¡Olé, olé, olé! Tosha Schareina was determined to steal the show as the bp Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal headed to Badajoz, in his home country of Spain. The Monster Energy Honda HRC rider overtook the long-time leader, Bruno Santos, in the final sprint to bag stage 2. Schareina turned the tables in the dying moments of the 548 km stage (including 377 km against the clock), snatching victory from the jaws of defeat by… 2 seconds! It was one of the closest-run specials in the history of the W2RC, with his brother in arms Adrien Van Beveren rounding out the podium at 47 seconds.
The FIM overall leader, Daniel Sanders (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), came in fourth and dropped 53 seconds —a decent performance, considering the circumstances. The Australian opened the course from flag to flag, always a tricky situation. He limited the damage and retained the overall lead ahead of Schareina (+1′18″) and VBA (+2′17″), whose traces he will be following tomorrow morning.
Santos, who came close to defeating the RallyGP elite in a historic upset (see Performance of the day), is in command of the Rally2 class, where the Honda factory rider Martim Ventura made it a Portuguese one-two (+4′35″). Their compatriot Gonçalo Amaral (Wingmotor) remains unbeaten in Rally3, while Adomas Gančierius (CFMoto Thunder Racing) broke his duck in the quad race. Santos, Amaral and Gančierius are each in control of their overall standings.
The car stage was also decided in the dying moments. Sébastien Loeb (The Dacia Sandriders) romped home with just 9 seconds to spare at the end of a titanic struggle with Guy Botterill (Toyota Gazoo Racing SA). The Frenchman also seized the overall lead by 53 seconds over the South African and 1′04″ over Seth Quintero (Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC). Loeb had never led the bp Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal before.
The local hero João Ferreira (Toyota Gazoo Racing SA) came in fifth at 3′09″ after opening the course and slipped from the top spot to fourth place, 2′41″ back. The other two Dacia, with Lucas Moraes (fifth at 3′20″) and Nasser Al Attiyah (seventh at 6′12″) behind the wheels, remain within striking distance, with Yazeed Al Rajhi (sixth at 4′48″) sandwiched in between.
Meanwhile, the three Defenders took turns at the sharp end of the Stock special, with Sara Price eventually storming to victory by 47 seconds over Stéphane Peterhansel. The Challenger race saw Alexandre Pinto (Old Friends Rally) secure his first win in the class and vault into the W2RC lead in what was a day to remember for the host nation (see Stat of the day). The same goes for his compatriot João Monteiro (Can-Am Factory), who benefited from Luís Cidade's mishaps (see A crushing blow) and seized the SSV lead.
