The 2024 FIA European Baja Cup has been a battle of the Portuguese as João Ferreira is pursued by Fernando Manuel Barreiros and João Dias. The penultimate spherical of the season took the trio again house to Portugal, the place a stout Ferreira stout gained outright to take care of his place atop the standings whereas additionally passing Dias for the Portuguese Cross-Nation Championship lead.
Ferreira entered the weekend main Barreiros by 13 factors and Dias by thirty-four within the total. The race ran easily for Ferreira’s Mini JCW Rally Plus as he gained the primary two levels whereas Dias was left to battle with Tiago Reis for third. Issues appeared to take a flip for the chief when his energy steering pump malfunctioned simply three kilometres into the third and ultimate stage, however he managed to nurse the Mini to the end in sixth total and second in Final.
Helder Oliveira, one other Mini driver, gained the final stage to safe the runner-up in his co-driver Fausto Mota‘s maiden Final race. Dias managed to beat Reis for the final spot on the outright podium and the Challenger class win by fifty-two seconds.
With Francisco Barreto’s retirement resulting from a Stage #1 rollover, Ferreira has all however locked up the Final title. Within the total, the 2022 champion maintains his thirteen-point benefit on Barreiros whereas Dias trails him by twenty-sixth.
Ferreira additionally leapfrogs Dias within the Portuguese Championship (CPTT) after going into Sharish Gin behind by a single level. Nonetheless, each drivers will possible need to make sacrifices of some type because the European Baja Cup and CPTT season finales, respectively the Baja Troia Türkiye and Baja Escuderia Castelo Branco, are on the identical weekend.
Such a choice additionally applies to Dias’ Challenger rival Alexandre Pinto, who completed third at school at Sharish Gin. Though Pinto is seventh within the CPTT standings a big sufficient grid in Turkey and dominant efficiency there may allow him to sneak by Dias if the latter doesn’t seem.
Tomasz Białkowski took the SSV factors lead after profitable for the third time in 4 races. He had entered Portugal trailing Miquel Prat by two factors, however now has the higher hand after Prat had a damaged differential that sank him to eighth. Fidel Castillo Ruiz, third in SSV, had to surrender his pursuit after lacking the race as he continues to get better from his collarbone fracture sustained on the Hungarian Baja.
The race was shortened from its authentic 532.55 kilometres (410 of which had been timed Selective Sections) to 461.25 km (348.87 km in SS), together with an almost thirty-km discount of Stage #2, amidst complaints from native landowners about opponents illegally pre-running the course the week earlier than.
General outcomes
FIA
Final
FinishOverall FinishNumberDriverCo-DriverTeamVehicleClassTimeMargin11200João FerreiraFilipe PalmeiroX-raid Mini JCW TeamMini John Cooper Works Rally PlusT1+4:45:11.1Leader22209Helder Oliveira*Fausto MotaHelder OliveiraMini John Cooper Works Rally PlusT1+4:46:22.4+ 1:11.339210Alexandre Ré*Carlos MendesAlexandre RéVolkswagen AmarokT1.14:53:16.4+ 8:05.3410206Alejandro Martins*David MonteiroAlejandro MartinsMini John Cooper Works Rally PlusT1+4:54:52.5+ 9:41.4512202Włodzimierz GrajekMichał GoleniewskiGrajek Rally TeamToyota HiluxT1+4:57:24.4+ 12:13.3614213Edgar Condenso*Nuno SilvaEdgar CondensoFord MO EXR05 ProtoT1.14:58:23.7+ 13:12.6718216Alexandre Franco*Vasco FrancoAlexandre FrancoMercedes-Benz V 230 TDT1.15:03:11.0+ 17:59.9822215César Sequeira*Tânia SequeiraCésar SequeiraMercedes-Benz 350SLCT1.15:03:54.6+ 18:43.5925217Dave Klaassen*Tessa KlaassenDaklaPack RallysportRed-Lined Nissan VK56T1.15:07:05.4+ 21:54.31026214Bruno Oliveira*Vitor JesusBruno OliveiraFord RangerT1.15:08:25.6+ 23:14.51131203Magdalena ZajacBlazej CzekanProxcars TME Rally TeamToyota HiluxT1.15:26:42.6+ 41:31.51236218Herman Jasper*Evert BlaauwDaklaPack RallysportRed-Lined Nissan VK50T1.16:22:29.7+ 1:37:18.61337219Richard Timmerman*Hendrik Willem van GeestRichard TimmermanToyota ORD150T1.18:00:53.0+ 15:41.9DNFDNF201Francisco BarretoCarlos SilvaFrancisco BarretoToyota HiluxT1+DNFN/ADNFDNF204Vincent Thijs*Tom de LeeuwRT OffroadToyota HiluxT1+DNFN/ADNFDNF205João Ramos*Jorge CarvalhoJoão RamosToyota HiluxT1+DNFN/ADNFDNF207Nuno Madeira*André LopesNuno MadeiraFord RangerT1.1DNFN/ADNFDNF208José Rogeira*Paulo MarquesJosé RogeiraFord RangerT1.1DNFN/ADNFDNF211Lino Carapeta*Fábio CarapetaLino CarapetaFord RangerT1.1DNFN/A* – Not competing for FIA European Baja Cup factors
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