It was a dominant João Ramos that entered the last event of the season, the Baja Portalegre 500. At the wheel of a Toyota Hylux, Ramos finished the first day of competition at the top of the overall classification after having won the Prologue and SS2.
This strong start to the Automóvel Club de Portugal’s event meant that Ramos, despite not having any chance to be Champion, ended up postponing Ricardo Porém’s celebrations until tomorrow.
“It was a great first day of competition. The Prologue went quite well. In SS2 we had a very strong pace; we reached a top speed of 183 km/h! We’ve made a huge average,” said João Ramos.
Meanwhile, the Championship leader Ricardo Porém lost some ground. An off track incursion with his Ford Ranger at the start of the Prologue was almost the end of the competition for him. Nevertheless, he manage to finish second, and followed up in the afternoon’s SS2 with an easy pace to finish the day 8,68 seconds from Ramos.
“My objective is to win the Baja; that’s the way for me to reach my two goals. I’ve made a mistake in the Prologue and another one in SS2 which prevented me from finishing the day at the front. I will try to impose my pace tomorrow,” said Porém at the Service Park.