The Portuguese round of the World Cup for Cross Country Baja was, once again, the stage of all decisions. With several titles up for grabs, the first to smile was Orlando Terranova. The Argentinian, with Bernardo Graue at his side on the Mini John Cooper Works Rally won the Automóvel Club de Portugal event.
An excellent debut at the Baja Portalegre 500 which, in terms of World Cup competitors, was completely dominated by Terranova. Vladimir Vasilyev never managed to offer a fight, while Jakub Przygonski (Mini John Cooper Works Rally) also found it hard to follow the Argentinian pace and ended third overall, after a suffering a puncture in the afternoon. A result, however, which allowed the Polish to finish the World Cup in second after the Russian’s retirement earlier this Saturday.
Meanwhile, with his eyes set on the Dakar, last year’s winner of the Baja, Nani Roma finished second, adding up important kilometers at the wheel of the Borgward BX7 Dkr EVO.
The best Portuguese driver was Hélder Oliveira. The Mini All4 Racing driver was fourth, followed by brothers Ricardo and Manuel Porém, winners of SS4 after sorting out some problems with the steering of his Borgward BX7 Dkr Evo.
As for the National Championship, Tiago Reis was a somewhat surprise winner after finishing sixth overall and benefiting from Alexandre Ré’s withdraw.