HAT-TRICK FOR SCHAREINA
Tosha Schareina had his sights set on making a triumphant return to his Spanish homeland in the BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal. After losing out to Sebastian Bühler yesterday, the Honda rider turned the tables between Grândola and Badajoz, in the autonomous community of Extremadura, where skeleton service squads have been dispatched. Bühler had the upper hand for the initial stretch of the special, but the Valencian took back control at the 210 km mark. It went down to the wire, with the gap between them seldom stretching beyond a minute. Schareina romped home with 48 seconds to spare over Bühler to bag his third win of the week, following the prologue and stage 1. He now holds a margin of 3′44″ on the German in the overall. Meanwhile, the battle for the bottom step of the podium rages on. Making his mark as the third-fastest W2RC contender of the day, 6′49″ down, Adrien Van Beveren (Monster Energy Honda) is staging quite the comeback. He is now sitting fourth overall, trailing his teammate Skyler Howes by just 3′05″. The American has firmly landed in the Frenchman’s crosshairs, as Van Beveren leapfrogged past Ross Branch (Hero MotoSports) today. The championship leader is not quite in his element here in Portugal and is in damage control mode. He conceded 8′55″ to Schareina and is now fifth in the virtual standings, 17′25″ back. The Botswanan is 43 seconds ahead of Pablo Quintanilla (Monster Energy Honda) in sixth place, who is also struggling on the Portuguese tracks.
Bradley Cox was the big winner of the day in Rally 2. The South African was the fastest W2RC entrant, beating the Frenchmen duo Mathieu Dovèze by 8′17″ and Romain Dumontier by 8′24″. Cox soared from fourth place to the top of the standings. However, with Dovèze at 1′25″ and Dumontier at 2′34″, he would be ill-advised to rest on his laurels! The championship leader, Jean-Loup Lepan (Duust Rally), is fifth at 29′24″. As it stands, the man from Picardy would retain the W2RC lead, albeit with the same numbers of points (55) as Cox. Dumontier would be third with one fewer point and Konrad Dąbrowski fourth with a 6-point deficit. Each position gained or lost from now until Sunday will play a decisive role!
Badajoz welcomed a fresh stage winner to the W2RC: Salvador Amaral, who opened his Rally 3 account with a bang. The Portuguese ace clinched victory by a commanding 11′55″, overshadowing his brother Gonçalo, who got slapped with a 6′10″ penalty for speeding. Gonçalo still leads the charge with a 10′05″ buffer over Salvador. Pedro Bianchi Prata seized the third spot, pushing past the Chilean John Medina (Xraids Experience). It’s a 100% Portuguese podium with just 48 hours to go until the finish!
The unvanquished Manuel Andújar extended his hegemony in the quad race, defeating Kamil Wiśniewski (+ 4′01″) and Gaëtan Martinez (+ 11′08″). The Argentinian leads the overall ahead of the CFMoto riders Martinez (+ 21′05″) and Kanopkinas (+ 21′37″).
CHICHERIT BOWS OUT AS AL RAJHI DOES A BARREL ROLL
His Portuguese baptism of fire has been a roller-coaster for Guerlain Chicherit. The Frenchman won the opening stage, only to DNF both yesterday and today. FIA regulations give drivers a second chance, but not a third one, so the man from Savoy had to throw in the towel. It is a crushing blow for Chicherit, who was third in the championship ranking, a mere 2 points behind Nasser Al Attiyah. The Qatari’s heart must have skipped a beat when his engine stalled after blasting through water. Yazeed Al Rajhi pounced on the opportunity to seize the stage lead before he, in turn, made a blunder with a barrel roll. It took him and his co-driver, Timo Gottschalk, nearly 20 minutes to right their Hilux. Lucas Moraes (Toyota Gazoo Racing) took over the reins, locked in a fierce battle with “Al Attack”. However, a slowly deflating puncture held the Brazilian back in the end, so he crossed the line 1′49″ off the pace. João Ferreira (X-raid Mini JCW) rounded out the podium at 2′07″. His teammate Carlos Sainz (Mini) lost a fender and his bonnet along the way. His windscreen wiper was also in poor condition, with the windscreen wiper on the passenger’s side out of order. The Spaniard suffered from a reduced field of view and, to rub salt in the wound, he received enough penalties for speeding to send him 4′01″ down the ranking. Meanwhile, Al Rajhi is no longer a threat to Al Attiyah in the fight for the title. The Saudi plummeted from 20 seconds back this morning to almost 20 minutes back this evening. Ferreira is now second at 4′39″ and Moraes third at 4′59″. Sainz is fourth at 6′31″. The battle among these four men remains wide open.
Rokas Baciuška grabbed the Challenger stage with 6′47″ in hand over Ricardo Porém and 8′57″ over Marcelo Gastaldi (BBR). The Lithuanian brought his overall lead to 7′22″ over the Portuguese and 10′03″ over Nicolás Cavigliasso. Austin Jones (Can-Am Factory) tied the knot in Portugal, but he is more than 13 minutes down in the rally —a clear case of unlucky at cars, lucky in love. Baciuška also placed his lightweight prototype in second position in the stage, 1′45″ behind Nasser Al Attiyah‘s T1+. That made him the fifth-fastest driver of all FIA entrants!
In the SSV race, Yasir Seaidan exited the bivouac this morning before turning back inside the road section due to a mechanical. The Saudi did not start the special, giving Ricardo Ramilo a clear run to take the stage among the W2RC entrants for the second time in his career. Rebecca Busi beat Claude Fournier to the bottom step of the podium. The top 3 in the overall mirrors the stage podium.
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