– South Racing Can-Am Team continues to lead FIA Teams’ Championship
– Valuable experience for Heisterkamp and Monteiro with South Racing Can-Am
– Monteiro secures SSV title in Portuguese National All-Terrain Championship
The South Racing Can-Am Team’s Fernando Alvarez and Xavier Panseri finished fourth of the registered FIA World Baja Cup crews and second of the SSV teams at Portugal’s Baja Portalegre 500 and continue to lead the SSV Championship.
The crew now head to the Middle East for the remaining three rounds in their Conarpesa-backed Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR with the goal still intact of trying to win the overall Drivers’ and Co-drivers’ Championships and the SSV class in this year’s eight-round FIA World Baja Cup.
The local pairing of João Monteiro and Filipe Alves ran a South Racing Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR in the SSV section and set a superb pace from the outset. They finished second of the SSV crews on the three-day event held over three gruelling stages through the Alentejo wine region of Eastern Portugal. The result also enabled Monteiro to secure overall SSV category success in the 2024 Portuguese National All-Terrain Championship.
South Racing Can-Am colleagues Diego Martinez and Sergio Lafuente suffered a setback to their challenge for the title in the Challenger category for lightweight prototype cross-country vehicles. The Argentinian and his Uruguayan co-driver were forced to retire on the second stage after holding fourth of the registered crews through SS1.
The South Racing Can-Am Team continues to lead the FIA World Baja Cup Teams’ Championship.
The South Racing Can-Am Team also ran a Maverick for the Dutch duo of Gerben Heisterkamp and Wesley Aaldering. Heisterkamp retired from the Challenger section on the final stage.
South Racing Can-Am Team’s managing director Scott Abraham said: “The event in Portalegre always throws up challenges with the weather. It was a good race for the team to consolidate positions in the FIA World Baja Cup after coming off a strong event in Morocco. The team only had two days to turn around vehicles and support trucks and now we prepare next week for the cars to be flown to the next round of the World Cup in Qatar in two weeks’ time.”
A 3.77km Prologue at Coutades determined the start order for the opening stage of 70.87km that ran between Ponte de Sor and Crato. This was not included in the general classification.
Martinez finished fourth of the registered Challenger drivers through the opening stage and Alvarez slotted into a similar position amongst the SSV runners in his category. It was also a strong stage for João Monteiro, who claimed the second quickest SSV time behind Cristiano Batista.
Alvarez said: « We finished the first stage but we had some minor issues with the wipers and the windscreen and we broke the central diff, so we lost time. It was only 70km but tomorrow is 300km and anything can happen and we are not too far behind the other people. There is a lot of water on the tracks. It will not be easy. »
Day two began with a stage of 166.78km and then the event drew to a conclusion with a run of 166.20km. Alvarez slipped to fifth of the registered runners through the opener, where Monteiro was second quickest of all the SSV runners. But Martinez suffered technical issues and was not able to continue.
Alvarez said: « It really was a bit difficult and cold. The only problem I had was with my goggles, so I had to continue for around 100km without goggles. There was no dust, so it was okay. The car was perfect. Now we must change our clothes before the last stage. »
Monteiro finished third amongst the SSV on the final stage with Alvarez coming home in seventh but the Spaniard picked up vital points for second in SSV and fourth overall towards his FIA World Baja Cup challenge.
The South Racing Can-Am Team receives valuable support for the race programme from BRP, Rotax, Method Wheels, Tensor Tires, Motul, J.Juan Brake Systems, Oakley and Sparco.
The FIA World Baja Cup continues with the Qatar International Baja on October 30th-November 2nd.