Loeb loses time but retains the lead

Punctures, mechanical failures and navigation errors. That was the fourth day of the bp Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal, with the duo Lucas Moraes/Dennis Zenz (Dacia) getting the better of the competition and moving up to the last step of the overall podium. Sébastian Loeb/Edouard Boulanger (Dacia) lost time but kept first place. He now has a 1m27s advantage over Seth Quintero/Andrew Short (Toyota).

In the bikes, Bruno Santos (Husqvarna) was once again aggressive, but it was Daniel Sanders (KTM) who won the stage and therefore consolidated the lead. Nasser Al Attiyah (Dacia), with mechanical problems, and Henk Lategan (Toyota), who suffered an accident, lost significant time but may return to the tracks tomorrow.

With the defeat of the previous day still weighing, the Toyota drivers went out to the stages aiming to attack the lead. However, several punctures delayed Quintero and Ferreira. In addition, a two-minute speeding penalty given to the Portuguese driver delayed him even further. Without problems, Lucas Moraes imposed his pace on the fast tracks of Spanish Extremadura and secured the stage victory.

At the finish — even before knowing about the penalty — Ferreira spoke for the team’s frustration:

“We had a puncture near the end and had to change the tire. We were pushing hard and if we set the second-best time with a puncture, I admit we could have won the stage, but it is what it is,” he said.

The winner, on the other hand, could not hide his satisfaction:

“We had a good, clean run. Dennis navigated very well, but it was very difficult with the track very narrow for our car and slippery,” said the Brazilian with a big smile.

Loeb kept the pragmatism he is known for, after he also suffered a puncture in the final kilometres of the selective sector:

“We were doing well at the start, but we had a puncture at the end, on the same rock as last year, in the same place, and I didn’t see it. We punctured and had to change the tire, which made us lose time. Then I chose to be more cautious, as the track started to get a bit more slippery,” he concluded.

Alexandre Pinto unstoppable in his category

Among the Challengers, the duo Alexandre Pinto/Bernardo Oliveira (Taurus) won the stage again and jumped into the lead, ahead of Charles Munster/Xavier Panseri (KTM) and Puck Klaassen/Augusto Sanz (KTM). The Portuguese pair has been very fast in the last two days. After losing almost 15 minutes in the first stage, they recovered the gap and are now leading the standings by 4m14s.

In the SSV category, the battle was decided by seconds, with the top five pushing hard. Determined to make up for the previous day’s mechanical problems, Luís Cidade and Valter Cardoso (Can-Am) repeatedly exchanged the lead with Luís Portela Morais/David Megre (Polaris), Andrea Deldossi/Jeremy Tricaud (Can-Am), Miguel Barbosa/Joel Lutas (Polaris) and João Monteiro/Nuno Morais (Can-Am). In the end, Cidade came out on top ahead of Barbosa and Portela Morais. At the moment the two teams are separated by 1m43s, with the advantage going to car 408.

In Stock, the duo Stéphane Peterhansel/Michael Metge (Defender) won the stage. With this result, they also took the category lead with almost seven minutes over Rokas Baciuska.

Daniel Sanders repeats stage victory

On a day when tire choice played an important role, due to track conditions and rain, Bruno Santos (Husqvarna) attacked again. But Sanders won the selective sector, with the Portuguese rider finishing second, only 59 seconds behind. After Stage 3, Tosha Schareina (Honda) is second and Santos is third, tied with Adrien Van Beveren (Honda), fourth overall, after more than seven hours of racing.

At the finish control, Sanders explained the strategy:

“It was another tricky day, sliding from side to side, but it was fun. Yesterday I was too slow, but today I pushed a bit more,” said the Australian.

About the tire choice, Sanders added more detail:

“I think everyone except my teammates chose soft tires, so we knew they would push as hard as possible. This was the stage where last year I destroyed the tire, but this time everyone had the same tire so it was fair. It was just a matter of sliding from side to side and keeping going,” Sanders explained.

After leading part of the selective sector, Bruno Santos finished second and remained satisfied:

“It was good that the rain came, the ground was very good, with areas of great traction and very fast tracks, others slower and more technical through the olive groves. I felt good on the bike, but at the end I was getting a bit tired,” he said.

Bruno Santos extended his Rally2 lead, with Martim Ventura (Honda) more than 12 minutes behind and Neels Theric (Kove) 14 minutes behind. In Rally3, the big surprise was the victory of Mongolian rider Murun Purevdorj, who took advantage of the Amaral brothers’ problems to win a W2RC stage for the first time. Gonçalo Amaral (Honda) still leads the category. In Quads, Antanas Kanopkinas (CFMoto) won the stage and Adomas Gancierius (CFMoto) remains the category leader.

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Back to Portugal with the Algarve Stadium in sight

March 21 marks the return to Portugal, with a long 315-kilometre selective sector that will take competitors to Loulé.

Schedule for March 21:

• First bike starts at 7:00 and the first car at 9:30.
• Arrival in Loulé is expected at 11:49 for the bikes and 14:44 for the cars.