MEDIA INFORMATION
bp Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal
April 2nd-7th, 2024
FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC), round 3
For immediate release
Sunday, April 7th, 2024
AL-ATTIYAH AND BOULANGER WIN IN PORTUGAL TO LEAD W2RC
GRÂNDOLA (PORTUGAL): Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and his co-driver Edouard Boulanger sealed a hard-earned victory at the bp Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal in Grândola on Sunday afternoon.
The Prodrive Hunter crew had to defend an overnight lead of 2min 41sec over Portugal’s João Ferreira and the second quickest time on the day’s stage enabled the Qatari to move 12 points clear of Carlos Sainz in the unofficial FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) Drivers’ Championship standings and lift Nasser Racing by Prodrive into contention for the W2RC Manufacturers’ crown.
Al-Attiyah, who had a winning margin of 2min 49sec, said: “Portugal is almost my second home. I have a lot of friends here and I’m really happy to win this fantastic race. Thank you to all the fans and thanks to the organisation. It was a very technical race and we had to be smart. After the win in Abu Dhabi, winning here is very important because it enabled us to take the lead in the World Championship.”
The final stage was split into two sections with the first looping around Grândola for 101km before a final regroup took competitors into a short 3.7km sprint in front of live television cameras and thousands of spectators.
Ferreira and Filipe Palmeiro enjoyed a superb event over home terrain in the first of the latest X-Raid Mini JCW Rally Plus machines and held off Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Lucas Moraes and Armand Monleón to claim the runner-up spot, despite losing the bonnet on the Mini.
Ferreira said: “It’s difficult to explain the emotions I experienced throughout the week. We received incredible support from this unique audience in the world in a very varied and beautiful race. The tension was high because there was a lot of attention around us, but everything went very well and I confess that I didn’t imagine finishing in second place on my debut with this car in W2RC.”
Moraes overhauled Ferreira’s team-mates Carlos Sainz and Alex Haro and pushed the Spaniards down to fourth position, the result also lifting Moraes into contention for the top three in the title race.
“What a great fight,” said Moraes. “Firstly, congratulations to the entire organisation for managing to put together this race. It is very important to have the World Cup in Europe. An overall podium and victory in this stage are important points for the championship.”
Sainz added: “It was a difficult but positive rally. It’s always a pleasure to come to Portugal and I was pleased to take part and gain important experience. I would have liked the race to start tomorrow to try some things, but I’m happy.”
Despite Moraes’s third place and the fastest time on the final stage, it was a disappointing event for Toyota with early season front-runners Guerlain Chicherit and Guillaume de Mévius struggling to make headway and Yazeed Al-Rajhi having to battle his way back to fifth after a crash on stage three.
Al-Rajhi said: “It was not easy for us after the accident two days ago and we lost a lot of time. Thanks to Carlos Barbosa and all his team for the organisation. We enjoy it here and we feel like it was home. I think Timo (Gottschalk) and I did a good job. We had some bad luck on one of the days but we had a lot of fun. Thank you to the crowd, which was exceptional.”
Can-Am Factory Racing’s Rokas Baciuška and his Spanish co-driver Oriol Vidal secured a vital victory in the Challenger category and extended their lead over team-mates Austin Jones and Oriol Mena in the W2RC’s Challenger standings.
The Brazilian duo of Cristian Baumgart and Gustavo Gugelmin finished seventh overall and picked up vital points for the Manufacturers’ Championship in the second of the Prodrive Hunters. Portuguese driver Francisco Barreto guided his Toyota Hilux to eighth.
Armindo Araújo (Can-Am) was not registered for the W2RC but the experienced local driver and former winner of the Rally of Portugal finished second in the Challenger category and ninth overall.
Nicolas Cavigliasso (Taurus T3M) was in inspired form on the final day. The Argentine was fourth quickest on the day’s stage. That was sufficient to push Ricardo Porém (Can-Am) out of the top 10 and earn the Argentine third in Challenger and second of the registered drivers.
Alexandre Pinto and Austin Jones came home in 12th and 13th overall with Jones finishing fourth of the registered Challenge drivers.
Sébastien Loeb and co-driver Fabian Lurquin gained useful experience of the terrain and the event in general in their Red Bull-backed Taurus T3M. Loeb begins his W2RC campaign with the Dacia brand later in the season in preparation for a full programme of events in 2025. Meanwhile, the G Rally Team’s Luis Portela beat Loeb to second place on the day.
Loeb, who finished 22nd overall, said: “The special stages here are very good, some are even spectacular. We had a lot of mud and had to adapt to a different car from another category. We achieved the objective of getting to know the race so that we can return here next year with the Dacia.”
The South Racing Can-Am Team duo of João Monteiro and co-driver Nuno Morais won the SSV category and finished 16th overall in their Maverick XRS Turbo RR but were not registered for the W2RC.
Spaniard Ricardo Ramilo finished second and first of the W2RC contenders. Santag Racing’s Rui Serpa came home third but runaway W2RC leader Yasir Seaidan retired his Can-Am on Saturday. Rebecca Busi was fifth and second of the registered drivers.
Carlos Barbosa, President of the organising Automóvel Club de Portugal (ACP), said: “I’m very happy. It was a difficult race to organise with rain and tricky conditions but the ACP team did a fantastic job. The public and Portugal deserves a World Championship race with all the big stars of the Dakar. It is only necessary for Portugal Tourism to understand this so that we can have the event here again next year.”
Ends