Portuguese Championship: New dates

FPAK, the Portuguese Automobile and Karting Federation revealed the revised calendar for the 2020 PortugueseCross-Country Rallies Championship, with the racing activities resuming near the end of summer.

In the present version of the calendar, the 1st event to take place should be Baja do Pinhal, from 12 to 13 of September, in the center of Portugal.  Two weeks later, on 25 and 26 of September, it will be time to race Baja TT Capital dos Vinhos de Portugal,  in Reguengos de Monsaraz in the Alentejo region.   The next race will be Baja TT Idanha-a-Nova, from 17 to 18 of October.   
The final race should be the Baja Portalegre 500 scheduled for 5 to 7 of November.
All races are valid also for all the other categories racing in Portugal in FMP - Federação de Motociclismo de Portugal, including Motorbikes, Quads and SSV.   
Both Baja do Pinhal and Baja Portalegre are part of the also revised FIM's Baja World Championship.  Baja Portalegre will be the closing round of FIA's World Cup for Cross Country Bajas.

There is still another race still mentioned in FPAK's official website, Baja de Loulé, that should have been raced in Algarve, but it is not scheduled yet.  It is not clear if it will not make part of this year's championship and will be canceled, or if organizers and federation are still trying to find a solution.

Despite these new dates, at this point is not possible to say if all races will take place on the dates now revealed.  Portugal experienced some extremely hard summers in the past few years, with heatwaves and wildfires that killed many lives and destroyed huge portions of the country. These conditions forced the government to put in place rules and regulations to try to prevent as much as possible the repetition of the killer wildfires, and some of those rules aren't compatible with cross-country rallying, with races taking place in rural and forest areas.

Finally, COVID-19 is still among us. It's not clear when it will be gone.  Portugal wasn't hit so hard like other countries, but the Pandemic numbers aren't so low as they should be at this time, and recent events could put in danger the all country effort.  The next weeks will be crucial to find if Portugal gets out of the Pandemic without too many problems or if the situation will degrade and return to lockout.

The final question over this new calendar, is how will the teams handle so many races in such a short period.   Two weeks is a short period to recover a vehicle from one race to the other in normal conditions,  and even shorter to repair it from an accident or a complicated mechanical failure.

REVISED CALENDAR:
Campeonato Portugal Todo-o-terreno AM|48
12 e 13 de Setembro - Baja TT do Pinhal
25 e 26 de Setembro - Baja TT Capital dos Vinhos de Portugal
17 e 18 de Outubro - Baja TT Idanha-a-Nova -------------- >>> NEW DATE  >>>  28 and 29 of November
5 a 7 Novembro - Baja Portalegre 500

Baja de Loulé - No dates yet.  

    Text updated on October 7