W2RC BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal Stage 3
Story: Rally-Raid Portugal
April 05, 2024
Tosha Schareina (Monster Energy HRC) in action during the Stage 3 of the 2024 BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal.
Image courtesy ASO / Paulo Maria
SCHAREINA HOLDS OFF BÜHLER TO LEAD INTO SPAIN
Monster Energy Honda Team rider Tosha Schareina began the longest day of the bp Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal with a 2min 56sec cushion over Hero Motorsports Rally Team rider Sebastien Bühler.
Key Points
Stage 3 —the longest stage of the BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal— took the field from Grândola to the Spanish city of Badajoz today.
Tosha Schareina (Monster Energy Honda) snapped up another win in the Rally GP motorbike race. The Spaniard padded his overall lead over the German Sebastian Bühler (Hero MotoSports).
Bradley Cox (BAS World KTM Racing) claimed another barnstorming victory among the W2RC entrants in the Rally 2 race and cemented his overall lead over his teammate Mathieu Dovèze and Romain Dumontier (Dumontier Racing).
Salvador Amaral took the Rally 3 stage, but his brother Gonçalo remains perched at the top of the leader board.
The Full Story
The Spaniard was able to fend off the German’s challenge as the event crossed the border into Spain. Both riders were the class of the field but Schareina clocked the quickest time and extended his lead to 3min 40sec. The win marked his third of the campaign after the Prologue and stage one successes.
Schareina said: “I had a good starting position. I was sixth on the road. The first part was very fast and the Portuguese riders were going hard. In the second part of the special I tried to attack. Tomorrow, we should have more difficulties opening the road but we will remain calm.”
Bühler said: "It was a really tough stage. At the beginning it was very fast, but then we went to the mountains and the navigation, opening the road, was not easy at all. I think I lost some time there, but then I tried to attack at the end to recover and I think it was a good step.”
Sebastian Būhler (Hero Rally Motosport Team) in action during the Stage 3 of the 2024 BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal.
Image courtesy ASO / Paulo Maria
The motorcycle and quad riders tackled a different route to the FIA competitors with 282 kilometres timed against the clock in a marathon route of 614km that stretched from Grândola and across the border into the Extremadura region of Spain and a night halt in Badajoz.
Portugal’s António Maio got to grips with his Yamaha to set the third quickest time and holds the last place on the provisional podium. Maio said: "It was a long day. The first phase of the special was on a type of terrain that I really like. I managed a safe but fast pace, trying to gain an advantage. In the middle we had the Mação area, more technical and mountainous. Then, in the end, we had faster tracks again. I think I did a good stage. I’m happy to get here. Tomorrow, I’ll have an absolute discovery because I’ve never raced in Spain.”
Bruno Santos was in superb form again on his Rally2 Husqvarna and the fourth quickest time enabled the Portuguese to hold fourth overall and extend his Rally2 lead from 5min 09sec to 15min 56sec over the KTM-riding Spaniard Edgar Canet. Canet is 10th overall.
Santos said: “A crazy stage! An incredible mix of terrain, very fast roads and then a mountain area, a first and with a lot of navigation. I had a lot of fun and I think I got a good result!”
Honda’s Skyler Howes holds fifth and Sherco’s Lorenzo Santolino is sixth.
Frenchman Adrien van Beveren continued his surge through the field after his 12-minute time penalty on day one. He began the day in ninth overall but the fifth quickest time lifted him above Ross Branch of the Hero Motorsports Rally Team and his Chilean team-mate Pablo Quintanilla and into seventh.
Bas World KTM Racing Team’s Bradley Cox is making strong progress after his 20-minute time penalty on the opening day and the South African climbed to 11th overall and third in the Rally2 category at the expense of Mathieu Doveze (KTM) and Romain Dumontier (Husqvarna).
Portuguese Honda rider Gonçalo Amaral is 15th and extended his lead in the Rally3 section to 15min 34sec over his brother Salvador.
French veteran David Casteu has entered the event to prepare for another attempt at the Dakar next year and has guided his Husqvarna to 16th.
