The Baja de Loulé 2018 hit the road on Saturday morning with the competitors competing in the Vale Judeu area under the rain sign. But the weather conditions did not impede the good performances of João Ramos (cars), António Maio (motorcycles), Pedro Carvalho/André Guerreiro (SSV) and Wilson Galo (quads).
Note to Pedro Ferreira/Hugo Magalhães' intercom problems, which ended up causing South Racing's Ford Ranger to do no better than ninth place.
In the early afternoon, the competitors left to dispute the first selective. On motorcycles, António Maio showed that he wants to revalidate last year's triumph, by being the fastest, followed by a surprising Martim Ventura, on the Yamaha of the TT1 category, and by Salvador Vargas, first of the TT3, after having “stolen” that put to Mário Patrão, both in KTM.
In the quads, Arnaldo Martins (Suzuki) also wants to validate the Algarve's laurels, with almost two minutes ahead of Fernando Cardoso (Yamaha) with the third being Filipe Silva (Suzuki).
In the hobby class, aimed at bikers with little competitive experience in recent years, Loulé rider Renato Palma (KTM) was the fastest, followed by Monchiquense Márcio Encarnação (Yamaha) and Anthony Nicholls (KTM).
In the small, restless SSV, the fight is raging, with the top six fitting in the same minute and with the curiosity of the top-8 only containing Can-Am.
Marco and João Silva lead with 12 seconds ahead of Henrique Nogueira/Hugo Silva and the returning Lourenço Rosa, in the company of Joaquim Dias, who returns this season after many years away from off-roading.
The race was led by Ricardo Carvalho, but the Yamaha rider suffered a two-minute penalty for late arrival at a time control, and is now in ninth position. In fifteenth, follow Mário Franco/Luís Engeitado (Yamaha), who lead among the T2.
In cars, João Ramos/Victor Jesus (Toyota) kept the dominant tune of the morning, having more than a minute and a half ahead of identical car of Alejandro Martins/José Marques and 1.53 minutes ahead of Hélder Oliveira/Pedro Pires de Lima ( Mini).
This is followed by Pedro Ferreira/Hugo Magalhães (Ford) and Pedro Dias da Silva/José Janela, the fastest among the competitors in the Mazda Challenge. Among the vehicles closest to the series, the leader is Rui Sousa/Carlos Silva in Prolama's Isuzu D-Max. Mário Duarte/José Motaco (Toyota), the best among the T8.
A final note for the competitors of the TT Portugal Cup, which had Simão Comenda/Luís Coito (Nissan) being the quickest.
This Sunday, the Serra do Caldeirão receives a second Selective Sector with 76,28 km for motorcycles and SSV and 81,6 km for cars. This last distance will be covered by motorcycles and quadricycles in its third SS, while cars will depart for a route with 142,15 km of distance, passing through iconic areas such as Cortelha, Santa Cruz or Corte Figueira.
Competitors who survive the hardships of the route will see their consecration at Jardim das Comunidade, in Almancil, at 16 pm.
The Baja de Loulé 2018 is an organization of the Clube Automóvel do Algarve, under the aegis of the Portuguese Federation of Automobile and Karting and the Motorcycling Federation of Portugal, with the high sponsorship of the municipality of Loulé and the Parish Council of Almancil and also with the support of the municipalities of S. Brás de Alportel, Tavira, Alcoutim, and Almodôvar, Algarpneus, Solverde Casinos and Hotels, Acrimolde and COPS.
You can find more information about the event through the Algarve Automobile Club website, and follow its development on social networks: www.facebook.com/CAAlgarve ou https://twitter.com/CAAlgarve
Photos: Rui Sousa Santos | Sul Informação
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