This weekend’s 38th Baja Portalegre 500 will be the last of the European rounds of the 2024 World Baja Cup before teams head to the Middle East for the final three events in the championship in Qatar, Jordan and Dubai.

The three-day event is based out of the Portalegre municipality in the Alentejo region of eastern Portugal and has attracted a field of 74 vehicles. Twenty-one crews will compete in the Ultimate, category, 39 in Challenger and 14 in SSV.

Somewhat surprisingly, only 12 are registered for the FIA World Baja Cup with just one entrant in Ultimate competing for championship points against five in Challenger and six in SSV. The remainder of the field are mainly focusing on the Portuguese Off-Road Championship.

The Portuguese pairing of João Ferreira and Filipe Palmeiro are the only crew registered for points in the Ultimate category in a series where coefficients come into play with points scoring and front-runners in both the Challenger and SSV sections can also compete for the overall FIA World Baja Cup title.

While Ferreira aims to extend his 25-point advantage over the absent Yazeed Al-Rajhi in the Ultimate category, he is also chasing the overall title in his X-Raid Mini JCW Rally Plus. The Portuguese currently holds second place in the standings, 20 points behind the Spaniard Fernando Alvarez, who is also the leader of the SSV category in his South Racing Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR. Palmeiro leads Alvarez’s French co-driver Xavier Panseri by a similar margin in the Co-drivers’ Championship.

Although not registered for the FIA World Baja Cup, a host of Portuguese drivers will be chasing outright victory in Portugal. They include João Ramos, Francisco Barreto and Luis Recuenco in their Toyotas, the Ford duo of Edgar Condenso and Lino Carapeta and Alejandro Martins in a second X-Raid Mini.

Martinez holds slender Challenger lead over De Mévius

Argentina’s Diego Martinez is fourth in the general classification for the FIA World Baja Cup and leads the Challenger category by just four points in his South Racing Can-Am.

Belgian Ghislain de Mévius (G Rally Team OT3) is his closest challenger and the duo will lock horns in Portugal with the likes of Spaniard Eduardo Pons and Emirati Khalid Al-Jafla in close attention in their Taurus T3 Max machines. Santag Racing’s João Dias has also registered his Can-Am for FIA points.

Martinez’s Uruguayan co-driver Sergio Lafuente has a similar four-point cushion over Johan Jalet in the Co-drivers’ Championship with Spaniard Jaume Betriu 11 points adrift in third.

The rest of the bumper Challenger field is made up of nearly all Portuguese drivers. The list of crews includes Alexandre Pinto, the Santag Racing trio of Armindo Araújo, Marco Pereira and Otávio Leite, Miguel Barbosa, Edgar Reis and South Racing’s Alexander Ré.

Alvarez aims for FIA World Baja Cup and SSV double

Fernando Alvarez is chasing outright victory in the FIA World Baja Cup and also SSV success. He currently holds a 35-point lead over Miguel Toril in the SSV Drivers’ Championship and a cushion of 57 points over the Spaniard’s brother Alex in the second of the Escuderia JMP Racing Can-Ams. Miguel Toril is also third in the FIA World Baja Cup’s Drivers’ Championship.

Quaddy Racing’s Amerigo Ventura and Erika Mingozzi (Yamaha) are registered for points along with the Saudi driver Ibrahim Al-Muhanna and his Emirati navigator Hassan Ali Obaid (Can-Am) and Santag Racing’s Rui Serpa and his co-driver Rui Pita. Xavier Panseri has a massive 67-point cushion over Alex Toril’s sidekick Pedro Lopez in the SSV Co-drivers’ Championship.

Meanwhile, the South Racing Can-Am Team is currently 51 points ahead of the absent Overdrive Racing in the Teams’ Championship and 75 clear of Escuderia JMP Racing.

Action gets underway with a 3.77km Prologue at Coutadas on Friday (October 18th). This will decide the running order for the afternoon’s opening 70.87km stage that runs from Ponte de Sor to Crato.

The majority of the competitive action takes place on Saturday (October 19th) with passes through two demanding stages of 166.78km and 166.20km along narrow rural Portuguese tracks between Ponte de Sor and Herdade das Coutades. Inclement weather conditions can completely alter the nature of the terrain.

In a route of 638.01km, 407.62km will be timed against the clock.

38th Baja Portalegre 500 – leading entries:

Ultimate (top 10):

200. João Ferreira (PRT)/Filipe Palmeiro (PRT)                                         Mini John Cooper Works Rally Plus*    

201. João Ramos (PRT)/João Carvalho (PRT)                                             Toyota Hilux T1+ Evo

202. Edgar Condenso (PRT)/Nuno Silva (PRT)                                           Ford MO EXR05 Proto

203. Lino Carapeta (PRT)/Fábio Carapeta (PRT)                                       Ford Ranger

204. João Lourenço (PRT)/Jorge Monteiro (PRT)                                     Mitsubishi Racing Lancer

205. Francisco Barreto (PRT)/Carlos Silva (PRT)                                       Toyota Hilux

206. Alejandro Martins (PRT)/David Monteiro (PRT)                              Mini John Cooper Works Rally Plus

208. Alejandro Franco (PRT)/Rui Franco (PRT)                                         Mercedes C230 TD

209. Luis Recuenco (PRT)/Sergio Peinado (PRT)                                       Toyota Hilux T1+

210. César Sequeira (PRT)/Tánia Sequiera (PRT)                                      Mercedes 350 SLC Coupe

Challenger (top 10):

300. Diego Martinez (ARG)/Sergio Lafuente (URY)                                  Can-Am Maverick X3*            

301. Ghislain de Mévius (BEL)/Johan Jalet (BEL)                                      G Rally Team OT3*                  

302. Eduardo Pons (ESP)/Oriol Mena (ESP)                                               Taurus T3 Max*      

303. Tiago Reis (PRT)/Candido Carrera (ESP)                                            Taurus T3 Max

304. Khalid Al-Jafla (ARE)/Andrei Rudnitski (LTU)                                                      Taurus T3 Max*                                         

305. João Dias (PRT)/João Miranda (PRT)                                                  Can-Am Maverick X3*

306. Alexandre Pinto (PRT)/Bernando Oliveira (PRT)                              Can-Am Maverick X3

307. Armindo Araújo (PRT)/Luis Ramalho (PRT)                                       Can-Am Maverick X3

308. Paulo Rodrigues (PRT)/Miguel Antonio (PRT)                                                    Can-Am Maverick X3

309. Marco Pereira (PRT)/Eurico Adão (PRT)                                            Can-Am Maverick X3                                

SSV (top 10):

400. Fernando Alvarez (ARG)/Xavier Panseri (FRA)                                 Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR*          

401. Miguel Toril (ESP)/Rosa Romero (ESP)                                              Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR*          

402. Alex Toril (ESP)/Pedro Lopez (ESP)                                                                       Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR*          

403. Amerigo Ventura (ITA)/Erika Mingozzi (ITA)                                                      Yamaha YXZ 1000 R                 *                                

404. Ibrahim Al-Muhanna (SAU)/Hassan Ali Obaid (ARE)                       Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR*

405. João Monteiro (PRT)/Filipe Alves (PRT)                                             Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR

406. Rúben Rodrigues (PRT)/Rui Paulo (PRT)                                            Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR

407. José Oscar Nogueira (PRT)/Arcélio Couto (PRT)                              Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR

408. Rui Serpa (PRT)/Rui Pita (PRT)                                                             Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR*

409. Gonçalo Guerreiro (PRT)/José Sá Pires (PRT)                                                     Polaris RZR Pro R

*denotes registered for the FIA World Baja Cup

Timetable of events

Thursday, October 17

Administration checks, NERPOR                                          07.30-16.00

Scrutineering checks, NERPOR                                             09.00-18.00

Press conference, Jardim do Tarro – Portalegre           21.00hrs

Ceremonial start, Jardim do Tarro – Portalegre            21.30hrs

Friday, October 18

Prologue – 3.77km, Coutades                                                10.45hrs

SS1 - 70.87km, Ponte de Sor                                                 14.30hrs (first car)

Saturday, October 19

SS2 - 166.78km, Ponte de Sor                                               07.50hrs (first car)

SS3 - 166.20km, Ponte de Sor                                               13.15hrs (first car)

Podium ceremony, NERPOR                                                  16.30hrs

Post-event press conference, NERPOR                             17.00hrs

Prize giving ceremony, NERPOR                                          19.30hrs