Baja TT Montes Alentejanos: Near 200 teams on the Portuguese season opener
Valid for: CPTT - Portuguese Cross-Country Rally Championship (cars) and CNTT - National (Portuguese) Cross-Country Rally Championship (motos, quads and SSV non-FIA)
To know more about this region of Portugal please visit Guia Rural - Here - https://www.guiarural.pt/index.php/destinos/beja.html
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The countdown to the Baja TT Montes Alentejanos | ESC Online 2023 has started. This event is organized by CPKA - Clube de Promoção de Karting e Automobilismo, which will start on the 24th February in Beja.
The Baja TT Montes Alentejanos | ESC Online will be the first journey of this 2023 season of the National Cross-Country and will have again the Parque de Feiras e Exposições de Beja as the headquarters of the competition. The competition will start on Thursday, the 23rd with a Shakedown on the outskirts of Beja, as well as the start of the optional checks from 6pm.
On the 24th, from 7 am, the documentary and technical checks continue, followed by the prologue of 7.26 km and even that night will be held the starting ceremony that will include a parade of presentation of the participants. On Saturday, the pilots will face the first selective sector (1st stage) of 145.50 km that will be repeated on Sunday (2nd stage). In total there will be 370 kilometers of which almost 300 will be disputed by the chronometer.
As in previous editions, the panel of registered pilots is very diverse and with a quality and quantity of machines never seen before, confirming that Portugal is the world's best national cross-country championship. With the number of participants approaching 200, an excellent competition in all categories is assured.
In cars, the two Toyota T1+ of Lourenço Rosa and João Ramos stand out. Tiago Reis in a Toyota Hilux, Bruno Oliveira, Nuno Madeira and Lino Carapeta in Ford Ranger, will be some of the main T1 pilots who will be joined by the Czech Petr Hozák in the CaTTiva Mini, who will also be competing with Henrique Silva in a Mercedes.
In T3, the competition is very lively and Armindo Araújo is the great newcomer. Signed up by Santag Racing, he will be teammate of the Champion João Dias and will also have as main opponents Pedro Carvalho and Alexandre Pinto, all in Can-Am, while in the OT3 Overdrive LuÃs Portela Morais will race, all of them able to fight for the front positions of the race. Also of note is the return to competition of former champion Rui Sousa who will drive the Isuzu DMax T2.
In SSVs, champion Gonçalo Guerreiro changed brands and is determined to defend his title with an official Polaris prepared and assisted by JB Racing against the Can-Am armada, which presents in Beja all the remaining winners of last year's races: Nelson Caxias, Roberto Borrego and João Monteiro. Pedro Santinho Mendes, LuÃs Cidade, Hélder Rodrigues, Herlander Araújo and Wilson Galo join these very strong competitors, all pilots that have already shown in the past they are capable of fighting for victories.
The Baja TT Montes Alentejanos also registers the participation of the renowned Rui Madeira, always accompanied by the charismatic Nuno Rodrigues da Silva and the return to competition of Nuno Inocêncio, a driver with a proven track record in TT Auto. Other names to consider are Marco Pereira, Paulo Rodrigues, Arnaldo Monteiro, Avelino LuÃs and Pedro Ferreira, all in CanAm and Tiago Guerreiro in a Polaris.
In two wheels, after another title of António Maio in 2022, a lively fight for the title is expected. Martim Ventura on Yamaha, Micael Simão on GasGas, Gustavo Gaudêncio on Honda, Daniel Jordão and Miguel Castro on Husqvarna are names to be considered for the dispute for the first places. David Megre on Kawasaki, after 20 years on KTM, is one of the novelties of the season and will be joined by Fábio Magalhães on Honda, but competing in the TT3 Class, João Duarte on Honda in the TT1 Class and Tomás Dias on Fantic in the TT3 Class. Other names to consider are the brothers Gonçalo and Salvado Amaral both on Honda, the first in TT2 Class and the older brother in TT1 Class, Bernardo Megre on a KTM TT1, Arcélio Couto on Honda, but competing in TT3 Class.
As in SSVs, also in Quad the champion changed brands and will compete with Can-Am Renegade XXC and the expectation is great to see what João Vale can do with his new bike against the very competent Yamaha that in recent years have dominated this discipline. The answer will be given, among others, by the three riders who backed the national champion in 2022: Fernando Cardoso, LuÃs Fernandes and young Rafael Carvalho. Another novelty is the debut in the CNTT of the young Rodrigo Alves, Mini Baja champion. Other names to consider are Fábio Ferreira from ATVRacing and Daniel Santos on Yamaha.
More news and other contents from this race available on our Portuguese site - www.todoterreno.pt
Photos Rally-Raid Network / ImagensDesportivas
Text: Automatic translation from the original Portuguese version available here: ...baja-tt-montes-alentejanos-2023-tt-nacional-arranca-na-baja-tt-montes-alentejanos-esc-online-com-quase-200-equipas.html
Source: Official press release
Helder
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