- Three days to go until scrutineering begins for the bp Ultimate Rally Raid Portugal. 114 vehicles are expected to take part. 51 of the 52 FIM riders are championship entrants, while 26 of the 62 FIA crews are W2RC competitors.
- Each of the four works teams in the motorbike category has brought a full complement of riders. The championship leader, Daniel Sanders (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), remains undefeated this season and hopes to make it four out of four. The bp Ultimate Rally Raid Portugal title holder, Tosha Schareina (Monster Energy Honda HRC), will get a boost from his home crowds in Spain.
- Nasser Al Attiyah is both the championship leader and the race title holder in the car category. His team, The Dacia Sandriders, is also fielding Sébastien Loeb and Cristina Gutiérrez. The Spaniard will be spending three days on home turf, as will the national hero Carlos Sainz, the sole factory representative of Ford M-Sport. His fans are already hyped up. X-raid Mini is lining up with two cars.
- Henk Lategan (Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC), who has emerged as Nasser Al Attiyah's closest rival following his home win in South Africa, is at the helm of an awe-inspiring Toyota armada. Yazeed Al Rajhi (Overdrive Racing) is returning to competition. The Portuguese driver João Ferreira, second in 2024, will be part of the squad for the first time this season.
FIM: A BATTLE ROYALE WITH ALL THE FACTORY RIDERS
All nine factory riders in RallyGP, representing four different marques, are slated to start the race next week. At KTM, Daniel Sanders, who has already smashed three records since January by becoming the first RallyGP rider to win more than two rounds in a single season, racking up the highest tally of stage wins (nineteen) and the most specials taken in one season (eleven), will line up alongside Luciano Benavides, second in the championship ranking. Honda have signed up four riders: Ricky Brabec, Adrien Van Beveren, Skyler Howes and Tosha Schareina. The Spaniard, victorious in Portugal last year, is back on the saddle after hurting his wrist in South Africa. Hero MotoSports are bringing the reigning world champion, Ross Branch, and Nacho Cornejo. Last but not least, Sherco are putting their chips on Bradley Cox, who made his team debut in the previous round.
In Rally2, the three factory riders in the class are in for a serious scrap! The Austrian championship leader, Tobias Ebster (Hero MotoSports), just three points ahead of the up-and-coming Spaniard Edgar Canet (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), and the Indian Harith Noah (Sherco TVS Factory Racing) will come up against Bruno Santos (BS Frutas Patrícia Pilar) and his Husqvarna. Last year, the Portuguese rider clinched the Rally2 win on home soil and climbed onto the overall motorbike podium to boot.
Honda have no intention of giving their rivals a clear run. The team manager, Ruben Faria, has hand-picked two talents who will race under the Honda HRC banner, parallel to the Monster Energy factory team. One hails from Portugal and the other one from across the pond. Martim Ventura, the national todo-o-terreno champion, opened his W2RC campaign with fifth place in Rally2 at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. Meanwhile, Preston Campbell happens to be the son of Johnny Campbell, who became a baja legend riding for Honda in the United States and took Ricky Brabec under his wing. Earlier this season, Campbell Jr. went straight to the top step at the Sonora Rally, his first appearance in a rally raid. Next week, he will be standing on the W2RC stage for the first time in his career.
The Portuguese round, the first one on the Rally3 calendar, will once again welcome the Amaral Bros. (Wingmotor), whose Hondas dominated the race from A to Z last year, when Gonçalo took the win ahead of Salvador.
Gaëtan Martinez and Antanas Kanopkinas (CFMoto Thunder Racing), tied at the summit of the quad ranking, will again face their closest rival, Marek Łój (Poland National Team). The Pole is returning to competition following his injury in South Africa.
FIA: "SAINZMANIA" NEARING FEVER PITCH
Featuring an extra day in Spain, the second edition of the bp Ultimate Rally Raid Portugal stands ready to welcome swarms of Carlos Sainz fans along the tracks, especially around the second bivouac, set up in Badajoz for two days. "El Matador" will be the only man in the arena for the American manufacturer.
Sainz, who finished just outside the podium in a Mini in 2024, will not be the only Spaniard under the spotlight, as Cristina Gutiérrez is returning at the wheel of a Dacia after her Dakar outing in January. The Sandriders are therefore bringing all their firepower to bear in their first appearance in the rally. Last year, Nasser Al Attiyah bagged victory in a Prodrive Hunter, while Sébastien Loeb and his future teammate used the rally to get dialled in with BBR's Challengers ahead of their 2025 starts.
By placing two Minis inside the top 4 in 2024, X-raid have already shown just how sharp their machine can be on Iberian soil, so expectations are sky-high for Denis Krotov and Lionel Baud!
Over at Toyota, the tide is bringing in the familiar Hilux armada, with a whopping eight pick-up trucks on the W2RC start list. Henk Lategan, who eked out a home win over Sébastien Loeb in South Africa, is their natural choice for leader as the second-placed driver in the championship ranking. The South African will get his first taste of this event and make his debut in a European W2RC round.
For Yazeed Al Rajhi, who came out on top in the Dakar before a subdued performance in Abu Dhabi and a heavy injury in competition, this will be a comeback outing after sitting out a round. Fifth in Portugal last year, the Saudi also holds fifth in the championship and has a good shot at clawing his way back onto the podium. Standing in the way are Lucas Moraes and Seth Quintero (Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC), sitting third and fourth overall in their Hiluxes. A podium finisher in Portugal in 2024 and more recently at the South African Safari Rally, the Brazilian should be at the sharp end of the race.
Following their Ultimate outing at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, Eryk Goczał and his father, Marek, are back behind the wheel of Hilux T1+ machines in Energylandia livery.
Saood Variawa (Toyota Gazoo Racing) will have a new teammate at his side: João Ferreira, the young Portuguese number one, who went head to head with Nasser Al Attiyah for victory last year, has recently joined the ranks of TGR. For the local favourite, this will be his first ongoing championship appearance at the controls of the Hilux Evo.
Juan Cruz Yacopini (Overdrive Racing) completes the Toyota line-up as the eighth driver.
Finally, Daniel Schröder (PS Laser Racing), who impressed with seventh place on home soil in South Africa, will continue his exploration of the championship at the wheel of his WTC-designed VW Amarok.
There are seven Challenger entrants in the fourth championship round. The overall leader, Nicolás Cavigliasso, racing in a Taurus in his own personal colours, is up for a rematch with the usual suspects, BBR Motorsport's Pau Navarro and Dania Akeel, as well as Adam Kuś (Akpol Recycling). The Portuguese ace Gonçalo Guerreiro, who turned heads with second place in the Dakar, is back in the game in his first appearance with Nasser Racing. Pedro Gonçalves is also gearing up with his debut with a new team, BBR Motorsport.
Mattias Ekström is swapping his works Ford Raptor for a Can-Am, as the Swede has been known to do to stay in contention for the championship.
There are four SSV crews on the start list. The Portuguese leader, Alexandre Pinto, and his championship arch-rival, the Italian Enrico Gaspari, will both be flying the colours for Old Friends Racing. The other contenders are Pim Klaassen (DaklaPack Rallysport) and the local star João Dias (Santag Racing).
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