Old Friends Rally Team driver takes the Tauros to 5th place overall
The 2025 SSV World Champion, Alexandre Pinto, claimed victory in the Challenger category on Stage 2 of the bp Ultimate Rally Raid Portugal, held today between Grândola and Badajoz, featuring a 377 km selective section.
Driving for the Old Friends Rally Team, alongside co-driver Bernardo Oliveira and at the wheel of a Taurus, Pinto overcame most of the setbacks from the previous day to win the stage, once again earning a W2RC stage victory for the duo. The reigning world champions also secured an impressive 5th place overall in the car classification. With this result, Alexandre Pinto moves up to second place in the Challenger standings, reducing the gap to the leader to 7m10s — almost exactly the time he gained today.
“Today, fortunately, almost everything went well. We are now more adapted to this new car, which allowed us to push from the start of the stage, despite starting from quite a delayed position and spending part of the day without power steering. We were the fastest, which allowed us to score important points for the world championship and significantly reduce the gap to the lead, although there is still a long way to go. We are also very pleased to have been the fifth fastest overall among so many T1+ cars,” explained the driver.
Tomorrow, Stage 3 of the bp Ultimate Rally Raid Portugal will take place around Badajoz, featuring 296 timed kilometres and 205 kilometres of liaison.
Official press release
Photo: Rally-Raid Network / ImagensDesportivas.pt
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