WRC alumnus Bernardo Sousa took his talents to the W2RC as he beat his fellow Portuguese to win the two-day National class overall at the BP Ultimate Rally-Raid.
After receiving a €750,000 fine for not running the World Rally-Raid Championship due to the programme’s shutdown, Audi has opted to end their appeal and will still have to pay off the money owed.
Sébastien Loeb came up just 35 seconds shy of beating Nasser Al-Attiyah for the Portugal Stage 2 win, but here’s a catch: Loeb was in a Taurus.
Bradley Cox went from being the rare Rally2 rider to beat all the bikes to receiving a 20-minute penalty for leaving the transfer section too soon, giving Tosha Schareina the Stage 1 win.
Portugal came out to play on their home soil as their countrymen swept the BP Ultimate Rally-Raid’s Challenger and SSV classes in the Prologue.
Turkmenistan, one of the most closed countries in the world, will try their hand at hosting another rally raid in September in partnership with Russia’s Silk Way Rally.
KTM rally director Andreas Hölzl told Speedweek not entering the 2024 World Rally-Raid Championship was long planned. Still, their Dakar Rally programme continues and will race Argentina and Morocco.
Dakar winner Ricky Brabec is not making the trip to Portugal with his Honda team-mates as he stays behind in America for a team sponsor function.
The Silk Way Rally’s Russia–Mongolia–China route for 2024 has been abandoned, and the race will now begin in Tomsk, Russia, and end in the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar.
Nearly 900 people and 155 teams will congregate in Agadir for the ninth Morocco Desert Challenge in April.
MING Racing Sports and František Brutovský plan to race their new T1+, a Ford F-150 with some inspiration from Audi, in Bajas like Poland, Hungary and Aragón before culminating in a run at the 2025 Dakar Rally.
105 cars (35 Ultimate, 1 Stock, 32 Challenger, 19 SSV, 17 National, 1 Open) and 64 bikes (9 RallyGP, 35 Rally2, 9 Rally3, 11 Quad) comprise the grid for the inaugural BP UItimate Rally-Raid in Portugal.
Police have arrested 3 officers, 1 for conspiracy, in connection with the search that ended in rally rider Jonathan Savel’s death. Investigators found he and his unit were shot 5 times in unprotected areas.
Undergoing a difficult stretch of his career since the death of brother-in-law Paulo Gonçalves at the 2020 Dakar Rally, Joaquim Rodrigues is walking away from the sport.
When the World Rally-Raid Championship visits his native Portugal in April, João Ferreira will trade in his Can-Am Maverick for his Mini JCW Rally Plus.
ParaBaja Step by Step, a class for racers with disabilities, will appear at all six Spanish Cross-Country Rally Championship races in 2024 as well as the World Rally-Raid Championship’s Portugal round.
After six years together, José Ignacio Cornejo and Monster Energy Honda Rally Team have parted ways. Cornejo says he has already found a new team for the rest of 2024.