Gonçalo Amaral and his older brother Salvador Amaral turned the BP Ultimate Rally-Raid‘s Rally3 class into the Amarally3 class as they finished 1–2 across all five stages.
Regulars in the Portuguese Cross Country Championship, Gonçalo and Salvador kept pace within each other throughout the race, with the former scoring three stage wins and the Prologue to the latter’s two. Gonçalo set the early edge as he cleared Salvador by fifteen and six-and-a-half minutes in Stages #1 and #2, respectively before Salvador returned the favour during the longest day with almost twelve minutes on him in Stage #3. The final two legs saw closer margins within a minute, though their classmates were still a long distance back.
Although Rally3 is the lowest bike class for adapted enduro and production bikes, Gonçalo’s Prologue time was still good to place him top ten overall for the leg. The two were also the only Rally3 riders with top twenty FIM times regardless of category with Gonçalo in seventeenth and Salvador three places back.
By the end, the younger Amaral beat Big Brother by under ten minutes but had over an hour and a half on third-placed Pedro Bianchi Prata. Bianchi, the reigning FIM Bajas World Cup Veterans Trophy winner, was in a hole from the beginning when the bike’s fuel injector broke during Stage #1, causing him to finish second-to-last in class and forty-four minutes back. He quickly made up the lost ground to pass everyone but the Amarals by Stage #3, and spent the second half of the rally duelling John Medina for the last podium spot. Despite crashing into a river crossing in Stage #4, Bianchi cleared Medina by seven minutes on the final leg for third.
“It was a very well-organised race by ACP (Automóvel Club de Portugal),” said Bianchi. “The routes in the Grândola and Santigo do Cacém are spectacular and the whole of Mação with difficult navigation was epic, then we went to Spain where the stage was quite hard with rocks and very technical and we came back on the sand of Grândola. It was five hard but unforgettable days.
“I’m happy with the result and I benefitted from my experience and attention to the roadbook to move up to third place in the class, as I had some mishaps that caused me to lose a lot of time.”
Gustavo Milutín rounded out the finishing order in his first rally raid outside of his native Argentina. He ran the World Rally-Raid Championship‘s Desafío Ruta 40 in 2023, albeit in the navigation-based Desafío Ansenuza.
The BP Ultimate Rally-Raid was the first round of the 2024 W2RC with the Rally3 class after not appearing at the Dakar Rally or Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge.
Rally3 overall results
| Finish | Number | Rider | Team | Time | Margin |
| 1 | 50 | Gonçalo Amaral | Wingmotor Honda | 11:13:57 | Leader |
| 2 | 51 | Salvador Amaral | Wingmotor Honda | 11:23:48 | + 9:51 |
| 3 | 77 | Pedro Bianchi Prata | Pedro Bianchi Prata | 12:46:43 | + 1:32:46 |
| 4 | 67 | John Medina Salazar | Xraids Experience | 12:46:57 | + 1:33:00 |
| 5 | 78 | Francisco España | Francisco España | 14:30:16 | + 3:16:19 |
| 6 | 73 | José Flores García | José Flores García | 45:12;28 | + 33:58:31 |
| 7 | 79 | Gustavo Milutín | Max Clean Rally Team | 54:48:38 | + 43:34:41 |
Rally3 stage winners
| Stage | Driver | Time |
| Prologue | Gonçalo Amaral | 3:41.0 |
| Stage #1 | Gonçalo Amaral | 1:26:15 |
| Stage #2 | Gonçalo Amaral | 1:55:45 |
| Stage #3 | Salvador Amaral | 3:46:02 |
| Stage #4 | Gonçalo Amaral | 2:53:04 |
| Stage #5 | Salvador Amaral | 56:18 |
W2RC Rally3 standings
For readability, competitors registered for the championship who have not earned points are excluded.
| Rank | Rider | Points | Margin |
| 1 | Gonçalo Amaral | 25 | Leader |
| 2 | Salvador Amaral | 20 | 5 |
| 3 | Pedro Bianchi Prata | 16 | 9 |
| 4 | John Medina Salazar | 13 | 12 |
| 5 | Francisco España | 11 | 14 |
| 6 | José Flores García | 10 | 15 |
