Baja Aragon 2019: The Portuguese "invasion"

After the Spain,  Portugal is the second most represented country in this year's Baja Aragon in the car category.

After the recent cancellation of Baja TT Rota do Douro Verde, the Portuguese championship got one race shorter causing a choir of critiques towards the organizers and the Portuguese federation for allowing one organization to once again cancel their race so close to the scheduled date,  in a repetition of what already happened in previous editions.

This unfortunate situation left many teams, specially the ones with signed contracts with sponsors for a full season, in an odd situation and in need for a solution.  Normally some Portuguese drivers enter in each Baja Aragon edition, and probably by that reason the Spanish round of FIA's world cup started to show up as a good solution for their "calendar problem".

For some time that the Rally-Raid Network is aware of most of the Portuguese teams that will travel to Teruel next week, but we waited for the entry list revelation to see if there is any surprise. In total 15 Portuguese drivers (13 on FIA and 2 on CERTT) are listed in the official entry list revealed yesterday, a number that is by far the largest of the last years.    And this list could had been even larger, but some different reasons, at least 2 drivers that we were expecting couldn't go.

The level of the "Portuguese caravan" is high, and most will likely fight for good results - many inside Top10, but if there is one among all that has the potential to fight for a podium finish, that one is João Ramos.  Probably most of our international readers don't know much about him, since he only races on the Portuguese championship, but Ramos is an extremely gifted racing driver and with a spectacular driving style that got him a legion of fans and turned him in to a favourite for the photographers.   Talking about "spectacular" we must also mention Nuno Madeira and his KIA.  We advise all to keep one eye on this particular driver, since this is a guy that really enjoys driving and put on a great show for the crowd.  Some times he takes his efforts a bit to far, forcing him to learn some lessons the hardest way, but in any case, a good show is almost guaranteed.

PORTUGUESE TEAMS 

João Ramos - Toyota Hilux Overdrie
Rui Sousa - Mini Paceman
Paulo Ferreira - Toyota Hilux
Alexandre Ré - Volkswagen Amarok
Tiago Reis - Mitsubishi Racing Lancer
Miguel Casaca -  Mitsubishi Racing Lancer
Lino Carapeta - Range Rover Evoke
Edgar Condenso -  Opel Mokka
Nuno Madeira - Kia Sportage TT
Cesar Sequeira - Mini Cooper D Proto
Alexandre Franco - BMW EVO X1
Nuno Corvo - Nissan Pathfinder
João Ferreira - Toyota Land Cruiser
 

And racing on CERTT (national event):
Fernado Barreiros - Isuzu D-Max
Margarida Sá - Suzuki Jimny 

*Article updated 

Rally-Raid Network