Frenchman wins again in Portugal 17 years later
Battle to the end secures Sanders’ win in bikes
Sébastien Loeb is one of the most successful rally drivers in history, with nine world titles and, interestingly, the last of his two victories at Rally de Portugal was achieved in the Algarve in 2009. Seventeen years later, the Frenchman returns to victory in an event held in Portugal, this time at the wheel of a Dacia Sandrider, in the World Rally-Raid Championship.
On two wheels, Daniel Sanders repeats his win from six months ago, this time ahead of Tosha Schareina and Adrien Van Beveren. The Portuguese contingent, led by João Ferreira and Bruno Santos, proudly defended national colours in the world rally-raid stage.
In a stage described by Race Director Orlando Romana as reminiscent of the route he designed for the 2006 Dakar, full of technical challenges, competitors had to carefully navigate nearly 100 kilometres against the clock.
At the end of the 98 kilometres of the first selective sector of the day, the duo Sébastien Loeb/Edouard Boulanger (Dacia) lost 24 seconds to their teammates Lucas Moraes and Dennis Zenz (Dacia) – winners of the selective sector – but remained firmly in the lead, which was never truly threatened by Seth Quintero/Andrew Short (Toyota) or João Ferreira/Filipe Palmeiro (Toyota). The final podium of the bp Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal ended in this order, with the top three separated by 3m37s.
At the finish, Loeb recalled past memories: “It was a good rally for me, with great memories from the past. We had great moments in Faro, in rallies. [The event] wasn’t easy on these very technical tracks with such big cars, but the feeling was good, and the car worked very well. We scored a lot of points for the championship and achieved the best result we could hope for,” he concluded.
Warmly applauded by the Portuguese fans, who enjoy attacking drivers, Seth Quintero was pragmatic at the finish, highlighting the positives of finishing behind Loeb: “It’s good to have a strong race here in Portugal, a place I love. I’ve had some bad luck in the last two years, and this time I had some again. But if bad luck means finishing second, then it was a good rally,” he said.
After spending much of the rally on the attack, João Ferreira reflected on the result: “[third place] wasn’t the ambition I came here with, but a podium at home always feels good. And we scored important points for the championship,” concluded the Portuguese driver.
Pinto wins in Challenger and Barbosa triumphs in SSV
In the Challenger category, Alexandre Pinto and Bernardo Oliveira (Taurus) took victory once again on the stages, securing first place ahead of Charles Munster/Xavier Panseri (KTM). Towards the end, Pedro Gonçalves and Hugo Magalhães (Taurus) slipped to fourth, with Rui Carneiro and Fausto Mota (KTM) taking third place.
Among the SSV competitors, Miguel Barbosa and Joel Lutas (Polaris) successfully defended their lead, ahead of João Monteiro and Nuno Morais (Can-Am), and Jeremias Gonzalez and Gonzalo Rinaldi (Can-Am), who finished second and third respectively.
In the Stock category, “Mr. Dakar” Stéphane Peterhansel (Defender) claimed victory ahead of Rokas Baciuska (Defender) and Sara Price (Defender). The Frenchman wins for the first time in this category, adding the Portuguese event to his illustrious record.
Sanders extinguishes Schareina’s charge
With a 1m46s advantage over Tosha Schareina (Honda), Daniel Sanders (KTM) started the final day behind the Spaniard, but quickly gained time in the timed sector and secured overall victory. Pushing hard to the limit, both riders left the competition behind, with Adrien Van Beveren (Honda) finishing third, more than two minutes back.
The Frenchman’s performance is particularly impressive considering he suffered a serious accident here six months ago, making this his first podium since then.
Sanders finished with a 1m56s lead over Schareina and strengthened the statistics of the two riders who remain the only winners of the bp Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal since its creation in 2024.
At the end of the event, overall winner Daniel “Chucky” Sanders was all smiles: “It was another long stage, on slippery mountain trails, where I was fighting for the stage win with Tocha, so I had to push until the end. It was a very tough race in difficult conditions, but it feels great to be back winning after my Dakar injury,” said the Australian.
Schareina was satisfied with second place: “It was fun. Sanders and I pushed all the way, and this second place wasn’t easy after so many kilometres. I’m happy for myself and the team,” said the Spaniard.
Confirming third place, Van Beveren said: “It was good. I really enjoyed it. I like this terrain, I like Portugal and the people, so I’m very happy. I ended up in a ravine in September, so finishing on the podium six months later is very good,” concluded the Frenchman.
After being in the fight for the overall classification for much of the rally, Bruno Santos (Husqvarna) was affected by damage from a crash the previous day, losing his clutch early in the morning sector. Even so, he managed to retain the Rally2 lead and fourth overall. Martim Ventura (Honda) finished second in the category, while Neels Theric (Kove) secured third place, marking the Chinese brand’s first-ever podium in the World Rally-Raid Championship.
In Rally3, Gonçalo Amaral (Honda) secured victory in a category he dominated from start to finish, with only his brother Salvador Amaral (Honda) and Murun Purevdorj (KTM) offering competition.
In the Quad category, Antanas Kanopkinas (CFMoto) was declared the winner after teammate Adomas Gancierius received a penalty of over one hour the previous day for arriving late to the bivouac due to transmission issues.
Portugal reshuffles the World Rally-Raid Championship standings
In the World Rally-Raid standings, Loeb moves ahead of Ekström into second place, while Al-Attiyah remains in the lead. With the points gained in Portugal and Ford failing to score, Dacia further strengthens its position at the top of the manufacturers’ standings.
In bikes, Honda benefited from the points scored by Schareina and Van Beveren to climb in the championship, while even a below-par performance – finishing ninth – was not enough to dislodge Argentina’s Luciano Benavides from the top of the standings. Daniel Sanders is now second, swapping positions with Ricky Brabec.
Source: Motorsport
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