The opening stages of the 2025 bp Ultimate Rally Raid Portugal have been dry, dusty and very, very fast! Plenty of top World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) contenders have been hit by bumps in the road as the route has taken them from Grândola to Badajoz in neighbouring Spain. With nearly 1,000km of racing already in the bag and three long stages still to come, let’s enter the fray to discover the current state of play…
A season of absolute domination by Daniel Sanders continues in the two wheel division of the W2RC. The Red Bull KTM Factory Racing biker arrived in Portugal off the back of wins at the Dakar as well as in Abu Dhabi and South Africa. The Australian has carried on this red hot form by posting the fastest time in the Prologue plus the opening two stages to lead Rally Raid Portugal. His latest stage win – a 14th of the season – saw Sanders opening the road and pipping Honda rider Tosha Schareina by a margin of four seconds. A fourth overall race win of the season will see Sanders crowned as World Champion with one stop to spare.
« This style of racing is very cool and it’s always a good day when you can win a stage you open. I was enjoying the fresh air out there and not being in anyone’s dust. Hopefully I can do it again tomorrow and I’ll be stoked! » – Daniel Sanders
Sanders’s Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team-mates Luciano Benavides and Edgar Canet were handed back time at the conclusion of Stage 2. Both riders had stopped to assist Adrien Van Beveren who crashed and damaged his shoulder midway through the stage. Benavides is currently fourth overall and Canet is fifth while also leading the Rally2 category by five minutes.
« I stopped with Luciano to help Adrien who had a big crash today. The good news is he was OK. Now there’s another big day coming tomorrow so I’ll do my best to rest before racing again. » – Edgar Canet
There was a big climb up the rankings for Sherco TVS Rally Factory rider Harith Noah after a solid Stage 2. Noah suffered an uncomfortable Prologue but after finding his rhythm on the route to Badajoz he can now set his sights on breaking into the Top 10 overall.
In the Ultimate class the contest has been flung wide open during an eventful first three days of racing on the Iberian peninsula. With a mix of hazardous terrain and mechanical gremlins taking a bite out of so many top competitors we may witness a maiden W2RC victory at Rally Raid Portugal.
Consistency has been key to Lucas Moraes and co-driver Armand Monleón putting their Toyota Hilux Evo in third overall, less than four minutes behind current Ultimate class leader João Ferreira. It’s been an enjoyable ride so far for the Brazilian who is still in with a shot at this year’s W2RC Drivers’ Championship in the Ultimate class.
« You could write a whole book about today’s stage, it was such a tricky day. We’re happy to still be third overall which is great for the team and we’re picking up strong points for the World Championship. I think we can push a lot tomorrow. » – Lucas Moraes
Moraes was on hand to give Henk Lategan a spare driveshaft after his Toyota Gazoo Racing team-mate ran into difficulty while opening the stage. Lategan – the latest recruit to the Red Bull Desert Wings squad – overcame everything the course could throw at him and starts Stage 3 in fifth overall alongside co-driver Brett Cummings.
« We took some heavy punishment today. We had broken driveshafts and slow punctures to deal with. It was a really tricky stage and tough to avoid mistakes. It was a proper comedy of errors today. » – Henk Lategan
Meanwhile, the third Toyota Gazoo Racing crew of Seth Quintero and Andrew Short put a difficult Stage 1 behind them to set the fourth fastest time today.
There was extra motivation for Carlos ‘El Matador’ Sainz on Stage 2 as the rally entered his native Spain. Sainz put a pair of disappointing days in the rearview mirror to post the Ultimate category’s second fastest time of the day. Sainz and co-driver Lucas Cruz have now moved their Ford Raptor T1+ up to fourth overall, just 5m20s behind Ultimate leader Ferreira.
« We had our own issues today, but we managed to overcome them and finish second on the stage. We had a lot of support out on the stage and that always gives you a boost. » – Carlos Sainz
It was a tough day at the office for the Dacia Sandriders with all three crews leaking precious minutes during the 429km special spanning both Portugal and Spain. When Sébastien Loeb/Édouard Boulanger came to a halt 57km into the stage they needed a little help from their friends…
Loeb and Boulanger were soon joined by team-mates Cristina Gutiérrez/Pablo Moreno who came to their rescue with a spare suspension component.
« Quite early in the stage we went wide on a corner that was tightening and we hit a tree. We didn’t have the spare part we needed so we waited for Cristina. We made the repair as quickly as possible and from that point it was a good stage. » – Sébastien Loeb
The third Dacia Sandrider, piloted by five-time Dakar winner Nasser Al-Attiyah alongside co-driver Fabian Lurquin, also suffered a stoppage on Stage 2. The Qatari’s machine was held up until Gutiérrez and Moreno once again came to the rescue! Gutiérrez now sits 12th overall while Al-Attiyah is 10th in the Ultimate class with three stages left to race.
« We got stuck in the dust of a car in front. We were stuck for a long time and then we made a small mistake on one corner. We couldn’t move for maybe 15 minutes before Cristina arrived and helped us to get going again. We lost some time today, but we still have three days to try and get it back. » – Nasser Al-Attiyah
Topping the timesheets in the Challenger class is Portugal’s Gonçalo Guerreiro with co-driver Bruno Jacomy. Guerreiro has been stunning the bivouac on his first W2RC outing since a runners-up result at the Dakar earlier this year. On Tuesday’s Prologue it was only Al-Attiyah’s Dacia who went faster that Guerreiro. A stage win today gives Guerreiro the overall lead of the Challenger category.
« After the transfer section we got back on our right pace once we were out of the dust. We can be proud of the job we did today and thanks to the team for letting us drive this beautiful car. » – Gonçalo Guerreiro
In the hunt to chase down Guerreiro on the final three stages and snatch the Challenger crown for themselves are fellow Taurus crews Pau Navarro/Jan Rosa and Dania Akeel/Carlos Sachs. Navarro is 8m55s behind his Portuguese rival in second overall while Akeel occupies fifth spot, a further five minutes behind.
« It was a really interesting stage. Because it was so long we were losing grip by the end and sliding all over the place. That was a good test of driving technique. » – Dania Akeel
It was a tough day for Mattias Ekström and co-driver Emil Bergkvist as their Can-Am XRS ran into mechanical difficulty. Despite winning Stage 1, it now looks like overall victory is out of reach for the pair of Swedes.
It’s another early start for the convoy tomorrow as they race a 511km loop around the Badajoz bivouac, including a 308km timed special stage. Then come two more days in the dust before Rally Raid Portugal wraps up in Lisbon on Sunday, September 28.
Rally Raid Portugal rankings after Stage 2
ULTIMATE – Top 5
1. J. Ferreira (POR) – Toyota, 05:35:04
2. S. Variawa (RSA) – Toyota, +03:24
3. L. Moraes (BRA) – Toyota, +03:46
4. C. Sainz (ESP) – Ford, +05:20
5. H. Lategan (RSA) – Toyota, +05:27…
CHALLENGER – Top 5
1. G. Guerreiro (POR) – Taurus, 5:50:24
2. P. Navarro (ESP) – Taurus, +08:55
3. P. Klaassen (NED) – Taurus, +11:42
4. N. Cavigliasso (ARG) – Taurus, +13:22
5. D. Akeel (KSA) – Taurus, +13:25…
BIKE – Top 5
1. D. Sanders (AUS) – KTM 05:55:35
2. T. Schareina (ESP) – Honda, +01:36
3. R. Brabec (USA) – Honda, +07:22
4. L. Benavides (ARG) – KTM +07:39
5. E. Canet (ESP) – KTM +10:39…
QUOTES
Daniel Sanders: « This style of racing is very cool and it’s always a good day when you can win a stage you open. I was enjoying the fresh air out there and not being in anyone’s dust. Hopefully I can do it again tomorrow and I’ll be stoked! The event organisers put on a massive day for us, we did nearly 700km in total. It was tough with a lot of different terrain. We started off in the mountains and then we switched into Spain where the terrain got very slippery. My tyre was shot and I had to manage that for the last 100km, but we made it and luckily we got to the top of the leaderboard. »
Luciano Benavides: « It was a crazy second stage racing through Portugal and Spain. I started with a good rhythm and a good pace. I stopped when I found Adrien (Van Beveren) off his bike. I expected the worst, but thankfully he was OK. I stayed with Adrien for 20 minutes and Edgar was also there. After seeing something like this it’s tough to regain your racing rhythm. Also, I was in the dust from the middle to the end so it wasn’t a fun day today for me. I’m just happy to know Adrien is OK. »
Edgar Canet: « Today was a long, long day… we rode for 644km in total. I think I did a good job today, in the first part my rhythm felt really strong. I stopped with Luciano to help Adrien Van Beveren who had a big crash today. The good news is he was OK. Now there’s another big day coming tomorrow so I’ll do my best to rest before we start racing again. »
Harith Noah: « It was a long stage with a lot of breaks so that made it difficult to regroup mentally. I’m still getting comfortable on the bike because I haven’t ridden it for a few months. Hopefully I can carry on getting more comfortable in these next three stages and carry the momentum onto Morocco. »
Lucas Moraes: « You could write a whole book about today’s stage, it was such a tricky day. We were in a train of three cars so there was a lot of dust. We’re happy to still be third overall which is great for the team and we’re picking up strong points for the World Championship. I think we can push a lot tomorrow. »
Seth Quintero: « It was a really good day for us all things considered. We started 25th on the road and finished 11th. We had to deal with a lot of dust, but I just put my head down and charged as hard as I could. I ended up scoring some championship points and got a decent starting position for tomorrow. »
Henk Lategan: « We took some heavy punishment today. We had broken driveshafts and slow punctures to deal with. It was a really tricky stage and tough to avoid mistakes. It was a proper comedy of errors today. »
Carlos Sainz: « We had our own issues today, but we managed to overcome them and finish second on the stage. We had a lot of support out on the stage and that always gives you a boost. »
Sébastien Loeb: « Quite early in the stage we went wide on a corner that was tightening and we hit a tree. We didn’t have the spare part we needed so we waited for Cristina. We made the repair as quickly as possible and from that point it was a good stage. »
Nasser Al-Attiyah: « We started out with a really good pace and we were in control of everything. Then we got stuck in the dust of a car in front. We were stuck for a long time and then we made a small mistake on one corner. We couldn’t move for maybe 15 minutes before Cristina arrived and helped us to get going again. We lost some time today, but we still have three days to try and get it back. »
Cristina Gutiérrez: « When we saw Sébastien stopped we helped him because he didn’t have the spare part that he needed. Then we also saw Nasser stopped in the rocks so we helped him as well. Then after this I lost the brakes and had a puncture. So it was not an easy day. »
Gonçalo Guerreiro: « It was a really demanding stage. We were stuck behind an Ultimate car for a long time. This cost us a lot of minutes and took us off our race pace. After the transfer section we got back on our right pace once we were out of the dust. We can be proud of the job we did today and thanks to the team for letting us drive this beautiful car. »
Pau Navarro: « An issue with the brakes yesterday had us starting a bit behind today. I refocused for today and soon we were catching everyone. This meant that we had to eat a lot of dust, but I think overall it was a good day with more points for the championship. »
Dania Akeel: « Some parts of Stage 2 were really fast and fun for us. In other moments we had a lot of dust to deal with. We had to manage that and also a slow puncture. It was a really interesting stage. Because it was so long we were losing grip by the end and sliding all over the place. That was a good test of driving technique. »
Christine Fial,