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Rally-Raid Portugal: Al Attiyah unfazed by Ferreira
- Stage 4 of the BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal brought the field from the Spanish city of Badajoz back to the main Portuguese bivouac in Grândola. Massive crowds will watch on as the next stage brings down the curtain on the rally on Sunday.
- Toyota again swept the podium in the Ultimate class. Yazeed Al Rajhi (Overdrive Racing) nabbed his first stage ahead of Seth Quintero (Toyota Gazoo Racing) and Guillaume de Mévius (Overdrive Racing). Nasser Al Attiyah (Nasser Racing by Prodrive) conceded some time to João Ferreira and Carlos Sainz (Mini JCW) but still leads the rally by 2′41″ over the Portuguese driver with one stage to go.
- Austin Jones (Can-Am Factory) opened his account in the Challenger W2RC ranking, followed by his teammate Rokas Baciuška, who remains ensconced in the lead. Ricardo Ramilo (Ramilo Scuderia) won the SSV special and added to his lead over Rebecca Busi (OnlyFans Racing).
Nasser Al Attiyah, the first man on the road by virtue of his victory yesterday, was a bit extra cautious today. Three Toyota drivers traded blows at the top of each intermediate time check. The duel between Yazeed Al Rajhi —who did a barrel roll yesterday— and Guillaume de Mévius lit up the entire stage. Both the Saudi and the Belgian had seen their podium prospects wrecked by mechanical troubles at the beginning of the rally, so they were both chasing the championship points awarded to the five fastest drivers in each stage in a bid to salvage something and stay close to their rivals. Al Rajhi came out on top, with Seth Quintero (+ 25″) pipping De Mévius (+ 36″) at the post. Carlos Sainz (+ 1′54″) and João Ferreira (+ 2′47″) drove their Minis into the top 5 of the stage. Al Attiyah came in seventh, dropping 1′58″ to his title rival Ferreira. The Qatari has a 2′41″ buffer going into the finale, relatively short at about 100 km. The back-to-back reigning world champion is eyeing his second championship round in a row, after his triumph in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge last month. Carlos Sainz is third overall at 3′40″, but Lucas Moraes (Toyota Gazoo Racing), just 8 seconds behind him, looms ominously in his rear-view mirror! Every point will count tomorrow evening, as Al Attiyah and Sainz are just 5 points apart in the championship at the moment.
Among the W2RC entrants in the Challenger class, Austin Jones outgunned his teammate Rokas Baciuška by 1′01″ and Nicolás Cavigliasso (Taurus Factory by Wevers) by 2′34″. The Lithuanian brought his overall lead to 10′16″ over Ricardo Porém and 11′36″ over Nicolás Cavigliasso. Baciuška already won the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge and looks set to beef up his lead in the championship, where he has topped the leader board since last month. After two back-to-back wins in the SSV category, his dream of scoring a hat-trick in the same season he was promoted to Challenger is starting to take shape.
Among the W2RC entrants in SSV, the championship leader, Yasir Seaidan (MMP), failed to complete the special for the second consecutive day. As a result, the Saudi is out of the race, spelling the end of a victorious W2RC streak that began in the Dakar. Ricardo Ramilo claimed the stage and is now perched at the top of the ranking with about 45 minutes in hand over Rebecca Busi.
Source: W2RC / A.S.O.
Photo: ImagensDesportivas.pt
Helder