World Rally-Raid Championship

2024 BP Ultimate Rally-Raid: Nasser Al-Attiyah takes Ultimate points lead

4 Mins read
Credit: Kin Marcin/Red Bull Content Pool

Nasser Al-Attiyah‘s quest for a third consecutive World Rally-Raid Championship started on the wrong foot when he retired from the Dakar Rally, but he seems to have regained his footing since. After winning the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge in February, he continued his newfound momentum with a victory in the inaugural BP Ultimate Rally-Raid.

Returning to Portugal, the site of his maiden race with Prodrive when he ran the Baja Portalegre 500 last October, Al-Attiyah won two stages and held off a late charge by João Ferreira to win by nearly three minutes. After winning the Prologue, Al-Attiyah had a relatively slow Stage #1 as he finished sixth before hitting his stride with back-to-back stage wins.

Yazeed Al-Rajhi trailed Al-Attiyah by just twenty seconds after Stage #2 but was eliminated by a rollover the following day, leaving Ferreira as the next closest rival. An SSV regular who switched to a Mini JCW Rally Plus for his home race, Ferreira sliced his deficit in half after Stage #4 to 2:41, but finished behind Al-Attiyah in the fifth and final stage. Ferreira also won the concurrent Portuguese Cross-Country Championship round that was run across the first two days.

With his win, Al-Attiyah moves past Ferreira’s Mini team-mate Carlos Sainz for the championship lead. His co-driver Édouard Boulanger, now two-for-two by his side, also assumes the top spot for his position.

“This was a very tricky rally and we had to be clever,” said Al-Attiyah. “Thank you to my co-driver Édouard and to Prodrive for the car. Now we have won two races and we’re leading the championship.”

Reunited with Mini for Portugal, Sainz narrowly missed the overall podium as he finished less than three minutes behind Lucas Moraes, who moved past him for third by winning Stage #5. Although he won at Dakar, his Team Audi Sport shuttered operations shortly after and left him out of a ride for the Abu Dhabi (for which they were fined). Despite being second in points and certainly still a championship contender, he has stressed that he is not racing the full calendar following Audi’s demise.

“I’m happy I came here and made this race. I now understand what this rally is all about and it was a good experience,” Sainz commented.

Toyota remains the manufacturer’s championship leader after a tumultuous race. Moraes and Guerlain Chicherit both scored stage wins for the Hilux, but the latter retired the day after his victory when he crashed into a tree. Their team-mates Seth Quintero and Guillaume de Mévius struggled with mechanical issues throughout, though Quintero was able to salvage a runner-up effort in Stage #4. Toyota Gazoo Racing‘s Saood Variawa received a two-hour time penalty after speeding too many times in a control zone, then opted to retire to preserve his vehicle for the South African Rally-Raid Championship.

Chicherit and Variawa were among twelve retirements, with other victims including W2RC contenders Marcos Baumgart and Aliyyah Koloc for mechanical reasons. Vaidotas Žala was forced out by a bizarre incident in which a crew member accidentally poured contaminated fuel into his Mini. Eduard Pons‘ Ultimate début in Past-Racing‘s Ford Ranger T1+ was cut short by an alternator failure. The alternator also claimed the Red-Lined Nissan of Dave Klaassen, while his team-mate Pim Klaassen overcame oil leaks and tpunctures to reach the finish.

Despite not reaching the finish, Quintero remarked that the race was “the most fun rally that I’ve ever done. The fans here have been unreal, it’s just a smile the whole time, there’s so many people lining the whole course.”

Ultimate overall results

FinishNumberDriverCo-DriverTeamClassTimeMargin
1201Nasser Al-AttiyahÉdouard BoulangerNasser RacingT1+10:02:57Leader
2214João FerreiraFilipe PalmeiroX-raid Mini JCW TeamT1+10:05:46+ 2:49
3205Lucas MoraesArmand MonleónToyota Gazoo RacingT1+10:06:33+ 3:36
4200Carlos SainzAlex HaroX-raid Mini JCW TeamT1+10:09:09+ 6:12
5204Yazeed Al-RajhiTimo GottschalkOverdrive RacingT1+10:20:08+ 17:11
6209Cristian BaumgartGustavo GugelminX Rally TeamT1+10:25:07+ 22:10
7223Francisco Barreto*Carlos SilvaBarata Racing TeamT1+10:25:46+ 22:49
8211Juan Cruz YacopiniDaniel OliveirasOverdrive RacingT1+10:49:54+ 46:57
9220Isidre Esteve*José Maria Villalobos ValcarcelOverdrive RacingT1+11:04:32+ 1:01:35
10232Maria Luís Gameiro*José MarquesMaria Luís GameiroT1+12:04:48+ 2:01:51
11228Ronald Schoolderman*Mark Salomons4×4 Centrum ErmeloT1.112:54:15+ 2:51:18
12224Benoit Fretin*Cédric DupléBenoit FretinT1.213:01:21+ 2:58:24
13230Stefan Carmans*Arjan van TielStefan CarmansT1+13:26:58+ 3:24:01
14231Rik van den Brink*Gydo HeimansRik van den BrinkT1.113:28:04+ 3:25:07
15207Denis KrotovKonstantin ZhiltsovOverdrive RacingT1+13:41:03+ 3:38:06
16206Seth QuinteroDennis ZenzToyota Gazoo RacingT1+16:44:54+ 6:41:57
17225Magdalena Zajac*Marcin PasekProxcars TME Rally TeamT1.119:35:53+ 9:32:56
18226Tomasz Baranowski*Konrad DudzińskiFinarto RacingT1.124:48:39+ 14:45:42
19215Lionel BaudLucie BaudOverdrive RacingT1+30:53:55+ 20:50:58
20203Guillaume de MéviusXavier PanseriOverdrive RacingT1+31:00:32+ 20:57:35
21213Eugenio AmosPaolo CeciOverdrive RacingT1+33:48:57+ 23:46:00
22233Pim Klaassen*Teun van DalDaklaPack RallysportT1.135:49:48+ 25:46:51
23227José Rogeira*Paulo MarquesJosé RogeiraT1.147:24:22+ 37:21:25
DNF202Guerlain ChicheritMathieu BaumelOverdrive RacingT1+DNFN/A
DNF208Saood VariawaFrançois CazaletToyota Gazoo RacingT1+DNFN/A
DNF210Marcos BaumgartKleber CinceaX Rally TeamT1+DNFN/A
DNF212Aliyyah KolocSébastien DelaunayBuggyra ZM RacingT1+DNFN/A
DNF216Vaidotas Žala*Paulo FiúzaUnique Racing TeamT1+DNFN/A
DNF217Tiago Reis*Valter CardosoTiago ReisT1+DNFN/A
DNF218João Ramos*Jorge CarvalhoJoão RamosT1+DNFN/A
DNF219Alejandro Martins*David MonteiroAlejandro MartinsT1+DNFN/A
DNF221Eduard Pons*Candido CarreraPast-RacingT1+DNFN/A
DNF222Jose Luis Garcia*Manuel NavarroEscudería Villa de LlanesT1.1DNFN/A
DNF229Rients Hofstra*Wouter de GraafRients HofstraT1.1DNFN/A
DNF234Dave Klaassen*Tessa RoothDaklaPack RallysportT1.1DNFN/A
* – Not competing in World Rally-Raid Championship

Ultimate stage winners

StageDriverTime
PrologueNasser Al-Attiyah3:41.9
Stage #1Guerlain Chicherit1:13:54
Stage #2Nasser Al-Attiyah1:47:21
Stage #3Nasser Al-Attiyah3:31:47
Stage #4Yazeed Al-Rajhi2:33:43
Stage #5Lucas Moraes49:56

W2RC Ultimate standings

Unlike Challenger and SSV, Ultimate does not have its own class-specific trophy and instead has a single championship where drivers from all three points-paying categories are eligible.

For readability, competitors registered for the championship who have not earned points are excluded.

Drivers’ standings

RankDriverPointsMargin
1Nasser Al-Attiyah112Leader
2Carlos Sainz100– 12
3Yazeed Al-Rajhi79– 33
4Lucas Moraes76– 36
5Guerlain Chicherit69– 43
6Guillaume de Mévius65– 47
7Rokas Baciuška43– 69
8Seth Quintero39– 73
9Martin Prokop36– 76
10João Ferreira34– 78
11Austin Jones33– 79
12Mathieu Serradori32– 80
13Cristian Baumgart27– 85
14Denis Krotov26– 86
15Saood Variawa22– 90
16Juan Cruz Yacopini17– 95
17Yasir Seaidan16– 96
18Mattias Ekström15– 97
19Marcos Baumgart14– 98
20Stéphane Peterhansel13– 99
T-21Mitch Guthrie11– 101
T-21Nicolás Cavigliasso11– 101
23Pau Navarro9– 103
24Ricardo Porém8– 104
T-25Sebastián Guayasamín7– 105
T-25Dania Akeel7– 105
27Aliyyah Koloc6– 106
T-28Rebecca Busi5– 107
T-28Mário Franco5– 107
T-30Sara Price4– 108
T-30Eugenio Amos4– 108
T-30Ricardo Ramilo4– 108
33Krzysztof Hołowczyc3– 109
34Marcelo Gastaldi2– 110
35Lionel Baud1– 111

Co-drivers’ standings

RankCo-DriverPointsMargin
1Édouard Boulanger107Leader
2Timo Gottschalk79– 28
T-3Lucas Cruz76– 31
T-3Armand Monleón76– 31
5Xavier Panseri65– 42
6Alex Winocq64– 43
7Oriol Vidal43– 64
8Dennis Zenz39– 68
9Viktor Chytka36– 71
10Filipe Palmeiro34– 73
11Loïc Minaudier32– 75
T-12Konstantin Zhiltsov26– 81
T-12Oriol Mena26– 81
14Alex Haro24– 83
15Mathieu Baumel23– 84
16François Cazalet22– 85
17Gustavo Gugelmin18– 89
18Daniel Oliveiras17– 90
19Alberto Andreotti16– 91
20Emil Bergkvist15– 92
21Kleber Kincea14– 93
T-22Kellon Walch11– 96
T-22Michaël Metge11– 96
T-22Valentina Pertegarini11– 96
25Andreas Schulz9– 98
26Luís Marques8– 99
T-27Fernando Matias Acosta7– 100
T-27Stéphane Duplé7– 100
29Sébastien Delaunay6– 101
T-30Adrien Metge5– 102
T-30Sergio Lafuente5– 102
T-30João Serôdio5– 102
T-33Paolo Ceci4– 103
T-33Jeremy Gray4– 103
T-33Fausto Mota4– 103
36Łukasz Kurzeja3– 104
37Carlos Sachs2– 105
38Lucie Baud1– 106

Manufacturers’ standings

RankManufacturerPointsMargin
1Toyota143Leader
2Prodrive120– 23
3Mini77– 66
4Audi76– 67
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