Portugal Championship: victory and leadership for Ferreira&Palmeiro
By Stephan Wolf
Campeonato Portugal de Todo-o-terreno had a huge summer pause that lasted more than three months, from early June to mid-September. And only now the fight for the title in the overall classification of the championship has restarted, which immediately brought a few surprises…
A big battle for the championship leadership was expected between the three main contenders - João Dias (group T3), João Ferreira and João Ramos (both in group T1+). It also could be intervened by Francisco Barreto from the T1+ group, who is able to take away a lot of valuable points from the leaders. But the first double surprise was already waiting on Friday on the short 27.87km special stage - a crash by Francisco Barreto and a small fire by João Ramos (both in a Toyota Hilux T1+)…
A new surprise was the success of the crew of Hélder Oliveira and Fausto Mota, who started for the first time in the Mini JCW Rally group T1. This fact did not prevent them from finishing the race in the second position in the overall standings - they won one special stage and twice became second. This result of Hélder Oliveira has affected the progress of the fight in the championship and also allowed him to move up to sixth position in the overall series standings.
The race winners were João Ferreira and Filipe Palmeiro (Mini JCW Rally Plus Group T1+) - they won two special stages and were more than a minute ahead of their nearest rival. Thanks to this achievement, they finally became the new leaders of the Portuguese Championship in the overall standings!
For João Dias of Santag Racing (GRally OT3), this race was a serious challenge, but brought several successes. Firstly, he finished third overall and continues to fight for the championship title despite losing the leadership. Second, he fended off all the attacks of Tiago Reis (Taurus T3 Max) and won the T3 group standings. Thanks to this, Dias is now already the Portuguese Group T3 champion, two rounds before the finish of the season.
Another achievement of the Santag Racing team was also Rui Serpa’s second place in the Group T4 classification in the race. This allowed Santag Racing to keep a solid leadership in the team standings of the Portuguese Championship.
Now begins the most difficult phase in the Portuguese championship. Firstly, the two leaders of the overall standings go at a small distance from each other - Ferreira is 9 points ahead of Dias. Secondly, there is a conflict of dates - the final round of the Portuguese championship and the final round of the FIA European Baja Cup (in both series Ferreira and Dias fight for the titles) take place on the same days. That is, both championship leaders will have to choose which race to sacrifice - national or international.
However, João Ferreira has a chance to successfully solve this problem - thanks to the fact that in the Portuguese championship, the best six results out of seven are counted in the season-ending standings. As is well known, at most rounds of the national championship, competitors can get points from three sources - for position in the overall race standings (25 for victory, 20 for second position, etc.), bonuses at the prologue (Top 3 get 3–2–1 points) and bonuses for winning special stages (1 point per SS).
There are still two more final rounds to go. The Baja TT Portalegre 500 in October will have a prologue and three special stages, which can earn the winner a maximum of 31 points (25 for the win, 3 for the prologue won, 3 for the SS’s won). At the final Baja TT Oeste de Portugal in November, according to preliminary information, there will be a prologue and two special stages (maximum 30 points in total).
If João Ferreira can win the Baja TT Portalegre 500 and take the maximum 31 points, he will have 136 points in the championship. In this case, João Dias can get a maximum of 22 points at the Baja TT Portalegre 500 and 30 points at the Baja TT Oeste de Portugal, he will have a total of 148 points. But if we drop the one worst result (17 points), only 131 points are left. That means Ferreira, if he wins the Baja TT Portalegre 500, could become the Portuguese champion - then he could go to Turkey for the final round of the FIA European Baja Cup.
There is no doubt that the next round, the Baja TT Portalegre 500 (scheduled for October 17-19), will be a real adventure and thriller!
João Ferreira: “It was a very difficult race for us, because on the final special stage right after the start, the power steering pump stopped working properly. In the right corners it worked more or less normally, but in the left corners it didn’t work at all. It was very hard, but thanks to Filipe’s help we managed to finish the stage and we won!”
Filipe Palmeiro: “João did a very, very good job because literally from the start of the SS we lost the power steering pump. João didn’t have a power steering. It was very difficult for him. He did an amazing job. I think he spent a month or two in the gym in that race. Easy. It was harder to turn the car, so I tried to help as much as I could because I was on the handbrake in the tight corners”.
João Dias: “I want to congratulate the organizers with a tough, demanding race, but super well-organized. We managed to come away with the victory in the T3 category. It was a very hard race. On Saturday we had some problems, but today we ran a clean stage and managed to finish with a great result. I dedicate this victory to the team, who did an excellent job, allowing us to push from start to finish with the car in top condition”.
Rui Serpa: “We could secure the second position in T4 group, we are happy. I think that we have done a good race. Clean, no issues. We improved the time versus yesterday more than two minutes. The race is quite good, it’s one of my favourites in Portugal. Quite fast, hard, not only because the path surface was quite tough, but also a lot of rocks, so we need to be very careful with the tires”.
Baja TT Sharish Reguengos de Monsaraz
1. Ferreira/Palmeiro (Mini JCW Rally Plus, T1+) 4:45:11.1
2. Oliveira H./Mota (Mini JCW Rally, T1) +1:11.3
3. Dias/Miranda (GRally OT3, T3) +2:35.9
4. Reis/Carrera (Taurus T3 Max, T3) +3:27.7
5. Pinto/Oliveira B. (Can-Am Maverick X3, T3) +3:56.5
Campeonato Portugal de Todo-o-terreno (Absoluto)
1. Ferreira - 105
2. Dias - 96
3. Ramos - 70
4. Reis - 44
5. Pinto - 39
6. Oliveira H. - 33
Campeonato Portugal de Todo-o-terreno (T3)
1. Dias - 135
2. Pinto - 62
3. Araújo - 49
Campeonato Portugal de Todo-o-terreno (T4)
1. Monteiro - 113
2. Rodrigues - 67
3. Nogueira - 65
Photo Credits: AIFA, Campeonato Portugal Todo-o-Terreno, team social media
