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Rally-Raid Portugal 2024: Lucas Moraes looks to regain points in Portugal and Spain
The focus for the Brazilian, sixth in the championship, is to recover points lost after a fire took him out of the previous round
In his first full campaign in the FIA World Rally Raid Championship, which until 2023 was called the World Cross-Country Rally Championship, Brazilian Lucas Moraes is competing this week in the third round of the season, which takes place in Portugal and Spain. In search of important points, the Toyota Gazoo Racing driver arrives at the European stage of the competition after abandoning his car due to a fire in the previous round in Abu Dhabi.
"The 2024 World Rally Raid Championship has thrown up several surprises so far. Finishing ninth in the Dakar wasn't a bad result for us, but we were a little disappointed after reaching the end with a chance of another podium in that event," commented Moraes, who recorded the first Brazilian podium in the overall standings in the 2023 edition of the Dakar, which counted as a stage of the World Rally Raid Championship.
"We faced a fire on the third special in Abu Dhabi, which destroyed the car and was really problematic for our championship campaign. But we're ready for the next round. We hope to have more luck and a clean race," concluded the two-time Rally dos Sertões champion, who is competing in the World Championship with the support of Red Bull, Repsol, Strava, Oakley, Zapalla - as well as having brought the Brazilian tyre brand SpeedMax to sponsor the Toyota team, the current champions of the competition.
The race
Lucas Moraes and his navigator, Spaniard Armand Monleón, will tackle 1,000 kilometres of varied terrain between Portugal and Spain, including beaches and rugged trails. The race base camp will be set up in the village of Grândola, located on the Portuguese coast, around 100 kilometres from the capital, Lisbon.
There will be five stages in the event, with six special stages. The prologue to determine the starting order for the opening stage will take place on Wednesday morning. From then on, the drivers will pass through the Portuguese and Spanish countryside, always returning to the centre camp at the end of each day.
Moraes is currently sixth in the championship table with 45 points. The lead is held by Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah, who has 67 points. The Portugal and Spain stage, the only one on the European continent, is the third of five scheduled on the 2024 World Rally Raid calendar.
Race programme:
Prologue - 03/04 - Grândola - 5 km
1st special - 03/04 - Grândola to Santiago do Cacém - 100 km
2nd special - 03/04 - Santiago do Cacém to Santiago do Cacém - 3 km
3rd special - 04/04 - Grândola to Grândola - 200 km
4th special - 05/04 - Grândola to Badajoz (Spain) - 300 km
5th special - 06/04 - Badajoz to Grândola - 270 km
6th special - 07/04 - Grândola to Grândola - 130 km
Automatic translation of the Brazilian Portuguese version available on www.todoterreno.pt
Source: BestPR / Lucas Moraes official press release
Photo: ImagensDesportivas
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