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Baja TT Sharish 2023: João Ferreira from start to finish at the Baja TT Sharish Gin
After putting in some top-class performances from Friday until today, the reigning national and European champion, who this year has set his sights on the World Cross-Country Championship (W2RC), sealed an unblemished victory in the Baja TT Sharish Gin. It was a race that went well for the driver from Leiria and deserves the general recognition of all those who love off-road racing.
João Ferreira and Filipe Palmeiro's victory in the 35th Baja TT Sharish Gin Reguengos de Monsaraz - Mourão - Redondo was undeniable, and it began to take shape the moment the prologue closed on Friday. Naturally, the driver from Leiria and the navigator from Portalegre drove the MINI JOHN COOPER WORKS RALLY PLUS to the top step of the podium, but they were never under pressure from Tiago Reis and Valter Cardoso, the duo in the Toyota Hilux who were always an arrow pointing to the winners' intentions.
Both drivers set very similar paces, as if it were a game of cat and mouse, but after 100 kilometers, the driver from Famalicão decided to slow down in order to keep an eye on the championship accounts. In fact, while João Ferreira went into preparation mode for the World Championship races, Tiago Reis opted for a cautious race, not least because the track, which was hard and full of stones, didn't offer much confidence in taking the lead, as the northern driver said that the most important thing was the championship and not victory in Reguengos.
With this in mind, the predictions were fulfilled and justice was done to the winner, with the Leiria driver completing the race in a time of 4h53m27.8s, leaving his most direct opponent 1m07.3s away, in a race in which João Ramos and Jorge Carvalho drove the Toyota Hilux to the lowest place on the podium, 11m28.6s from the top of the standings.
"As the Reguengos race is part of the European Bajas Cup and, of course, the Portuguese Championship, we are pleased to have won another international and national competition with enormous competitiveness, in which Tiago (Reis), Valter (Cardoso) and the whole team are to be congratulated. What happened yesterday, after 180 km of selective sector and being separated by 4 seconds, is incredible. Today we attacked from the first kilometer and managed to extend our lead to just over a minute, so we're all to be congratulated," said João Ferreira, with the young driver returning to Leiria with the T1 category victory in the bag.
Despite being given a two-minute penalty, the Toyota Gazoo Racing Caetano Portugal duo managed to take the final podium place.
With a third of T1+ cars occupying the absolute podium, the next position belonged to the new European Baja champion João Dias with João Miranda, who at the end of the race was still not sure that he had already won the title. Alejandro Martins, navigated by José Marques, kept up a positive performance by finishing the race at the wheel of a MINI JOHN COOPER WORKS RALLY in fifth position, the first of the traditional T1s.
Next in the overall standings were Miguel Barbosa, Tomás Neves, in a Toyota Hilux, Armindo Araújo, who is teaming up with Luís Ramalho, the runners-up in Category T3. 8th place for Ghislain De Mévius G RALLY TEAM OT3, who with this result lost the race for the T3 title to João Dias and who congratulated the Portuguese driver at the end. Rounding off the top 10 were Nuno Madeira in a Ford Ranger and Spaniard Fidel Castillo Ruiz in a Can.Am Maverick who won the T4 class. Portugal also won the T2 class with Fernando Barreiros at the wheel of an Izusu D Max.
As for the national event, the duo of César Sequeira and Filipa Sequeira, at the wheel of a MINI Cooper D Proto, were the fastest in the T1 class. Ricardo Sousa and Jorge Brandão (Can-Am Maverick) were the fastest in class T3, while João and António Carvalho, in identical vehicles, were the fastest in class T4. João Lourenço and Nuno Sousa, driving a Nissan Navara D22, were the fastest in T2.
Joel Marrazes and José Motaco, in a Nissan Navara, and Simão Comenda, navigated by Valter Campos, in a Nissan D22, won the T8 and T9 classes.
Baja TT Sharish Gin image gallery available here (More than 3900 photos) : https://www.imagensdesportivas.com/gallery-collection/AUTOS/C00002C_1.EM12uc
Source: Text - SAR-Motorismo
Automatic translation from the original text published on www.todoterreno.pt
Photos: Imagens Desportivas
Helder