– Strong fightback by the Portuguese driver
– Second victory in a row in the Portuguese championship
After a thrilling fightback on the final day, João Ferreira and Filipe Palmeiro secured victory in the MINI JCW Rally Plus at the Baja de Lagos (POR). They had started the final stage in sixth place overall and more than two minutes behind the leader. 170 kilometres later, the two Portuguese drivers were celebrating overall victory. The two crews of X-raid partner team M Racing from Portugal – Maria Gameiro / José Marques (MINI JCW Rally Plus) and Jose Garcia / Samantha Montiel (MINI JCW Rally) – finished 23rd and 24th overall.
Ferreira and Palmeiro had made a successful start to the Baja de Lagos on Friday with a victory in the prologue. But the second day did not go according to plan: they suffered a puncture on the surprisingly difficult stage and lost important minutes. Now everything depended on the final special stage on Sunday. The two Portuguese drivers kept their nerves under control and put the pedal to the metal. They managed to close the gap and won with a lead of just four seconds over João Dias and João Miranda in the Can-Am.
The next event for the X-raid team is the Desafío Ruta 40 (2-8 June 2024) in Argentina.
Quotes of the drivers
Joao Ferreira (MINI JCW Rally Plus): « A really good race. Yesterday was really tough. We had a flat tyre and were over two minutes behind the leader. But we managed to close the gap and win. I’m super happy. Many thanks to X-raid and Filipe for this great performance. »
Overall standings
1. J. Ferreira / F. Palmeiro – MINI JCW Rally Plus – 5h 27m 50s
2. J. Dias / J. Miranda – Can-Am – 5h 27m 54s
3. F. Barreto / C. Silva – Toyota – 5h 30m 54s
4. G. Guerreiro / J. Pires – Polaris – 5h 36m 01s
5. M Pereira / E. Adã0 – Can-Am – 5h 37m 13s…
23. M. Gameiro / J. Marques – MINI JCW Rally Plus – 6h 04m 35s
24. J. Garcia / S. Montiel – MINI JCW Rally – 6h 09m 15s