SCHAREINA TRIUMPHANT AND VBA ASCENDANT
Commanding the BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal from the get-go and bagging stages 1 and 3, Tosha Schareina found himself in the enviable position of managing the 105 km curtain-closer around Grândola. With more than 4 minutes to spare over his closest rival, Sebastian Bühler, heading into the finale, the Spaniard could have eased up a bit… but that is not his style! He came oh-so-close to claiming the top spot, only to see his Monster Energy Honda teammate, Adrien Van Beveren, snatch it away. The Frenchman was on a mission to finish in style and become the record holder in FIM specials won in W2RC. Mission accomplished, with 13 under his belt, thanks to his victory over Schareina by 15 seconds. By taking the rally honours, the Valencian joined a select club as the tenth different rider to claim a W2RC round since 2022. Bühler landed second place, trailing by 4′38″, and secured his best-ever result in Portugal, where he moved from Germany when he was three months old. Van Beveren(+ 14′50″) played a blinder today, snatching the last podium spot from his Monster Energy Honda teammate Skyler Howes (+ 17′50″), who soldiered on to cross the finish line after taking a tumble. Coming in fifth at 20′19″, Ross Branch (Hero MotoSports) struggled on the non-desert terrain, which seemed more suited to his rivals. The Botswanan held onto the championship reins with 61 points, but there is a new challenger in town: Van Beveren (40 points), who trimmed his deficit from 26 points to 21. The Frenchman now leads an HRC cavalry charge, with Ricky Brabec third (38 points), Pablo Quintanillafourth (27 points) and Schareina breaking into the standings in fifth place (25 points). Hero maintained their lead in the manufacturers' table with 106 points, but Monster Energy Honda is hot on their heels, just 3 points adrift. With the halfway point now in the rear-view mirror, the title race is wide open on both fronts.
In Rally 2, Bradley Cox bagged his first W2RC win of the year, clocking in ahead of the French duo Romain Dumontier by 5′32″ and Mathieu Dovèze by 8′06″. The South African wrested control of the overall standings in stage 3 and never looked back, keeping the throttle pinned even when "Dudu" turned up the heat today. The reigning champion in the category scored a double whammy by winning stage 5 and soaring back to the top of the championship ranking, deposing Jean-Loup Lepan (Duust Rally), fourth this week. Just 3 points separate Dumontier (58 points), Lepan (57 points) and Cox (55 points), with DuustRally's Konrad Dąbrowski (47 points) also within striking distance 11 points back. Edge-of-the-seat action as we rev up for the Argentinian showdown in a few weeks!
The Rally 3 class, reserved for enduro motorbikes adapted to rally raids, kicked off its 2024 campaign in Portugal. Four home-grown talents were in the mix, and three of them served up a podium that was pure Portuguese pride! Gonçalo Amaral produced a dominant performance to claim the rally by 9′51″ over his brother Salvador, who clinched the finale. After a nail-biting tussle with John Medina, Pedro Bianchi Prata nabbed third place by 14 seconds over the Chilean. The rally standings mirror the championship leader board, with all eyes now on the Desafío Ruta 40 in June.
Just like in Rally GP, the quads have a fresh W2RC victor on the scene. Setting off this morning with the CFMoto duo of Antanas Kanopkinas and Gaëtan Martinez breathing down his neck, both 2′28″ adrift, Kamil Wiśniewski held his nerve to claim victory with a 5′49″ gap over the Lithuanian and 6′19″ over the Frenchman. Having led from the front since day one until km 198 of stage 4, when a mechanical and a crash threw a spanner in the works, Manuel Andújarsalvaged some pride by clinching the final stage win. It was not enough to improve on his fourth-place overall finish, but sufficient to maintain his championship lead with 51 points. That is 14 points more than Kanopkinas (37 points), who took over from Hani Alnoumesi (34 points) as the provisional runner-up.
AL ATTIYAH SETS THE RECORD STRAIGHT
Nasser Al Attiyah picked up his second consecutive win of the season today. The Prodrive Hunter racer outgunned João Ferreira, who was making his first Ultimate appearance on home soil. The 25-year-old Portuguese driver came up 2′49″ short after giving the heavy hitters of the category a run for their money throughout the week. Both the man from Leiria and the X-raid manager, Sven Quandt, have good reason to be happy. Lucas Moraes came in third, 3′36″ from the winner. A last-minute effort allowed the Brazilian to bump Carlos Sainz (+ 6′12″) from the podium. It was the Spaniard's first outing in a Mini T1+ after three seasons with Audi, capped with his triumph in the Dakar last January.
In one fell swoop, Al Attiyah nullified the consequences of his DNF in the Dakar and became the new world championship leader, with 112 points to his name, toppling Sainz, who will fly out of Portugal with a tally of 100. The Qatari turned a 9-point disadvantage into a 12-point disadvantage going into the second half of the series. Yazeed Al Rajhi(Overdrive Racing), the runner-up of the 2023 season, is now third in the W2RC, with 79 points, courtesy of his fifth place in the rally. The Saudi bounced back from his tumultuous performance two days ago to clinch the stage. Moraes, who saw his Hilux go up in flames in the previous round when he was vying for victory (as in this round), is right behind him in fourth place, 3 points adrift with a total of 76. Guerlain Chicherit and Guillaume de Mévius (Overdrive Racing) are again the big losers of this round despite an auspicious start to the week, especially by the former. After the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, where they both had to throw in the towel after hard dune landings hurt Chicherit's co-driver and the Belgian driver himself, the man from Savoy again had to call it quits two days ago. He went home with a meagre haul of 5 points for his victory on the opening day. Meanwhile, the Belgian gained even fewer points, 3, after a snapped alternator belt dashed his hopes of performing as well as in the Dakar, where he took second place in Yanbu. The "Fall Guys" slip down the ranking to fifth and sixth place, with 69 and 65 points, respectively.
Édouard Boulanger, riding shotgun with Stéphane Peterhansel in the Dakar and since racing with Al Attiyah, has wrested the world championship lead from Lucas Cruz, Sainz's usual right-hand man. The Frenchman landed in Portugal 3 points behind the Spaniard and will be flying out in the lead, with 107 points in the pocket. Al Rajhi's co-driver, Timo Gottschalk, is now second with 79 points, 3 more than Cruz, who is now tied with Moraes's navigator, Armand Monleón.
Toyota Gazoo Racing went into the race as the leader of the manufacturers' ranking with 108 points. Today, it has 143 points, courtesy of Moraes and Al Rajhi. Nasser Racing by Prodrive came to Grândola with 77 points and defended second place, now with 120 points earned by Al Attiyah, as well as Cristian Baumgart in seventh place. X-raid Mini JCW is third, with 77 points, thanks to João Ferreira and Carlos Sainz. The German marque squeaked past Audi by a single point. Prodrive's Hunters landed the biggest haul in this round, with 43 points to the Minis' 42 and the Hiluxes' 35. Prodrive slashed its erstwhile 31-point deficit to Toyota. 22 points separate the British manufacturer from the Japanese leader.
Rokas Baciuška gradually tightened the screws in the Challenger class to scoop up his first win of the season, following second place in both the Dakar and the ADDC. Nicolás Cavigliasso took the stage win but had to settle for second place overall, 8′22″ behind the Lithuanian. Ricardo Porém (MMP) crossed the finish line in Grândola 9′40″ off the pace. The two-time reigning champion in the FIA SSV competition padded his championship lead over his teammate Austin Jones. The American winner of the previous round finished just outside the podium today. Baciuška now has 160 points to AJ's 126. Cavigliasso rocketed up the ranking to third place with 121 points.
In SSV, Ricardo Ramilo beat Rebecca Busi(OnlyFans Racing) and the battle-hardened Claude Fournier (MMP) in the third round of the series. The championship leader, Yasir Seaidan, was going from strength to strength at the beginning of the week, only to succumb to a mechanical. A one-two punch of DNFs in stage 3 and stage 4 knocked him out of the race. The Saudi only managed to harvest 9 stage points before packing his suitcase. Even so, he remains ensconced in the W2RC lead with 155 points thanks to his two earlier victories. Sebastián Guayasamín (FN Speed), fourth in the rally, pounced on the opportunity to slash his deficit with a 34-point haul in Portugal, bringing his total to 121. The winner of the rally sits in third place with 92 points. Rebecca Busi is close behind with 84.
