The South Racing Can-Am Team enjoyed another successful foray in the rain, mud and atrocious weather conditions that plagued the two-day Baja Portalegre 500, the sixth and penultimate round of the 2023 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Bajas
The all-Swedish pairing of Adam Thomelius and Oscar Andersson joined the South Racing Can-Am Team for the first time. The professional snowmobiler was a revelation from the outset and was fastest overall on the second stage to hold a similar position in the general classification, a mere 0.9 seconds behind Mattias Ekstrom, at the night halt. He went on to finish third in T3 and sixth overall
Ekstrom continued his programme of Baja events with South Racing and teamed up with French co-driver François Cazalet on this occasion. The motor sporting all-rounder actually led the event outright after the opening two stages and went on to finish fourth in T3 and eighth overall
Brazil’s Cristiano de Sousa Batista teamed up with co-driver Robledo Nicoletti and was crowned FIA T4 champion before the event even started. Rival French driver Jeremie Warnia did not register for the Baja and the Brazilian was able to secure the title in his absence for a second time after claiming outright category wins in Italy, Spain and Poland this season
De Sousa Batista, who won the category by over 17 minutes, said: “We managed to be champions in advance after an excellent performance last year when we finished fourth overall. It was a challenging event and we are delighted with this result.”
South Racing also built the two Can-Am Maverick X3s that managed to finish first and second in the T3 category in the hands of Portugal’s Joao Dias and Armindo Araujo. The team also confirmed the T4 Teams’ Championship with one round to spare
Otavio Sousa and his Portuguese co-driver João Ferreira suffered technical issues om the opening day and incurred additional time penalties as a result, but the Brazilian guided his Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo to the finish in 17th and will now duel with Kuwait’s Meshari Al-Thefiri for the T3 title at the final round
Portugal’s Alexandre Re and Joao Pedro Ré returned to Baja action with a South Racing Can-Am Maverick X3 to finish seventh in the T3 section. Saudi Arabia’s Dania Akeel teamed up with German co-driver Taye Perry and moved up to third in the championship standings by finishing ninth in Portugal
Helder Oliveira and Carlos Mendes teamed up to drive a South Racing Can-Am and were running strongly until they stopped near the end of the third stage. They reached the finish in 18th
Defending FIA T3 World Cup Bajas champion Fernando Alvarez teamed up with French co-driver Xavier Panseri in his Conarpesa-backed Can-Am. But the Spaniard collided with a tree on the second stage on Friday, the car sustained suspension damage and he was unable to continue into the final day
South Racing Can-Am Team’s managing director Scott Abraham said: “We wrapped up the T4 Teams’ Championship and the T4 Drivers’ title for Cristiano de Sousa Batista and that follows hot on the heels of our successes in both the W2RC T3 and T4 Championships. This was the penultimate event of the year and another very successful one for us
“Baja Portalegre brought a few surprises and some great results. South Racing-built Can-Ams swept the top five positions in the T3 category and showed, once again, that they are the premium vehicle in the market in both T3 and T4. The only title left to play for is T3 in the FIA World Cup and we head to Dubai in two weeks’ time for what is sure to be a hotly-contested finale.”
As it happened
Action got underway with a 3.71km Prologue at Coutadas, which was staged in exceptionally slippery and muddy conditions after recent heavy rain. Ekström was the quickest of the South Racing drivers through the opener and the Swede carded the third fastest time overall, beaten only by Dakar champion Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and local driver Luis Portela
In T3, Otavio Sousa Leite came home in fourth, Thomelius was 10th, Oliveira held 13th and Alvarez and Akeel were 14th and 16th. De Sousa Batista was comfortably clear of his rivals in T4. Re lost around three minutes in a water crossing
Ekstrom said: “A lot of spectators and a very nice stage, two water crossings and we got very wet. But we finished P3 and we start the stage number two on position 10 in the rain…”
The afternoon’s opening 61.81km stage started at Ponte de Sor and continued via Crato and was exceptionally muddy. Sousa Leite was given the unenviable task of opening the road but the Swedish South Racing duo of Thomelius and Ekstrom delivered two stunning individual performances to claim the quickest and second fastest times in the general classification and take the T3 advantage into the night halt. Ekstrom led his team-mate by just 0.8 seconds to give South Racing an overall 1-2…
Sousa Leite’s title push suffered a major setback when he lost more than an hour on a day where a muddy and wet De Sousa Batista extended his advantage in T4 and Oliveira, Akeel, Re and Alvarez were classified in 11th, 13th, 16th and 18th in T3. Alvarez collided with a tree, lost ground on his rivals and decided not to continue on day two
Sousa Leite said: “I chose to go first. There was lots of water and lots of mud and, around kilometre 30, we broke a drive shaft. That’s how it goes….”
Saturday’s action was centred around passes through 184.37km and 189.16km stages, the first beginning in Ponte de Sor and finishing in Coutades, near Portalegre, and the second running between Gáfete and Coutades
Local drivers and the more powerful T1 and T1+ cars faired better on the opener and three T3 rivals recorded the best three times. Thomelius and Ekström, however, came home in fourth and fifth and held similar places in the T3 rankings. Re and Akeel were ninth and 11th and Sousa Leite recovered well to set the 10th quickest time, despite a loose wheel nut, but he had incurred an additional 45 minutes of time penalties overnight for his day one issues. De Sousa Batista extended his T4 cushion to 4min 16.5sec
Ongoing inclement weather conditions forced rally officials to shorten the final stage to 126.90km for safety reasons. De Sousa stayed clear of trouble to confirm the T4 spoils and Thomelius and Ekstrom held on to fourth and fifth in T3, before climbing to third and fourth as a result of Alexandre Ponto being disqualified for racing with an underweight fire extinguisher
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 Cup for Cross-Country Bajas draws to a conclusion with the Dubai International Baja on November 10-12
37th Baja Portalegre 500 – FIA T3 standings:
1. Joao Dias (PRT)/Joao Miranda (PRT) Can-Am Maverick X3 4hr 56min 55.4sec
2. Armindo Araujo (PRT)/Luis Ramalho (PRT) Can-Am Maverick X3 4hr 57min 29.3secéé
3. Adam Thomelius (SWE)/Oscar Andersson (SWE) South Racing Can-Am Maverick X3 5hr 00min 30.4sec
4. Mattias Ekstrom (SWE)/Francois Cazalet (FRA) South Racing Can-Am Maverick X3 5hr 04min 54.6sec
5. Pedro Carvalho (PRT)/Romeu Martins (PRT) Can-Am Maverick X3 5hr 07min 08.5sec
6. Meshari Al-Thefiri (KWT)/Oriol Vidal (ESP) Can-Am Maverick X3 5hr 12min 35.1sec
7. Alexandre Re (PRT)/Joao Pedro Ré (PRT) South Racing Can-Am Maverick X3 5hr 16min 47.9sec
8. Paulo Rodrigues (PRT)/Miguel Antonio (PRT) Can-Am Maverick X3 5hr 17min 43.9sec
9. Dania Akeel (SAU)/Taye Perry (DEU) South Racing Can-Am Maverick X3 5hr 24min 08.6e
10. Filipe Cameirinha (FRA)/Jeremy Dubois (FRA) Can-Am Maverick X3 5hr 31min 37.9sec
17. Otavio Sousa (BRA)/Joao Ferreira (PRT) South Racing Can-Am Maverick X3 6hr 44min 10.7sec
18. Helder Oliveira (PRT)/Carlos Mendes (PRT) South Racing Can-Am Maverick X3 6hr 45min 11.2sec
Fernando Alvarez (ESP)/Xavier Panseri (FRA) South Racing Can-Am Maverick X3 RETIRED
37th Baja Portalegre 500 – FIA T4 standings:
1. Cristiano Batista (BRA)/Robledo Nicoletti (BRA) South Racing Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR 5hr 07min 36.2sec
2. Alexander Toril (ESP)/Pedro Lopez (ESP) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR 5hr 24min 59.9sec
3. Sean Haran (FRA)/Martin Hales (GBR) Polaris RXR Pro R 5hr 47min 35.6sec
4. Francisco Rodriguez (ESP)/Yony Luis Perez (ESP) Yamaha YXZ 1000 R 6hr 17min 51.5sec
Joao Paula (PRT)/Nuno Mota Ribeiro (PRT) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR 7hr 36min 58.1sec
Ricardo Ramilo Suarez (ESP)/Pol Ros (ESP) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR RETIRED
Carlos Vento (ESP)/Carlos Moreno (ESP) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR RETIRED
Severino Gallini (ITA)/Alberto Marcon (ITA) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR RETIRED
