Baja TT Vindimas do Alentejo 2020: Tiago Reis (Mitsubishi Racing Lancer) wins Portuguese Championship opening race

The Portuguese champion duo Tiago Reis / Valter Cardoso, in Mitsubishi Racing Lancer, won in the past weekend the Baja TT Vindimas do Alentejo held on the tracks of Beja district, in Alentejo Region in the south of Portugal

The team registered with nº 511 won the 1st stage of the race, which was the opening event of the Portuguese All-Terrain Championship AM48 and was again the fastest in the second passage through the 151.61 km section, having won the race with a 7m30s advantage over the Spanish team made by Luís Recuenco / Vítor Rodriguez, in X-Raid Mini . Manuel Correia closed the podium, navigated by Miguel Ramalho at the controls of  another version of a Racing Lancer, this time Mitsubishi HRX Ford.

Upon arrival at the Beja Exhibition Park, the winner said that :

“The race went well. We knew we were going to have a difficult sector and we immediately went on the attack. Then we realized that João Ramos (Toyota Hilux) had problems. It does not mean that the other opponents are not strong, but this situation also gave us some advantage because we had the equivalent times. Then he managed our pace to the end and we won the race. We will face the 2020 championship in the same way that we faced this race, to give our best and try to achieve the best possible results in each of the races ”, said Tiago Reis.

João Ramos, navigated by Vítor Jesus in Toyota Hilux, who was 26 seconds ahead of the winner before the start of the final stage, was forced to abandon the race shortly after the start of the special with a problem with the gearbox seal.

Paulo Rui Ferreira / Jorge Monteiro in Toyota Hilux finished the Alentejo's race in fourth place. André Amaral / Nelson Ramos, in Ford Ranger, completed the Top 5 of the competition, despite having rolled his car 30 kilometers from the end in a moment that they were fourth overall.

Alexandre Ré, accompanied by his brother Pedro, in Can-Am Maverick, won the T3 Class, Francisco Barreto and Carlos Silva, in the Nissan Navara, triumphed in the T8 Class, while the young João Ferreira / David Monteiro, in the Nissan Pathfinder, won in Class T2.

In the classification of the Portuguese Cross-Country Cup, Joel Marrazes won, navigated by Fábio Ribeiro, in Nissan Navara, who also won the T8 class. Among the T0's, the victory went to the duo composed by Bruno Barbosa and João Santos.

The second race of the Championship of Portugal AM48 will be the Baja TT ACP - Santiago / Grândola that will take place between the 6th to the 8th of March.

Rally-Raid Network

Source: Baja TT Vindimas do Alentejo 

Photo: Team Transfradelos