The three-day event was held in mainly dry and dusty conditions through the Alentejo region of eastern Portugal and the SVR Toyota duo hit the front on the first of the longer stages on Saturday morning when team-mates Ferreira and Filipe Palmeiro crashed their Hilux and damaged the gearbox trying to regain the track.

Barreto stayed clear of trouble through the final stage to record victory over the SSV category-winning duo of Gonçalo Guerreiro and Pablo Moreno in their Polaris RXR Pro R with a winning margin of 3min 09.9sec.

Barreto and Fiúza also claimed maximum points towards their FIA World Baja Cup challenge and are now two of the favourites to challenge for the Drivers’ and Navigators’ Championships after their outright success at the Italian Baja in the summer. 

Barreto said: “A great day but a tough one, especially the last stage. We were leading the race, our nerves were on edge and we had knots in our stomachs. We fought hard for this victory all day. Paulo did an excellent job. We had that setback in Morocco but he’s recovered 100% and did a fantastic job. 

“The final result is what mattered here and we stayed focused and were sensible to the end. It’s a dream come true. Winning Baja Portalegre is a dream for every Portuguese driver!”

The local SSV crews of Pedro Carvalho/Romeu Martins (Polaris) and Luís Cidade/Valter Cardoso (Can-Am) finished third and fourth but were not registered for either of the Baja Cups. Likewise, Daniel Silva and Gonçalo Magalhães finished fifth and topped the Challenger category in their MMP T3 Rally-Raid, but were not registered for the FIA championships.

That opened the door for sixth-placed Dania Akeel and Sébastien Delaunay to guide their Overdrive Racing Toyota to vital points for finishing second in the FIA World Baja Cup. 

The South Racing Can-Am Team’s Mitchel van den Brink and Bart van Heun tightened their grip on the FIA World Baja Cup’s Challenger class by finishing eighth overall and picking up points for third in the FIA World Baja Cup. They were the only registered Challenger team competing in the FIA World Baja Cup championship in Portugal. 

Lionel and Lucie Baud lost vital minutes on the final stage and that dropped them down to 12th overall and fourth in the FIA World Baja Cup standings in their petrol-engined X-Raid Mini JCW Rally. South Racing Can-Am Team’s Erik van Loon and Wouter Rosegaar were a distant fifth of the FIA World Baja Cup runners in 20th position, but topped the SSV standings.  Khalid Al-Jafla and Andrei Rudnitskiy rounded off the FIA World Baja Cup’s Ultimate finishers in 35th overall. 

The bragging rights in the FIA European Baja Cup went to the 13th-placed Portuguese Rio Seco Racing crew of Rúben Rodrigues and Rui Paulo in their Can-Am Maverick R. They won the SSV category in the European series and finished one place in front of Marek Kubicek and Artur Kordala, who won the European Challenger category and strengthened their lead in that competition following the retirement of rivals Dinís Rogeira and Nelson Ramos.

Filipe Lopes and Tiago Magalhães finished 16th and picked up points for third in the FIA European Baja Cup (second SSV), while Paulo Rodrigues and Fausto Mota were fourth (third SSV) in the second of the Rio Seco Racing Can-Am Maverick Rs. The Hungarian duo of Lőrinc Mészáros and Albert Horn were fifth in the European rankings in their G Rally Team G-ECKO and classified in 32nd overall.

Rúben Rodrigues’s success has set up the prospect of a thrilling SSV showdown at the final round next month. 

Fernando Barreiros teamed up with José Sá Pires in his customary Isuzu D-Max and topped the Stock standings after registering for the FIA European Baja Cup on this occasion. The Portuguese was classified in 36th. 

The Saudi Nissan duo of Majed Al-Thunayyan and Omar Al-Lahim finished second in the section for series-production cross-country machines and managed to get the better of their Saudi rivals, Al-Mashna Al-Shammeri and Abdullah Al-Shammeri. They finished 40th overall, fourth in Stock and second in the FIA World Cup category but have now scored from six events to their rivals’ five. 

Andrei Halabarodzka and Aleksei Ignatov (Toyota) are putting in a late challenge for European Stock success and finished third in the category and second in the European series. They continue to trail Barreiros and Pires with one round to run. 

Sixty-three of the original 65 entrants made the start with 11 chasing FIA World Baja Cup points and a similar number opting for the FIA European Baja Cup. Herlander Araújo did not start in his Polaris RXR Pro R.

A short Prologue of 5.02km at Herdade das Coutadas was held in dry and dusty conditions and determined the starting order for the opening stage of 72.01km between Ponte de Sor and Crato. 

Ferreira stopped the clocks in 3min 59.0sec and beat local Challenger driver Ricardo Porém by 7.8 seconds to claim the early bragging rights. João Ramos edged Ultimate rival Luis Recuenco for third and SSV front-runner Luis Cidade was fifth. 

FIA World Baja Junior front-runner Hedda Hosås dropped over 14 minutes and was pushed to the rear of the field with niggling pedal sensor issues, but the result enabled Ferreira to opt for first on the road through the opening stage. The three-time event winner was again the class of the field in his SVR Toyota and a time of 56min 23.3sec enabled him to take a lead of 25.3 seconds over Cidade into the night halt. 

Porém came home in third and led the Challenger category from the fourth-placed SSV of Guerreiro and Barreto in the second of the SVR Toyotas. Ramos settled into seventh and topped the FIA European Baja Cup rankings and eighth for Mitchel van den Brink was sufficient to keep him in control of the Challenger points in the FIA World Baja Cup. Hosås’s problems on the Prologue prevented her from tackling the first stage. She eventually ended up 39th of the 40 finishers.

Ramos retired from sixth overall at the start of the second day and there was more drama at the head of the field when overnight leader Ferreira made an uncharacteristic mistake on the opening 172.08km stage, left the road and damaged his Toyota’s gearbox. 

As he explained: “It was my mistake, right at the beginning, even before kilometre five. I went off the road into a big ditch and damaged the gearbox. It was an incredibly amateurish, ridiculous mistake, but it is what it is.”

Barreto went on to claim the stage win, inherited the lead in the FIA World Baja Cup rankings and headed into the second stage with a 1min 16.6sec lead over new SSV leader Guerriero. 

Baud and Akeel moved up to third and fourth overall, ahead of Daniel Silva and Pedro Carvalho. Van den Brink was third of the FIA World Baja Cup runners but SSV contender Tomasz Białkowski stopped his Polaris early in the stage and retired. Rúben Rodrigues led the FIA European Baja Cup runners from Kubicek.

 Both José Rogeira (Ford Ranger) and Challenger title contender Dinís Rogeira (Can-Am) retired from the battle for crucial FIA European Baja Cup points.

The final timed test ran for 186.18km. Porém topped the times before a 10-minute penalty for a wheel infringement dropped him from ninth to 18th in the final results. The third quickest time enabled Barreto to claim a famous win and maximum points in the FIA World Baja Cup. 

The FIA World Baja Cup continues in Qatar on October 29th-31st, while the FIA European Baja Cup concludes in Hungary in mid-November. 

40th Baja Portalegre 500 – result:

1. Francisco Barreto (POR)/Paulo Fiúza (POR) Toyota Hilux Evo                                      5hr 28min 22.0sec*

2. Gonçalo Guerreiro (POR)/Pablo Moreno (ESP) Polaris RXR Pro R                                      5hr 31min 31.9sec

3. Pedro Carvalho (POR)/Romeu Martins (POR) Polaris RXR Pro R                                      5hr 36min 22.5sec

4. Luís Cidade (POR)/Valter Cardoso (POR) Can-Am Maverick R                                      5hr 36min 51.9sec

5. Daniel Silva (POR)/Gonçalo Magalhães (POR) MMP T3 Rally-Raid                                      5hr 37min 24.5sec

6. Dania Akeel (KSA)/Sébastien Delaunay (FRA) Toyota Hilux Evo                                      5hr 38min 06.2sec*

7. Edgar Reis (POR)/Fábio Ribeiro (POR) MMP T3 Rally Raid                                       5hr 38min 30.8sec

8. Mitchel van den Brink (NED)/Bart van Heun (NED) Can-Am Maverick R                 5hr 38min 41.8sec*

9. Nuno Matos (POR)/Ricardo Claro (POR) Volkswagen Amarok                                       5hr 39min 02.2sec

10. Alexandre Ré (POR)/Pedro Ré (POR) Can-Am Maverick R                                      5hr 39min 38.5sec

11. Filipe Cameirinha (POR)/Jérémy Dubois (FRA) Can-Am Maverick R                 5hr 41min 23.4sec   

12. Lionel Baud (FRA)/Lucie Baud (FRA) X-Raid Mini JCW 3.0i                                      5hr 42min 43.0sec*

13. Rúben Rodrigues (POL)/Rui Paulo (POR) Can-Am Maverick R                                      5hr 44min 25.1sec+

14. Marek Kubicek (POL)/Artur Kordala (POL) Taurus Evo Max                                      5hr 45min 54.4sec+

15. Alexandre Cardoso (POR)/Jaime Cortes (POR) Kaizen S1                                       5hr 46min 51.8sec

16. Filipe Lopes (POR)/Tiago Magalhães (POR) Can-Am Maverick R                                      5hr 48min 15.0sec+

17. Bruno Oliveira (POR)/Victor Jesus (POR) Ford Ranger T1                                                          5hr 48min 29.2sec

18. Ricardo Porém (POR)/Nuno Sousa (POR) Taurus Evo Max                                       5hr 48min 52.8sec

19. Mário Franco (POR)/João Miranda (POR) Can-Am Maverick X3                                      5hr 49min 23.9sec   

20. Erik van Loon (NED)/Wouter Rosegaar (NED) Can-Am Maverick R                                    5hr 49min 31.0sec*

21. César Sequeira (POR)/Filipe Sequiera (POR) Mercedes 350 SLC Coupe      5hr 49min 43.3sec

22. Jorge Cardoso (POR)/José Motaco (POR) Ford Ranger                                           5hr 53min 10.0sec

23. Juan Gasso (ESP)/Ion Del Cid (ESP) G Rally Team OT3                                            5hr 53min 16.1sec

24. Ronald van Loon (NED)/Erik Lemmen (NED) Toyota Hilux Evo                                      5hr 53min 41.7sec

25. Paulo Rodrigues (POR)/Fausto Mota (POR) Can-Am Maverick R                                      5hr 55min 05.sec+

26. Nuno Madeira (POR)/José Janela (POR) Ford Ranger                                             5hr 55min 15.2sec

27. Mário Ferreira (POR)/Miguel Silva (POR) Polaris RXR Pro R                                      5hr 57min 55.3sec

28. Luís Carneiro (POR)/Hugo Magalhães (POR) MMP T3 Rally-Raid                                      6hr 01min 48.0sec

29. Hugo Raposo (POR)/Rafael Lutas (POR) Nissan Proto X                                         6hr 07min 12.8sec

30. Daniel Pereira (POR)/Vasco Franco (POR) Can-Am Maverick R                                      6hr 07min 20.5sec

31. Edgar Condenso (POR)/Nuno Silva (POR) Kaizen S1                                                6hr 14min 14.1sec

32. Lőrinc Mészáros (HUN)/Albert Horn (HUN) G Rally Team G-ECKO                            6hr 15min 17.3sec+

33. Nuno Faria (POR)/João Martins (POR) Can-Am Maverick X3                                      6hr 20min 19.5sec

34. Pedro Ruivo (POR)/Filipe Rasteiro (POR) Can-Am Maverick X3                                      6hr 28min 18.6sec

35. Khalid Al-Jafla (UAE)/Andrei Rudnitskiy (BLR) Toyota Hilux Evo                                      6hr 42min 48.9sec*

36. Fernando Barreiros (POR)/José Sá Pires (POR) Isuzu D-Max                                      6hr 49min 26.8sec+

37. Majed Al-Thunayyan (KSA)/Omar Al-Lahim (KSA) Nissan Patrol                                      7hr 01min 33.1sec*

38. Andrei Halabarodzka (BLR)/Aleksei Ignatov (ESP) Toyota Land Cruiser     7hr 06min 15.5sec+

39. Hedda Hosås (NOR)/Pol Tibau (ESP) Can-Am Maverick R                                      7hr 21min 56.5sec*

40. Al-Mashna Al-Shammeri (KSA)/Abdullah Al-Shammeri (KSA) Nissan Patrol             10hr 11min 15.1sec*

DNF

Renato Junior Duarte (POR)/Rui Pita (POR) Polaris RXR Pro R                                      RETIRED – SS3

João Lourenço (POR)/David Monteiro (POR) Can-Am Maverick R                                      RETIRED – SS3           

Miguel Barbosa (POR)/Carlos Jorge Mendes (POR) Polaris RXR Pro R                                    RETIRED – SS3 

Pedro Gonçalves (POR)/Arcélio Couto (POR) Odyssey CR-X                                        RETIRED – SS3 

Tiago Patrocínio (POR)/Alexandre Coelho (POR) Can-Am Maverick X3                                 RETIRED – SS3 

Vítor Figueiredo (POR)/João Serôdio (POR) Toyota Hilux                                             RETIRED – SS3

Eugenio Amos (ITA)/Paulo Ceci (ITA) Can-Am Maverick R                                           RETIRED – SS3

Daniel Alonso (ESP)/Sergio Fernandez (ESP) Bairons SRT Viking                                       RETIRED – SS3 

Edward Ruszczyc (POL)/Krzysztof Kubis (POL) Taurus Evo Max                                       RETIRED – SS3

Ernest Kús (POL)/Grzegorz Szymanski (POL) Can-Am Maverick X3 XRS RR      RETIRED – SS3+

Dinís Rogeira (POR)/Nelson Ramos (POR) Can-Am Maverick X3                                      RETIRED – SS2+

Sean Haran (GBR)/Martin Hales (GBR) Polaris RXR Pro R                                             RETIRED – SS2

Bert Mourik (NED)/Evert Boersma (NED) Red-Lined VK56                                          RETIRED – SS2

José Rogeira (POR)/Paulo Marques (POR) Ford Ranger                                                RETIRED – SS2+ 

João Ferreira (POR)/Filipe Palmeiro (POR) Toyota Hilux Evo                                       RETIRED – SS2*

Tomasz Białkowski (POL)/Dariusz Baśkiewicz (POL) Polaris RXR Pro R                                    RETIRED – SS2*

Alexandre Franco (POR)/Ricardo Batista (POR) Kaizen S1                                            RETIRED – SS2

Sergio Vitorino (POR)/Rui António (POR) Can-Am Maverick X3                                      RETIRED – SS2

Alejandro Martins (POR)/Oriol Mena (ESP) X-Raid Mini JCW 3.0d                                      RETIRED – SS2

João Ramos (POR)/João Carvalho (POR) Toyota Hilux Evo                                           RETIRED – SS2+

Luis Recuenco (ESP)/Sergio Peinado (ESP) Toyota Hilux Evo                                       RETIRED – SS2

Tiago Reis (POR)/Nuno Morais (ESP) MMP T3 Rally Raid                                             RETIRED – SS1

João Serra (POR)/Rui Marques (POR) MMP T3 Rally Raid                                            RETIRED – SS1

Herlander Araújo (POR)/Tiago Leite (POR) Polaris RXR Pro R                                      DNS+

*denotes registered for FIA World Baja Cup

+denotes registered for FIA European Baja Cup

Ends