The Super SSV Trophy, the oldest competition exclusively dedicated to SSV held in Portugal, already has a date for its return, which should be the 26th of June, in Portalegre at the track of the mythical Baja de Portalegre.
Since its first events, several years ago, that the Super SSV races were held in the form of an all-terrain resistance, similar to a circuit race with all the participants fighting each other to give as many laps as possible during the duration of the race. But in 2020, before the pandemic forced to stop all events, a new format of the competition was launched that revolutionized competition and brought more spectacle and competitiveness.
According to Helder Custodio, international representative of the competition and press officer:
"We listened to the participants, took note of their wishes and complaints, and decided to move forward, introducing a race format very similar to a rally, except that the race track is always the same for each stage of the race or with minor or no changes at all. In the anterior format, they started all together and was quite impressive to see them all racing at the same time, but since the race take place in forest, farm and country roads, sometimes in circuits with almost 20 km, we often got complaints about overtaking opportunities and safety, especially in the dry season due to the huge amounts of dust. Now, those problems were all gone, the participants start their stages one by one, with one minute separation between cars, and they can do their "lap" clean, only worrying with doing their best. Each race is made by a pre-determined number of "laps" or "classification stages" related to the length of the track (longer tracks fewer stages), and the winner is found by adding the time of all laps to total race time and finding the one with the lower time""The new format brought much more safety, spectacularly and even competition. This new format offers a chance to fight for a better result for all, from the fastest to the slower. And for this year, to add a little bit more "spice" we introduced the "Canon Lap", which in the end is kind of a small reward for the driver that scores the fastest lap time among all the participants with valid laps. He can be the 10th or 20th in the overall classification but was able to do a really quick lap and he got some extra trophy points"
The "returning race" will take place in the same race track that received the last race before the pandemic, near Portalegre and very well known worldwide, since this the same place that for a long time hosts the Baja Portalegre Prologue. There is not any other place more iconic for this sport than this location in Portugal.
Luis Pirralho, X-Adventure director and promoter of Super SSV Trophy told:
"Finally it looks like we will be able to return to racing, and there is no better place in our calendar than Portalegre. The place is historic for the sport and our trophy and I think all drivers have great pleasure racing here. For us is amazing to have the chance to organize our races here."
There are still some necessary cautions to put in place due to Covid like the promoter explained:
"We aren't out of the woods yet. The Pandemic is still very alive, and despite all progress in containing this evil bug and the ramping up of the vaccination program, the truth is that we can't lower our guard yet. So, we will still have to use face masks, keep social distancing, etc. We expect that all people who come either to race or assist the event take care, protect themselves and the others"
The race is scheduled for the 26th of June, in Portalegre, starting with a reconnaissance lap to the stage followed by the timed stage that will work as a prologue. The real race that comes afterward, will be made of two sectors, each sector with fice special stages, that each driver will have to race in sequence. They do one stage and after crossing the finish line, they line up behind the queue to start again and do another round. Between rounds, the participants can refill their SSVs or do some minor assistance operations. After the first sector, or the first 5 stages the race will stop for a while to allow the participants to rest and to do more extensive assistance work if needed.
The Super SSV Portalegre 2021 is organized by Codigo D'Aventura, with the support of the Portalegre Mayor's Office, and is promoted by X-Adventure
