Nasser Al Attiyah re-volts
The world championship leader, Nasser Al Attiyah, was not his usual self this week, even before a flat battery spelled the end of his overall ambitions in stage 3. His Dacia finished no higher than eighth in the first two Ultimate stages before exiting stage 3. Yesterday, the Qatari bounced back with his first top 5 result of the week, still a cut below his normal level. Second place today brought his meagre tally in Portugal to 5 points, added to his 73-point haul from the Dakar. Nothing to write home about. But Al Attiyah is nothing if not a survivor!
The three-time world champion has seen worse. In 2023, after bagging the Dakar, he drew a blank in the second round in Abu Dhabi, rolling out of the race lead and handing over the provisional lead to none other than Sébastien Loeb. History does not repeat itself, but it often rhymes, and Loeb has just wrested the lead from his teammate in Portugal. That did not stop the Qatari from securing the title at the end of the 2023 season. Faced with those who would write him off, Al Attiyah re-volts!
Nobody's perfect
Bruno Santos has stolen the show this week. He had already turned heads by finishing third in the inaugural edition of the bp Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal, back in 2024, but the world championship field was making its first foray into that part of Iberia, while he had been racing there for years in the national championship. This time round, the Rally2 amateur blew pundits away by performing near the level of Daniel Sanders and Tosha Schareina, who have been in a league of their own since last season. Santos finished just 2 seconds from a triumphant Schareina on Thursday and within 1 minute of a victorious Sanders yesterday. He even departed Badajoz on the same time as Adrien Van Beveren (third), on the overall podium.
A repeat of his exploit from 2024 seemed on the cards. It would have been a well-deserved reward, as the Rally2 amateur, competing in the second division of the sport, has to take care of his own machine while clashing with RallyGP pros supported by factory teams. Santos finally slipped up 61 km into today's special. The blunder came with a hefty price tag of 6′14″. He retained the Rally2 lead but dropped off the overall podium. Van Beveren is now almost 4 minutes ahead. After an incredible performance in previous days, his fall from the podium to fourth place is a reminder that nobody's perfect. But Bruno came pretty darn close.
Al Attiyah misses the chance to cash in
After sealing his sixth Dakar crown with a barnstorming performance, Nasser Al Attiyah landed in Grândola with a clear goal: to tighten his grip on the world championship lead by taking a second win in Portugal, after 2024. The script never quite played out that way. The Qatari hit the midpoint of the rally this morning down in seventh, more than 6 minutes off the lead. In the end, it was a mechanical problem that dashed his hopes of glory in Portugal.
If he makes it to the finish in Loulé, Al Attiyah can now hope for little more than picking up a handful of stage points by cracking the top 5 in the final two specials, something he has yet to manage so far. Be it as it may, this meagre harvest (ten points at most) will bring his championship rivals right back onto his bumper. Sébastien Loeb (The Dacia Sandriders) and Seth Quintero (Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC) are best placed to capitalise, with Lucas Moraes (The Dacia Sandriders) next in line. Can you guess who is sitting top 3 overall with two stages left to run? Loeb, Quintero and Moraes, in this exact order!
Dream over for Cidade
Yesterday, Luís Cidade posted the fastest SSV time in stage 1 of the bp Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal and became the 125th entrant to win a W2RC special. South Racing-Can Am's Portuguese star had his sights set on the overall, but his dream came to a sudden end on the road from Grândola to Badajoz, as a mechanical problem torpedoed his campaign 225 km into the special. The man behind the wheel of Can-Am no. 403 had been running more than 5 minutes ahead of his closest overall pursuer. Withdrawing from the special, however, does not mean withdrawing from the rally. If Cidade manages to patch up his car, he can resume the race tomorrow morning and stay in the hunt for more stage wins. João Monteiro (Can-Am Factory Team) prevailed today, keeping the hopes of Portuguese fans alive in this class.
Dearborn Blues
The scythe of misfortune cut down Martin Prokop (Ford), Henk Lategan and Saood Variawa (Toyota), and then Mattias Ekström and Carlos Sainz (Ford) almost at the same time —and that is just the list of casualties among the title contenders. A bunch of top entries had to stop on the track after hitting obstacles or pushing the engine too hard on the first day of racing, which was shorter than the stages to come. Lategan managed to fix his rear axle, which had sustained a nasty impact. Combined with the depth of the Toyota squads, this means the Japanese marque can afford to lose a crew or two on the road to Loulé.
Ford had landed in Portugal in unprecedented numbers, with three Ford Racing drivers flanked by four privateers, but fate was cruel to the Blue Oval. The three cars that were unable to complete the special happen to be the factory Raptors. Prokop and Sainz ran into engine troubles, while Ekström smashed up his front axle in a crash with a low wall. After placing three Raptors inside the top 5 at the Dakar, Ford have been knocked out for the running on the first day of the second world championship round. Looking on the bright side, the maker from Dearborn can still target stage wins between here and the finish in Algarve.
