“…it’s always a pleasure to come and race in Portugal. I was here for many years in the World Rally Championship and in Baja. I have very good memories of both”.
Carlos Sainz
“I have great memories of Portugal, it has always been special to race here, due to the atmosphere created by the spectators”.
Sébastien Loeb
“I've never raced in Portugal, but it's a pleasure to be in this beautiful country and at an event of this level. My congratulations to the organisation. Everything is fantastic and I’m sure it’s going to be a great race.”
Ross Branch, 2nd in Dakar 2024 (Motorcycles)
Quotes from some of the candidates for victory at the bp Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal pre-event press conference:
CARS
Carlos Sainz (MINI)
“I have no intention of doing the World Cup (W2RC), but for me it is always a pleasure to come and race in Portugal. I was here for many years in the World Rally Championship and in Baja, I have very good memories of both. I want to enjoy the race which, as always, should have a lot of crowds. The atmosphere of Portugal and Spain is always fantastic and I'm sure it will support all the riders, not just me.
“João Ferreira? I asked him how old he was and realised he was younger than my son! Having teammates younger than my son is a strange feeling. But he is a very professional and fast driver. I am sure he will have a great future ahead of him.”
Nasser Al-Attiyah (Prodrive)
“We are very happy to be here. Thank you to the organisation and all the people who made it possible to put the World Cup (W2RC) here in Europe. It is very important to have a W2RC race here. It won't be an easy race for anyone and I'll try to be in the fight for victory. It's a long race and with these rainy and muddy conditions it should be very tough. We will certainly have many spectators, as usual in Portugal, and I ask everyone to stay safe.”
Lucas Moraes (Toyota)
“The last time I raced in Portugal I was on the podium at the Baja Portalegre 500 in 2021. We were third in the World Cup race, my first with a Toyota. I remember that we had a lot of mud in that race, so it could be a good reference for what we will have here this week. It's great to know that we will have a lot of people supporting us on the ground. Abu Dhabi was a bit treacherous for us. We will try to get a good result here to recover points in the championship.”
João Ferreira (MINI)
“It's the first time I'm racing an Ultimate category car in W2RC and it's special to do it in my country, in this beautiful race that the ACP organisation has provided us with. We're going to do our best among all the legends we have here, I don't hide that I'd like to get into the fight for victory, but we also still don't have the same experience as other drivers. It’s important to stay calm, get to the end of every day and see where we stand at the end.”
Sébastien Loeb (Taurus)
“The main objective is to get to know this event and prepare for the future (with Dacia in Rally-Raids). I have great memories of Portugal, it has always been special to race here, due to the
atmosphere created by the spectators. It won't be easy to drive here in these rainy and muddy conditions, let's put a windshield on the car. Obviously, it is a more agile and lighter car than a T1+, but less powerful and with a top speed limited to 135km/h.”
Cristina Gutiérrez (Taurus)
“It’s a pleasure to be here with all these legends and I come to enjoy this experience. I've never raced in Portugal. I have high expectations, but we know we're going to get a lot of water and mud with these types of cars. It will be very important to have a dry suit at the hotel at the end of each stage!”
Yasir Seaidan (Can-Am)
“It’s good to have a different challenge, a different climate and terrain than the dunes in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi. I'm not so used to these special conditions. I raced twice in Portalegre, but it wasn't a positive experience in terms of results, so now I want to do better in this new race.”