The 30th Baja Portalegre 500 is going down in the history of Off Road. Ricardo Porém managed his third consecutive win at the Alto Alentejo event, a first in the record books of the Baja. Adding to that, Nuno Matos and Filipe Serra, both from Portalegre, won the title after an intense fight with João Ramos and Vítor Jesus.

With no championship to think about, Ricardo Porém arrived at Portalegre with a sole objective. The Leiria driver, along with his Portalegre co-driver Filipe Palmeiro, was searching for victory and made it quite clear since the beginning. Today, and after finishing the first day in the lead, he set the pace once again during the morning, and the advantage he managed was enough to get the lead during the afternoon. He ended up with a 4:52 second advantage over Xavier Pons.

“It’s great. I’m very happy. I have no word. The 30th edition [of the Baja], my third consecutive win. I’ve made history in this event. I want to congratulate these fantastic spectators and all my opponents, which made it hard for me to win. This car has no wings, but sometimes we give them to it,” said Porém.

With the victor of the 30th Baja Portalegre 500 known, the focus of attentions went to the fight between Nuno Matos and João Ramos. Finishing in front would represent the title, a first for any of them. The Porto driver took the best over his Alentejo rival during the first day of the Baja, but the story of this last stage was different. On SS3, Matos recovered the time lost, and during the afternoon he imposed himself over his opponent to ensure the Championship.

It was a dramatic end. Ramos lost time since the middle of SS4. The loss of the power steering was determinant. Adding to that, he also suffered a puncture near the end. Nuno Matos also faced problems of his own, and made it to the liaison at the Parc Fermé with a puncture on his Opel Mokka Proto.

“It was great! A dream come true in a spectacular event. The title was fought to the second. Winning in Portalegre, in my 20th participation, in my 10th championship and in the last round, is fantastic. I want to congratulate João. If he was to have won the Championship it would also have been fair.”