Auto, Moto, Quad and SSV competitions promise plenty of excitement
There will be almost two hundred teams competing in the ESC Online Baja TT Montes Alentejanos, the opening round of the FPAK and FMP off-road championships, from February 29 to March 3.
The auto competition will feature three T1+, two Toyota and one Mini, with Tiago Reis defending the title he won in 2023. With 17 teams entered, the T1 Group features a diverse range of machines - Ford, Mitsubishi, Volkswagen, Toyota, Nissan, Mercedes and Mini - and national and foreign drivers who guarantee enormous competitiveness. It's in Group T3, however, that some of the race's biggest names will appear, including national champion Armindo Araújo, eight-time national champion Miguel Barbosa, the very popular and also excellent driver Bernardo Sousa and João Dias, leader of the Bajas World Cup. There will be 23 teams, mostly in Can-Am, but with the Portuguese debut of the Tauros, the machine that won the Dakar.
Group T2 also has some big news with the entry of two impressive Toyota Land Cruiser VDJ200s. With 10 teams, Group T4 welcomes the reigning SSV national champion, João Monteiro, while Groups T8 and T9 bring together 11 competitors. An absolute novelty is the participation of a T5 truck piloted by Alexandre Franco.
The Moto competition, with 45 riders, will once again feature António Maio, who won his eighth title in 2023. The Alentejo rider's main opponents will be Bruno Santos and Martim Ventura, both on Husqvarna, who shared the CNTT race wins with the Yamaha rider last year. Also worthy of mention in the fight for the top positions are several Honda riders such as Gustavo Gaudêncio, Fábio Magalhães, João Duarte, Tomás Dias, Gonçalo and Salvador Amaral, the brothers Bernardo and David Megre, both on Kawasaki, Micael Simão and Bruno Borrego on Sherco and Tiago Santos on AJP.
Among the 17 Quad riders, champion Luís Fernandes and youngsters Tomás Paulo, Rodrigo Alves and Tiago Ferreira, all on Yamaha, will face off against former champion João Vale, on a Can-Am Renegade XXC.
With 52 teams taking part in the SSVs, the highlight goes to Pedro Santinho Mendes, Hélder Rodrigues, Luís Cidade and Nelson Caxias, all on Can-Am, drivers who have enjoyed victories in recent years. Their main opponents will be Pedro Pinha, Sérgio Baptista, Vasco Martins, Herlander Araújo, Wilson Galo and Pedro Grancha, also in Can-Am, as well as Tiago Guerreiro in a Polaris PRO R.
The ESC Online Baja TT Montes Alentejanos takes place from February 29 to March 3. February 29 is reserved for a shakedown on a 4.5 km course. The race kicks off on Friday with a 7.43 km prologue at the usual location, next to the Shooting Range at Herdade "Cabeça de Ferro". Friday will also see the official presentation of all the competitors from 8pm onwards at the event's podium, located at the Beja Fair and Exhibition Park, better known as the "Ovibeja Park", which this year promises to be much more spectacular than in previous years.
On both days of the weekend, the more than 180 competitors will face a selective sector of 140.61 km. The race will cover a total of 359.90 km, of which 288.65 will be timed.
Automatic translation of the Portuguese version available on www.todoterreno.pt
Source: Official press release / CPKA / A2 Comunicação
Photos: Rally-Raid Network / ImagensDesportivas
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