Brazilian champions reinforce entry list
The Portuguese cross-country rally championship continues this weekend with Baja TT Capital dos Vinhos de Portugal, which will be held in Reguengos de Monsaraz between 25 and 27 September, just a week after the Baja TT do Pinhal.
With the engines still hot, the teams from the FPAK Portugal Cross-Country Rally Championship / AM 48 (cars) and the National Off-Road Championship (motos, quads and SSV) are already finishing the last details to tackle this event organized by the Motorsport Section of Sociedade Artística Reguenguense.
For this fourth round of the FPAK Portugal Cross-Country Rally Championship / AM 48, 45 teams have already been confirmed and the fight for the top positions should be led by João Ramos, winner of last week's Baja do Pinhal, Miguel Barbosa, winner of Baja TT ACP Grândola-Santiago do Cacémin a pair of Toyotas and Tiago Reis, winner of Baja TT Vindimas do Alentejo in a Mitsubishi Racing Lancer.
Although each driver has a victory, the championship leader is the defending champion Tiago Reis, followed closely by Miguel Barbosa, who didn't enter in the first race of the season, and João Ramos in third place. But fighting for the first place will also be Alejandro Martins in a Mini X-Raid, Helder Oliveira in a Ford Ranger, Paulo Rui Ferreira in a Nissan and the renowned Nuno Matos (Fiat) and Pedro Dias da Silva (Ford).
The entry list is reinforced with the presence of Cristian and Marcos Baumgart in a pair of Overdrive Toyotas, and with several titles won in Brazil. In the other three categories of CPTT, Alexandre Ré leads the T3 category. In the T2 category, João Franco leads, while in the T8 the leadership belongs to José Mendes.
At the FMP National Off-Road Championship, which is completing its third race on the Alentejo tracks in Reguengos de Monsaraz, the highlight is the SSV category with 64 entries. There will be 58 riders on the bikes at the start and on the quad there are 14 registered riders.
Once again the SSV category will be very well disputed with the current Portuguese Champion Pedro Santinho Mendes at the head of a very strong entry list. João Dias, who won the Baja TT of Pinhal and current leader of the championship, Nélson Caxias, runner-up, Pedro Carvalho who is tied with the champion Junior Luís Cidade, all at the controls of Can-Am, are serious candidates for victory.
Highlight for the absence of Cristiano Batista, the winner of last year's SSV category. This season, due to the pandemic caused by Covid-19, only the Yamaha YXZ1000R Cup, organized by Yamaha Motor Portugal will maintain its competition that is currently dominated by André Rodrigues, the winner of last year's title.
In the motorcycle competition, the absence of Sebastian Bühler, winner of the race last year and who triumphed in the Baja TT do Pinhal, will clearly be noted. The local champion António Maio, who won the Raid of Góis and is the leader of the championship, will be one of the strong candidates for victory. However, Mário Patrão, who is in second place in the classification, Martim Ventura, current third-placed and leader of the TT1 Class, the young Salvador Vargas, Micael Simão, and the returnee Bruno Santos will not give respite to the police captain Antonio Maio as they are also potential two-wheeler category winners. The TT3 class is led by Arcélio Couto followed by Armindo Neves (SWM).
In the Quads, Luís Engeitado, actual category leader, needs another victory in order to strengthen the leadership in the Championship, but Luís Fernandes, who is in second place, and the returning Ruben Alexandre, who won in Baja do Pinhal, will not certainly make life easier and they will also try to aim for victory.
The 32nd edition of Baja TT Capital dos Vinhos de Portugal will take place on the next 25th and 26th of September in Reguengos de Monsaraz and will feature a course consisting of a total of 404km divided into two stages, each with two selective sectors. On Saturday, September 26th, the pilots will face a double passage through the 82.30 km special and on Sunday they will also have to travel twice in a timed sector of 61.40 kilometers. The competition will have a competitive structure adapted to the rules imposed by the DGS in order to maintain the social distance that the pandemic still requires. In this sense, the prologue was suppressed, as well as the briefing to be written and the award ceremony.
