Lucas Moreas and Kaique Bentivoglio claimed a superb victory in their Overdrive Racing Toyota Hilux DKR T1+ on the mammoth 14-stage Rally dos Sertões, an event that celebrated its 30th anniversary by starting in Vila Sertões on August 27th and finishing in Salinópolis on the northern coast of Brazil on Saturday (September 10th).
The Toyota crew dominated the rally after winning the Prologue on August 28th. They went on to win 10 of the 14 stages, were runners-up in the fourth and fifth sections and were sixth quickest on day 11 and the final short section into Salinópolis in the northern state of Pará. The duo had also reached the top step of the podium back in 2019.
The 2020 event-winning duo of Marcos Baumgart and Kleber Cincea finished 6min 17sec behind their fellow Brazilians in an X Rally Team Toyota Hilux, supported by Overdrive Racing, and Julio Capua and Emerson Cavassin made it an emphatic Toyota 1-2-3 podium finish in their Hilux.
The marathon route for the largest event of its kind to run in South America since the Dakar Rally began with stages from Vila Sertões to Foz do Iguaçu – near the border with Paraguay and Argentina – and headed north via Umuarama, Presidente Prudente, Campo Grande, Costa Rica, Barra do Garças, São Felix do Araguaia, Palmas (rest day), Mateiros Início da Maragona, Bom Jesus, Balsas, Imperatriz and Paragominas to finish in Salinópolis today.
The southern section (Sertões South) covered a distance of 4,025km, featured a Prologue and seven stages, and offered 2,457 competitive kilometres. The northern section (Sertões North) ran for 3,190km and featured seven stages and 2,354km timed against the clock.
Overdrive Racing’s managing director Jean-Marc Fortin said: « This is a particularly satisfying win for Overdrive Racing. We sent two engineers and 12 mechanics to Brazil for this rally and also serviced several other Toyotas on the event. Lucas showed at the Baja in Spain that he has the pace and the speed to be very competitive in the T1+ category and it was pleasing to see him perform so well on his home rally. It is the third win here for Toyota, after wins in 2020 and 2021, but this is the first proper win for Overdrive Racing.
« The target was to win and he has achieved that. This was the anniversary edition of the event and it was much longer than normal. But it was a great rally, where he was able to make big gaps on the rougher and sandier stages later on after the faster sections at the start.
« After the fire with Yazeed’s car in Poland, we have been forced to review and reschedule some of the programme for the rest of the season with a shortage of cars in position. But Lucas is very keen to race again soon. »
Overdrive Racing now returns to action for back-to-back rounds of the new FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) in Morocco and southern Spain in October.
Rally dos Sertões – result after SS14:
1. Lucas Moreas (BRA)/Kaique Bentivoglio (BRA) Toyota Hilux DKR T1,+ 47hr 59min 57.5sec
2. Marcos Baumgart (BRA)/Kleber Cincea (BRA) Toyota Hilux, 48hr 06min 14.5sec
3. Julio Capua (BRA)/Emerson Cavassin (BRA) Toyota Hilux, 50hr 13min 21.3sec
4. Marcelo Gastaldi (BRA)/Cadu Sachs (BRA) Century C6 Buggy, 50hr 50min 01.5sec
5. Silvio de Barros (BRA)/Rafael Capoani (BRA) Toyota Hilux, 51hr 54min 50.2sec
6. Mauro Guedes (BRA)/Filipe Palmeiro (PRT) Ford Ranger X Rally, 52hr 30min 36.8sec
7. Pedro Prado Filho (BRA)/Josi Koerich (BRA) Ford Ranger X Rally, 55hr 35min 01.4sec
8. Gunter Hinkelmann (BRA)/Deco Muniz (BRA) MSL GLG 01, 60hr 24min 10.8sec
9. Paolo Cesar Bertolini (BRA)/Anderson Bertolini (BRA) Mitsubishi L200 Triton, 61hr 38min 06.2sec
10. Youssef Haddad (BRA) Mitsubishi Triton Sport R, 62hr 30min 29.3sec…
Neil Perkins,