Ramos and Carvalho win a thrilling race at the Baja TT Norte de Portugal
By Stephan Wolf
This year each round of the Campeonato Portugal de Todo-o-terreno is more interesting and unpredictable than the last! Last weekend’s Baja TT Norte de Portugal (fourth round of the Portuguese championship) provided plenty of surprises.
The route of the Baja TT Norte de Portugal was really varied. On Friday there was a 7.49 km prologue, which was a qualifier before the race. On Saturday and Sunday there were four different special stages, ranging from 54.18 km to 128.45 km (total competition distance 307 km). There was only one stage where the average speed exceeded 70 km/h.
If at the prologue the advantage was with the competitors in cars of the highest category T1+ (three first positions for João Ramos, João Ferreira and Tiago Reis), then later in the battle for the leadership actively intervened in the representatives of groups T3 and T4.
The main heroes of the race were the Santag Racing Team (represented by four crews in T3 and T4) and 23-year-old Gonçalo Guerreiro of JB Racing (winner of the T4 group and fourth overall in the previous race, Baja de Lagos).
On SS1, the race already produced some interesting results - the fastest was João Dias (Santag Racing Team) in the Can-Am Maverick X3, ten seconds ahead of João Ramos (Toyota Hilux Overdrive T1+). And third overall was Gonçalo Guerreiro in a Polaris Pro R Group T4 - this vehicle has been prepared this year and it was only his third start in the races.
The next special stage was a real sensation - it was won by Gonçalo Guerreiro, six seconds ahead of João Ramos. The 23-year-old junior, driving a T4 car, thus moved up to second place in the overall standings after the first day, ahead of almost all the competitors in T1 and T3 cars!
The situation in the race changed rapidly after each special stage on both Saturday and Sunday. On the final day, the advantage was on the side of the T1+ group, as João Ramos (Toyota Hilux Overdrive T1+) and João Ferreira (Mini JCW Rally Plus) each won a special stage and took the top two positions overall.
João Dias (Santag Racing Team) moved up to third place and won the Group T3 classification. This success allowed him to maintain his lead in the overall Portuguese Championship standings and also significantly increase his lead in the Group T3 standings. Despite the difficult race, the Santag Racing Team achieved significant results. Firstly, in Group T3 the team took two first places (João Dias, Marco Pereira) and one fourth (Armindo Araújo) - with all three crews finishing in the top 10 overall. Secondly, Rui Serpa finished third in T4 group.
One of the main heroes of the race was Gonçalo Guerreiro on the Polaris Pro R T4. Despite some difficulties at the finish line, he took his second consecutive victory in the T4 group (with a 12-minute advantage) and finished fourth overall for the second time in a row! With this success he moved up to second in the T4 standings and is fighting for fourth place in the overall championship.
João Ramos (winner Baja TT Norte de Portugal): “From the prologue onwards, my focus was always on fighting for victory and riding at a very high pace. The race had some very technical sections, more difficult for our ‘Black Lady’. Even so, we managed to go very fast in all of them and the only stress came this morning, in the final part of SS3, when we ran out of power steering. I have to congratulate ‘Jet’ [Jorge Carvalho] and praise his calmness when he told me: ‘We’re going to put the car in Closed Park and then we’ll have half an hour, in the three kilometres after the neutralization, to change whatever is necessary and solve the problem’”.
João Dias (winner T3): “It was a smart race where the main goal was to win T3, and we did it. We had a small setback but overcame it, secured third place overall, and earned very important points for the CPTT, keeping us in the lead. I’m very pleased with all the work João Miranda did, as well as the entire Santag Racing team.”
Gonçalo Guerreiro (winner T4): “We just finished of Baja TT Norte Portugal, I’m really happy we won the T4 category with a good gap for the 2nd position. It’s a really nice result for me and for the team, the car was perfect all the weekend, so really happy with that. We were in the battle for the podium overall, but unfortunately today things didn’t go really well and we lost some time for the 3rd position. But we still got a 4th overall, that is a very good result for me with the T4. The team is really happy, I’m really happy, the car is super. We just have two T1+ in front of us and one T3, so it’s a good result. So really happy, I want to thank everyone who supports me, thank you so much”.
Marco Pereira (2nd T3): “We managed to maintain a good pace throughout all the Selective Sectors, always giving our best and managing our position in the standings. Adding another podium here is very good for us”.
Rui Serpa (3rd T4): “It was a positive race where we were very competitive in the second half. We fought hard to be among the leaders, missing second place by just 1.9 seconds, but it shows our determination. The Santag Racing team gave us a perfect car, and Rui Pita was excellent in navigation. We’re satisfied with another podium, rewarding all our efforts over the weekend”.
David Vieira (manager of Santag Racing): “Very pleased with the results we achieved, with all our drivers performing at an excellent level. João Dias won, Marco once again proved to be one of the most competitive in T3, Armindo Araújo, if not for the punctures, would have been in the top positions again, and Rui Serpa added another podium. We can only be satisfied with what we’ve accomplished, which is the result of a lot of hard work, not just over these three days, but in all the preparation we do with our drivers and cars, and they delivered these results in the end. When we started the race, we said we wanted to repeat the good results from last Baja. We leave with a sense of mission accomplished”.
Maria Luís Gameiro:
“It wasn’t a happy race for me, I was hanging on a cliff for a long time and had two punctures that forced me to manage the tires until the end.
Even so I managed to reach the end with third place in the T1+ category and first female.
It was a race to learn and go thru challenges”.
Baja TT Norte de Portugal
1. Ramos/Carvalho (Toyota Hilux, T1+) 4:35:37.2
2. Ferreira/Palmeiro (Mini JCW Rally Plus, T1+) +1:12.7
3. Dias/Miranda (Can-Am Maverick X3, T3) +2:33.7
4. Guerreiro/Sá Pires (Polaris Pro R, T4) +5:56.8
5. Oliveira/Mendes (VW Amarok, T1) +8:39.1
Campeonato Portugal de Todo-o-terreno (Absoluto)*
1. Dias - 79
2. Ferreira - 78
3. Ramos - 70
4. Reis - 30
5. Guerreiro - 30
6. Araújo - 30
* - provisional results
Campeonato Portugal de Todo-o-terreno (T3)*
1. Dias - 107
2. Araújo - 49
3. Pinto - 42
* - provisional results
Campeonato Portugal de Todo-o-terreno (T4)*
1. Monteiro - 86
2. Guerreiro - 56
3. Nogueira - 51
* - provisional results
Photo Credits: Campeonato Portugal Todo-o-Terreno, team social media
