tiago Reis in Toyota Hilux T1 was second, relegating Lourenço Rosa, Toyota Hilux T1+, to third place.
Among the T3 category, Alexandro Pinto managed to beat the National Champion of the category, João Dias, and the National Rally Champion, Armindo Araújo. The three pilots were separated by only 4 seconds and occupy the fourth, fifth and sixth positions, respectively. Peter Hozak (Mini), Pedro Carvalho (Can-Am, T4 category leader), Francisco Carvalho (Can-Am) and Edgar Reis (Toyota) complete the top-10 of the first day of the season. In the T8 category, Nuno Matos leads Baja TT Montes Alentejanos ahead of Nuno Torno.
For tomorrow a Selective Sector with 154,83 kms, scheduled for 12h30 pm, will be repeated on Sunday, for a total of 315,45 km. The Baja TT Montes Alentejanos is organized by CPKA - Clube de Promoção de Karting e Automobilismo.
Automatic translation from the original Portuguese version available on www.todoterreno.pt
Source FPAK
Photo: CPKA
Helder