Baja Montes Alentejanos 2025, the event that marks the start of the Portuguese Cross-Country Championships promoted by FPAK and FMP, brought together dozens of guests yesterday at the sumptuous Casino Estoril. There was no shortage of some of the best national riders, partners and organizations that have leveraged this, the sixth edition of the Alentejo race.
Esc Online | Baja Montes Alentejanos, organized by CPKA - Clube de Promoção de Karting e Automobilismo, was held for the first time in 2020. The excellence of its organization and the layout of the course have acted as real poles of attraction and its notoriety has been evident year after year, an example of which is the continuous growth in the number of drivers entered. In 2024, 186 teams registered.
Of particular note is the presence of Tiago Reis, a former national champion, Gonçalo Guerreiro, who recently stood on the podium in his Dakar Rally debut, Maria Luis Gameiro, who also took part in the Dakar, and several other drivers and navigators who are regulars in national off-road competitions, whether run by the FPAK or the FMP.
Humberto Silva, president of the CPKA, began by thanking all those who made another edition of the Alentejo event possible and presented the news for the competition that kicks off on February 13: “I want to thank everyone present at this simple launch of what is the sixth edition of Esc Online | Baja Montes Alentejanos. This race had a false start in 2019 due to the danger of fires, but since then, fortunately, thanks to the excellent work of many collaborators, many partner clubs, our sponsors and many entities that have bet on us, it has never stopped. This is also a special event for the Beja City Council and the federations who believed that we were capable of rejuvenating this event, which once had its hallmarks and to which we more recently renamed Baja Montes Alentejanos. It's not easy at this early stage of the year, in January, to be able to structure a race with the weather conditions we've been experiencing, but we're convinced that we're going to have a great competition once again. This year will be different, we have to innovate, that's a premise we follow. We hope to have even more spectators. In due course we'll announce the spectator areas where people can go to watch the competition in safety, so that this opening event of the Championships will once again be a success.”
Beja is the city that has been hosting the Esc Online | Baja Montes Alentejanos. Paulo Arsénio, the city's mayor, explained the reason for this strong commitment to the Alentejo race: “Thank you to the management of the Estoril Sol group for welcoming us once again, for hosting this initiative to present another edition of Esc Online | Baja Montes Alentejanos, which this year includes some new features. Every edition of this race has been different, every one of them surprising us with new and alternative routes. Every year, in order for the race to stay at the top, we need to innovate. The CPKA has lived up to this innovation and what we hope, once again, is that there will be a great race in Baixo Alentejo. A word of thanks also to the sponsors, especially ESC Online. Although the support of Beja Town Hall is very important from a logistical and financial point of view, it wouldn't be enough. The Baja was away from Beja for a few years, we would have liked it to return in September 2019, but it only came back in 2020 and today we can say that we host one of the best races in the country, which we are very proud of. We have fantastic logistical conditions to host this race: the Fair and Exhibition Park, the area next to the sports fields where the assistance park is located. The conditions of the Municipality, together with the route and the magnificent landscapes, make this race one of those for which we have renewed expectations every year. Beja welcomes everyone with open arms and waits for you,” said the mayor about the success of the Alentejo race, which has attracted more partners and support to make it a reality with each edition. This is the case of ESC Online, which is the competition's main sponsor for the third year running.
“Another year, another edition and always with improvements. It's been a fantastic partnership, with an organization that has always fought for a better race. It's an honor for ESC Online to be associated with this event, which also has this Estoril SOL DNA, which is also the DNA of entertainment, fun and also competition. This event, along with the Lisbon Rally, of which we are also partners, has also seen growth year on year and fantastic improvements with more and younger drivers. We're proud to be associated with the CPKA, and we thank the Club for that too,” said Bruno Serra, Marketing Manager at Estoril Sol Digital.
Joaquim Capelo, race director for the FPAK Championship “lifted the veil” and revealed some of the new features: “The selective sector of the competition will this year be divided into seven zones in terms of safety. Each zone will have a person responsible for the safety of that part of the race. There will be five emergency medical teams, all equipped with 4X4 vehicles for rapid assistance. Each will be made up of a doctor and paramedic or nurse. Distributed throughout the terrain will be eight ambulances, two fire engines and one extrication vehicle. The prologue is secret. The race route is designed in the usual area around Beja. If the weather helps, it will be a fast course, with good road surfaces and, for the time being, not too much mud. More than half of the route will have these characteristics. Then there will be a more chained route and an area a few kilometers slower and narrower, very technical.”
The Esc Online | Baja Montes Alentejanos kicks off on February 14 with a 10.00 km prologue located next to the Shooting Range at the “Cabeça de Ferro” estate, which this year will be completely secret for all competitors, reconnaissance will be prohibited and no video of the route will be made available. Also on Friday, there will be a group photo of all the competitors on the event podium, which will be located at the Beja Fair and Exhibition Park, where there will also be a starting ceremony at 7pm for the FMP race and at 9pm for the FPAK competitors. The competition will cover a total of 421.35 km, 340 of which will be timed, divided into two stages of 170 km each, to be held on Saturday and Sunday.
The conditions are thus in place for a weekend of excitement and adrenaline, marking the start of the CNTT and CPTT 2025.
Automatic translation of the Portuguese version available on www.todoterreno.pt
Source: CPKA / A2 Comunicação
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