João Ferreira, driving a Toyota T1+ and co-driven by Filipe Palmeiro, topped the timesheets in the prologue of the ESC Online Baja TT Montes Alentejanos 2026, the season opener for the Portuguese Off-Road Championship run under the authority of the FPAK. In the National Off-Road Championship sanctioned by the FMP, Bernardo Megre (KTM), Tomás Paulo (Yamaha) and Tomás Neves—navigated by José Maria Pinha in a Polaris—were the quickest in Bikes, Quads and SSVs respectively.
In the FPAK classification, Ferreira’s benchmark of 4m09s put him clear at the head of the field. Behind him, Luís Portela Morais—co-driven by Carlos Mendes in a Polaris—was the fastest T4 runner, while Ricardo Porém and Nuno Sousa set the leading T3 time in their Kaizen.
Further down the order, João Monteiro/Nuno Morais (Can-Am) secured second among the T4s, with Tiago Reis/Paulo Fiúza (MMP) second in T3. Luís Cidade/Valter Cardoso (Can-Am) completed the T4 podium, finishing ahead of Miguel Barbosa/Joel Lutas, as the eight-time national champion began his T4 campaign with a debut outing in a Polaris. The top ten also featured Mário Franco/João Miranda (Can-Am T3), João Ramos/Jorge Carvalho (Toyota T1+) and João Dias/Rui Pita (Polaris T4).
In T1, José Rogeira/Paulo Marques (Ford Ranger) claimed the best time, edging reigning champion César Sequeira—paired with Filipa Sequeira—in a Mercedes. Also topping their respective categories in the prologue were Marco Cardoso/André Barras (Nissan) in T8, Américo Santos/Jorge Monteiro (Nissan) in T2, Miguel Teodoro/Gonçalo Rosado (Nissan) in T9, and Leonor Barreto (Isuzu) as the quickest female driver.
On the FMP side, Bernardo Megre led the Bikes field with a time of 4m44s, just 0.8 seconds ahead of Gustavo Gaudêncio (Honda), the fastest in the TT1 class. Bruno Santos (Husqvarna) took third overall, followed by national champion Micael Simão, who impressed on the first competitive outing with his new KTM—also posting the quickest TT3 time. Tomás Dias (Honda) was second among the TT3 contenders. In Quads, Tomás Paulo underlined his status as reigning champion with a commanding performance, stopping the clocks at 4m51s aboard his Yamaha.
In SSVs, Polaris drivers locked out the top three. Tomás Neves and rookie co-driver José Maria Pinha set the fastest time of 4m26s, with Pedro Antunes/José Sá Pires just 1.8 seconds behind in second. Third went to Gonçalo Guerra, now co-driven by national champion André Lopes. Fourth place in the prologue belonged to debutant Bernardo Passanha/Xavier Albino, who were also best of the new Can-Am Challenge. Afonso Oliveira/Daniel Jordão (Polaris) completed the top five, finishing ahead of national champion Nelson Caxias—this year partnered by Luís Engeitado.
The ESC Online Baja TT Montes Alentejanos features 361.38 kilometres against the clock, built around a 120.46 km selective section run three times. Saturday will see two selective sectors for FMP competitors and one for FPAK entries, with the format reversed on Sunday.
Source: CPKA / A2
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