JOÃO FERREIRA AND FILIPE PALMEIRO SEAL COMFORTABLE WIN IN PORTUGAL’S BAJA TT SHARISH REGUENGOS MOURÁO
The X-Raid Mini JCW Rally Plus crew clinched a comfortable victory in Portugal’s Baja TT Sharish Reguengos Mourão. They won two of the three special stages on challenging rural terrain to carve out a winning margin of 1min 11.3sec over the fellow Portuguese pairing of Helder Oliveira and Fausto Moto, who claimed victory in the final stage in their Mini JCW Rally. Ferreira also secured the Ultimate category title in the FIA European Baja Cup with a round to spare after achieving his third consecutive victory at the event. Additionally, he is now the leader of the Portuguese National Championship.
Ferreira expressed, “It was a very difficult race for us. Today, after three kilometers, our power steering pump stopped working properly. For the right corners, I was able to manage somehow, but to the left, it was not functioning at all. It made the stage very tough for us. Despite going off track a few times without power steering, we managed to finish. I really like this race and had won for the last two years.”
Oliveira was not registered for the FIA European Baja Cup, so points for second place went to the third-placed driver João Dias and his co-driver João Miranda in their Challenger category-winning Santag Racing G Rally Team OT3.
The battle for the Portuguese Championship saw Tiago Reis and Candido Carrera finishing a close fourth in a Taurus T3 Max, with Alexandro Pinto and Bernardo Oliveira rounding off the top five and earning FIA points for third place in their Can-Am.
The Polish Can-Am crew of Tomasz Bialkowski and Dariusz Baśkiewicz emerged victorious in the SSV category. They finished 46.5 seconds ahead of the Portuguese pairing of Rui Serpa and Rui Pita in their similar Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR.
Bialkowski now leads the SSV Championship after four rounds following technical issues for Miguel Prat Martinez, who finished fourth among the registered SSV drivers behind Great Britain’s William Buller.
Victory in the Stock category for series production cross-country machines went to Fernando Barreiros and Rui Antonio in their Isuzu D-Max, as they move closer to a potential FIA European Baja Cup title.
The event started with 53 out of the original 56 crews, comprising 19 cars in the Ultimate class, 23 in Challenger, 10 in SSV, and one Stock entrant. The FIA European Baja Cup has 15 registered participants, with most others competing for points in the Portuguese National Championship.
The competitive action kicked off with a stage near Mourão on Friday afternoon, with Ferreira leading after day one. He continued to dominate through the next selective section on Saturday, securing his victory. Sunday saw Oliveira winning the final stage, with Ferreira doing enough to claim overall victory.
The FIA European Baja Cup concludes with Baja Troia Türkiye on November 7th-10th.
Baja TT Sharish Reguengos Mourão – final result (top 25 only):
1. João Ferreira (PRT)/Filipe Palmeiro (PRT) Mini JCW Rally Plus 4hr 45min 11.1sec
2. Helder Oliveira (PRT)/Fausto Moto (PRT) Mini JCW Rally 4hr 46min 22.4sec*
3. João Dias (PRT)/João Miranda (PRT) G Rally Team OT3 4hr 47min 47.0sec
4. Tiago Reis (PRT)/Candido Carrera (ESP) Taurus T3 Max 4hr 48min 38.8sec*
5. Alexandro Pinto (PRT)/Bernardo Oliveira (PRT) Can-Am Maverick X3 4hr 49min 07.6sec
6. Miguel Barbosa (PRT)/Luis Ramalho (PRT) Taurus T3 Max 4hr 50min 36.5sec*
7. Pedro Carvalho (PRT)/Romeu Martins (PRT) Can-Am Maverick X3 4hr 50min 50.2sec*
8. Daniel Silva (PRT)/Gonçalo Magalhães (PRT) Taurus T3 Max 4hr 52min 52.8sec*
9. Alexander Ré (PRT)/Carlos Mendes (PRT) Volkswagen Amarok 4hr 53min 16.4sec*
10. Alejandro Martins (PRT)/David Monteiro (PRT) Mini JCW Rally Plus 4hr 54min 52.5sec*
11. Edgar Reis (PRT)/Fábio Ribeiro (PRT) Taurus T3 Max 4hr 54min 59.8sec*
12. Wlodzimierz Grajek (POL)/Michal Goleniewski (POL) Toyota Hilux 4hr 57min 24.4sec
13. Paulo Rodrigues (PRT)/Miguel Salvador (PRT) Can-Am Maverick X3 4hr 57min 46.5sec
14. Edgar Condenso (PRT)/Nuno Silva (PRT) Ford M0 EXR05 Proto 4hr 58min 23.7sec*
15. Pim Klaassen (NLD)/Mark Laan (NLD) Taurus T3 Max 5hr 00min 04.0sec*
16. Diego Martinez (ARG)/Sergio Lafuente (URY) Can-Am Maverick X3 5hr 02min 38.6sec*
17. Tomasz Bialkowski (POL)/Dariusz Baśkiewicz (POL) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR 5hr 02min 48.0sec
18. Alexandre Franco (PRT)/Rui Franco (PRT) Mercedes 350D 5hr 03min 11.0sec
19. Fernando Alvarez (ESP)/Xavier Panseri (FRA) G Rally Team OT3 5hr 03min 21.4sec
20. Rui Serpa (PRT)/Rui Pita (PRT) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR 5hr 03min 34.5sec
21. Gaël Queralt (ESP)/Marc Sola (ESP) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR 5hr 03min 38.0sec*
22. César Sequeira (PRT)/Tânia Sequeira (PRT) Mercedes 350 SLC Coupé 5hr 03min 54.6sec*
23. Rúben Rodrigues (PRT)/Rui Paulo (PRT) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR 5hr 04min 58.1sec*
24. Ricardo Teodósio (PRT)/Valter Cardoso (PRT) Can-Am Maverick X3 5hr 05min 37.3sec*
25. Dave Klaassen (NLD)/Tessa Klaassen (NLD) Nissan Red0Lined Navara VK50 5hr 07min 05.4sec
*not registered for the FIA European Baja Cup
Select others
30. William Buller (GBR)/Allan Stirling (GBR) Yamaha YXZ 1000R SS 5hr 12min 14.9sec
31. Magdalena Zajac (POL)/Blażej Czekan (POL) Toyota Hilux 5hr 16min 42.6sec
32. Miguel Prat Martinez (ESP)/Ion Del Cid (ESP) Yamaha YXZ 1000R SS 5hr 20min 16.9sec
35. Fernando Barreiros (PRT)/Rui Antonio (PRT) Isuzu D-Max 6hr 17min 01.3sec
38. Adam Kuś (POL)/Marcin Pasek (POL) Taurus T3 Max 13hr 53min 17.5sec
40. Yagiz Birinci (TUR)/Evangelos Sotirchos (GRC) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR 14hr 05min 49.8sec
