Third edition kicked off with the motorcycle prologue near Grândola
Strong crowd turnout marked the start ceremony
Daniel Sanders made his mark on this year’s edition of the bp Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal by winning the prologue held in Grândola. The World Champion was just one tenth of a second faster, on his KTM, than second-placed Tosha Schareina (Honda). Third in the prologue was Ricky Brabec (Honda), only 0.03s behind the fastest time.
Still recovering from the heavy crash he suffered at this year’s Dakar, Sanders showed all his determination and speed. The Australian’s satisfaction was clear: “Obviously it’s good to come here and win the prologue. The track is similar to last year and we could read it a bit, but the conditions kept changing. Everyone was pushing hard. To find the fastest line, we had to take risks without crashing. It’s difficult to warm up in a two- or three-minute stage, so it’s about holding your breath and going as fast as possible,” said the KTM rider.
With plenty of fans lining the tracks in Grândola, the Rally2 category was won by Dutch rider Jeremy Knuiman (KTM), while in Rally3 victory went to Portugal’s Gonçalo Amaral (Honda).
The best Portuguese rider in the prologue was Bruno Santos, on a Husqvarna FR 450 Rally. At the finish, he did not hide his satisfaction: “It was a positive prologue, very interesting, sandy, with some flowing corners. I know I had a good pace; I didn’t yet have the perfect lines marked on that track, but it wasn’t a problem. I tried to push as much as I could—I would have liked to do a little more, but it wasn’t possible. I believe it was enough to secure a good starting position for tomorrow’s stage,” concluded the Portuguese rider.
The day ended with lively activity both on the stages and in spectator areas. A public press conference, a well-attended autograph session with 18 riders, and the official start ceremony for bikes and cars allowed fans to get close to some of the best machines and teams in rally raid.
Tomorrow, the first stage features a selective section of 180 kilometres, for a total of 225 kilometres, taking riders on a loop that starts and finishes in Grândola.
Throughout the stage, several spectator zones will allow fans to follow the action. At the end of the day, the service park will be open to the public free of charge between 18:00 and 22:00. In addition to the on-stage action, live coverage will be broadcast on Sport TV (from 13:49 to 16:37), along with a 15-minute highlights programme (at 01:20).
Source: ACP Motorport
Photo: Rally-Raid Network / ImagensDesportivas.pt
