The father-son duo were the first to hit the trails and ensure everyone’s safety.
On Father’s Day, the first to “hit the road” on the opening kilometers of the bp Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal on Spanish soil were Ricardo and Francisco Porto Nunes, father and son, respectively. A special day, spent in a different way, as Porto Nunes “Senior” confessed to us:
“It was a day doing what we love, which is riding motorcycles and watching the world champions race along our trails,” confessed Ricardo Porto Nunes, clearly delighted to have shared the day with his son, Francisco.
On the trails, the mission of the “zero” motorcycles is to navigate the route designed by the organization and report any hazards or anomalies to them. The fact that they always ride in pairs is due to safety concerns: “During the route, [Francisco and I] were exchanging some impressions, and we even had to put two ribbons back in place that had fallen.” As for the difficulties encountered, Ricardo highlights the fact that navigation is done solely using GPS signals:
“Without the navigation [that the riders have], it becomes a bit more complicated, and the main difficulty is staying focused along the route,” he concluded.
The opportunity to open the course for the bp Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal will never be forgotten:
“We started out by being invited to open [the Baja de] Portalegre, and now this opportunity has come up, for which we are immensely grateful.”
And if the experience was unforgettable for his father, Porto Nunes, it will be no less so for his son. Recently promoted to the 125cc class in motorcycles, Francisco hopes to one day participate in this very race; but his dream is to race in the Dakar. For now, while he hasn’t yet achieved those goals, we can say that, on Father’s Day in 2026, Francisco shared the experience of opening the trails for “his” race as the lead rider.