The Dacia Sandriders Team duo led from the second day and completed the short final stage at the Algarve stadium to confirm a 2min 46sec victory over Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC’s Seth Quintero and Andrew Short. Nine-time WRC champion Loeb won the second stage and then managed his pace to perfection to secure a vital win.

Loeb said: “It was good. We won the rally. Good memories from this place. I had some good moments in Faro on rallies (WRC) in the past. It was not easy, very technical on the rocks. It was really a challenge. The car was working well. We scored a lot of points. That’s the most we could expect. The first win for us this season and back-to-back wins for the team.”

Runner-up Quintero moved up to third in the Drivers’ Championship. He added: “It was good. It was nice to have a good finish in Portugal. I love this place. We had some bad luck the last two years but second place is good and we scored some pretty good points for second place.”

João Ferreira and Filipe Palmeiro represented Toyota Gazoo Racing SA and rounded off the podium places. The Portuguese crew won the first and fourth stages, but punctures and a speeding penalty proved expensive.

Ferreira said: “We scored a few more points for the championship. I’m very happy and thankful to Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa and SVR for all their hard work.”

Lucas Moraes teamed up with Dennis Zenz to earn his first stage victory for the Dacia Sandriders Team on day three and the Brazilian was also quickest on the final stage to secure fourth place. The Dacia Sandriders team duly extended its lead over Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC to an unofficial 83 points in the Manufacturers’ series.

Ferreira’s team-mates Guy Botterill and Oriol Mena hovered around the podium most of the week but a puncture cost them valuable time. The South African and his Spanish navigator rounded off the top five, with the driver suffering from sickness on the final day.

Overdrive Racing ran a Toyota Hilux GR for Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk. They also scored Manufacturers’ points for Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC. The Saudi finished sixth and kick-started his W2RC campaign after a retirement on the Dakar Rally. He had been permitted to start after incurring a suspended 10,000 EUR fine for having a damaged marking on the bladder of the Toyota’s fuel tank.

The Energylandia Rally Team fielded a pair of Toyotas for Eryk Goczal and his father Marek with their respective navigators, Szymon Gospodarczyk and Maciej Marton. They finished in seventh and 10th positions, with Portugal’s Francisco Barreto (Toyota) and Challenger category winner Alexandre Pinto (Taurus) sandwiched between them in eighth and ninth. Eryk Goczal survived a drive shaft breakage on the start line of the short final stage.

Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and Belgian navigator Fabian Lurquin picked up crucial stage points but massive time delays on day three with electrical issues cost the Dacia crew dearly. They finished 38th overall.

Al-Attiyah said: “I am happy to finish this race. We have one day with electrical problems on the car. This is rally! Now we are second in the championship behind Sébastien (Loeb) but we have three different races to come in Argentina, Morocco and Abu Dhabi.”

Sixty-five crews eventually made the start with 43 of those registered for the W2RC. Twenty-four took part in the Ultimate category with nine in Challenger, seven in SSV and three in Stock.

Heavy rain was forecast for the opening leg that was split into two stages – a 177.35km run across remote rural terrain from Alentejo to Agua Derramada and a short 3.07km section back in Grândola. This was identical to the Prologue stage that was used by the motorcycles but run in reverse.

Ferreira topped the times on both selective sections to take an overnight lead of 17 seconds over Quintero with Loeb heading the Dacias in third. Toyotas filled the next two positions, courtesy of Botterill and Al-Rajhi. Al-Attiyah was down in fifth after picking up a one-minute speeding penalty.

Lategan suffered rear axle damage and dropped to 52nd, 36min 11sec behind the leading Portuguese. He said: “A tough day in the office. We clipped a tree early in the stage and broke a rear toe link. Small mistakes can have big consequences.”

Toyota’s Saood Variawa incurred a maximum stage penalty for hitting a tree after just 19km, while Laia Sanz (Ebro S800) crashed and Mark Mustermann (Ford) also incurred massive time penalties for failing to complete the stage. The Austrian retired the following day.

The opening leg was an unmitigated disaster for Ford Racing. All three Raptors in the hands of Carlos Sainz, Mattias Ekström and Denis Krotov retired and withdrew from the event. Czech privateer Martin Prokop also retired his Raptor. Sainz suffered engine problems after 123km, Ekström crashed 11km further into the stage and Prokop also succumbed to engine issues.

Ekström said: “We felt good in the car and were enjoying the rally but the car developed a technical issue. We fought to nurse it home but it led to an unlikely driver mistake and forced us to retire. We win and lose together as a team.”

Stage two crossed the border into the Extremadura region of western Spain and included a stage of 377.05km en route to a night halt in Badajoz.

Loeb managed to take the stage win – the 24th in his W2RC career - from Botterill and Quintero and grabbed a slender overnight lead over his Toyota rivals. Ferreira had opened the road and slipped back to fourth, ahead of Moraes, Al-Rajhi, Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Serradori.

Leg three’s competitive action ran for 296.07km through rural terrain to the east of Badajoz, starting near Don Benito and finishing at Villafranca de Los Barros. Moraes earned his first stage win for Dacia and the second quickest time enabled Loeb to extend his outright lead to 87 seconds over Quintero, who punctured twice. Moraes moved ahead of Botterill into third but Ferreira punctured and incurred a two-minute speeding penalty that dropped him to fifth.

Intermittent electrical charging issues cost Al-Attiyah dearly and the Qatari was unable to complete the stage. Miroslav Zapletal joined the Dacia driver on the list of retirements and Serradori also lost considerable time after an accident. Lategan veered off the road after 62km, crashed heavily and the team decided to withdraw the Toyota before the start of the fourth stage.

The penultimate leg started out of Extremadura and crossed back into Portugal via the Alentejo region en route south to the Algarve and the overnight halt in Loulé. The stage ran for 315.84km.

Ferreira claimed his second win of the campaign from Loeb, Botterill, Quintero and Moraes. Loeb duly extended his lead over Quintero to 2min 30sec. Ferreira moved up to third followed by Botterill, Moraes and Al-Rajhi. Variawa crashed and damaged his Toyota’s suspension after just 12km and withdrew after his second stage retirement of the weekend.

The final day’s action was split into two stages of 98.54km and a short run of 2.02km at the Algarve stadium to wrap up proceedings. Moraes pipped Al-Attiyah to the fastest time on the opener where leader Loeb finished fourth. He held on to claim a second stage win, as Loeb secured outright victory.

Pinto and Oliveira earn victory in Challenger

After switching from the SSV category, the Portuguese duo of Alexandre Pinto and Bernardo Oliveira dominated the Challenger section. The Taurus T3 crew were fastest on four of the five days on their way to ninth overall and a category winning margin of 6min 10sec.

The G Rally Team’s Charles Munster and Xavier Panseri picked up points for second place in their G-ECKO. The Luxembourg driver said: “It was a nice rally for us and P2 was good after a difficult Dakar. The Portuguese are very competitive but we scored good points and the team will be happy with two G Rally on the podium.”

Rui Carneiro and Fausto Moto rounded off the podium positions in the second of the G Rally Team machines. Pedro Gonçalves and Hugo Maghalães finished fourth in a Taurus T3 Max and Puck Klaassen teamed up with Augusto Sanz to take seventh and fifth of the registered crews in a third G-ECKO.

First blood in the Challenger section on SS1 went to the local Cattiva Sport duo of Ricardo Porém and Nuno Sousa in their Kaizen S1. Porém got the better of Juan Gasso by 3min 21sec. Spierings was the quickest of the W2RC registered drivers from Mitchel Van Den Brink and Lucas Del Rio.

Dania Akeel and Pau Navarro suffered technical issues and incurred stage time penalties. The Spaniard stopped after just eight kilometres of the first stage.

Pinto claimed victory on the second stage from a closely-matched Porém and Munster. But the opening stage winner maintained a 7min 10sec advantage over his fellow Portuguese with Munster in third. Akeel had been forced to retire with engine woes after a second day of problems and Del Rio failed to finish the stage.

Pinto won his second successive special on day three and snatched the outright Challenger advantage from Munster after Porém lost time. Ongoing problems forced early championship leader Navarro to withdraw his Bairons SRT Viking.

Del Rio and Porém were both sidelined on the fourth stage where Pinto was again quickest from Munster and took a 4min 51sec lead into the final day. Another stage win sealed victory for Pinto on the final day with Porém and Munster coming home second and third on the stage.

The Argentine pairing of Nicolas Cavigliasso and Valentina Pertegarini were late withdrawals after opting to follow an alternative motor sport programme this season.

Barbosa and Lutas on top in SSVs; maximum W2RC points for Monteiro and Morais

The Portuguese crew of Miguel Barbosa and Joel Lutas claimed victory in the SSVs in a Polaris RXR Pro R but the veteran was not registered for the W2RC.

Maximum points in the category went to the second-placed Can-Am Factory Team’s João Monteiro and Nuno Morais. Their Argentinian team-mates, Jeremias Gonzalez Ferioli and Gonzalo Rinaldi, rounded off the podium places in a second Maverick R entered by the Can-Am Factory Team–Latam.

The South Racing Can-Am Team duo of Luís Cidade and Valter Cardoso topped the SSV times on the opening stage and carved out an early lead of just four seconds from Luís Portela Morais (Polaris). Barbosa was third.

SSV series leader Monteiro beat Luís Portela Morais by 52 seconds to win the second stage with Barbosa coming home in third again. Portela Morais arrived in Spain with an overall advantage of 2min 36sec over Barbosa. Cidade incurred a maximum time penalty for failing to finish the stage and plummeted out of contention.

He was back to winning ways on stage three, however, but the Portuguese was already out of contention for the outright SSV win. He beat Barbosa by just 10 seconds but Portela Morais continued to lead Barbosa by 1min 43sec. Monteiro was third but Mindaugas Sidabras rolled his Can-Am and lost valuable time. He would eventually finish seventh and pick up W2RC points for third in the category.

Cidade was quickest again on day four, despite a one-minute time penalty, and beat Monteiro by 56 seconds. Barbosa inherited the overall lead from Monteiro after Portela Morais suffered alternator and battery issues after 112km and retired. Gonzalez Ferioli moved up to third.

Barbosa held on to take the category win without actually earning a stage success. Runner-up Monteiro claiming the fastest time on the last stage from Cidade. The latter was classified in 12th and fifth of the registered drivers after team-mate Pedro Macdowell’s retirement.

Peterhansel and Metge victorious in Stock

Multiple Dakar champion Stéphane Peterhansel and his navigator Michael Metge fended off their Defender Rally Team colleagues Rokas Baciuška and Sara Price to win the Stock category in the first of three Defender Dakar D7x-Rs.

The Frenchman won one of the five days and managed his pace through the final stage to finish 2min 29sec in front of Baciuška and his Spanish navigator Oriol Vidal. Price and Sean Berriman lost over an hour on day three but won two legs on their way to third.

Peterhansel said: “All the race was well organised. It is really cool to win the Stock category in Portugal.”

Baciuška got the better of Defender team-mate Peterhansel by exactly one minute to snatch the honours in the opening stage. Price was third, albeit 7min 03sec in arrears.

The three Defender crews continued to trade blows on leg two with Price snatching the stage win from Peterhansel and Baciuška, although the Lithuanian continued to lead by just 15 seconds from Peterhansel.

The Frenchman won the third stage by 7min 12sec from Baciuška and moved into a 6min 57sec advantage with two days remaining. Price dropped over an hour to her team-mates but bounced back with the quickest time on the fourth leg where Peterhansel’s lead was trimmed to 3min 54sec.

Baciuška won the final stage into Loulé but Peterhansel held on for the victory.

The next round of the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship will be the Desafío Ruta 40 in Argentina on May 24th-29th.

2026 BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal  – final result:

1. Sébastien Loeb (FRA)/Edouard Boulanger (FRA) Dacia Sandrider                                     10hr 58min 52sec

2. Seth Quintero (USA)/Andrew Short (USA) Toyota Hilux GR                                              11hr 01min 38sec

3. Joāo Ferreira (POR)/Filipe Palmeiro (POR) Toyota Hilux GR                                              11hr 02min 29sec

4. Lucas Moraes (BRA)/Dennis Zenz (GER) Dacia Sandrider                                                  11hr 03min 28sec

5. Guy Botterill (RSA)/Oriol Mena (ESP) Toyota Hilux GR                                                                        11hr 04min 19sec

6. Yazeed Al-Rajhi (KSA)/Timo Gottschalk (GER) Toyota Hilux GR                                         11hr 10min 47sec                        

7. Eryk Goczal (POL)/Szymon Gospodarczyk (POL) Toyota Hilux Evo                                    11hr 21min 06sec

8. Francisco Barreto (POR)/Paulo Fiuza (POR) Toyota Hilux Evo                                           11hr 30min 21sec*

9. Alexandre Pinto (POR)/Bernardo Oliveira (POR) Taurus T3 Max                                       11hr 32min 44sec

10. Marek Goczal (POL)/Maciej Marton (POL) Toyota Hilux Evo                                           11hr 36min 48sec

11. Charles Munster (LUX)/Xavier Panseri (FRA) G Rally Team G-ECKO                                11hr 38min 54sec

12. Marcos Baumgart (BRA)/Kleber Cincea (BRA) Toyota Hilux Evo                                      11hr 39min 01sec

13. Lucio Alvarez (ARG)/Bernando Graue (ARG) Toyota Hilux Evo                                        11hr 39min 46sec

14. Miguel Barbosa (POR)/Joel Lutas (POR) Polaris RZR Pro R                                               11hr 43min 12sec*                      

15. João Monteiro (POR)/Nuno Morais (POR) Can-Am Maverick R                                       11hr 45min 13sec

16. Stéphane Peterhansel (FRA)/Michael Metge (FRA) Defender Dakar D7X-R                    11hr 57min 33sec

17. Rokas Baciuška (LTU)/Oriol Vidal (ESP) Defender Dakar D7X-R                                       12hr 00min 02sec

18. Jeremias Gonzalez Ferioli (ARG)/Gonzalo Rinaldi (ARG) Can-Am Maverick R                 12hr 00min 09sec      

19. Andrea Deldossi (FRA)/Jeremy Tricaud (FRA) Can-Am Maverick R                                 12hr 06min 06sec*                      

20. Cristian Baumgart (BRA)/Luis Felipe Eckel (BRA) Toyota Hilux Evo                                 12hr 11min 59sec*

21. Rui Carneiro (POR)/Fausto Mota (POR) G Rally Team G-ECKO                                        12hr 24min 58sec

22. Paulo Rodrigues (POR)/João Miranda (POR) Can-Am Maverick R                                   12hr 26min 37sec*

23. Kees Koolen (NED)/Wouter Rosegaar (NED) Ford Raptor                                                12hr 28min 39sec

24. Pedro Gonçalves (POR)/Hugo Maghalães (POR) Taurus T3 Max                                     12hr 31min 01sec

25. Rómulo Branco (ANG)/João Serôdio (POR) Taurus T3 Max                                             12hr 46min 29sec*

26. Akira Miura (JPN)/Armand Monleón (ESP) Toyota Hilux GR                                            12hr 47min 10sec

27. José Oscar Nogueira (POR)/Arcélio Couta (POR) Can-Am Maverick R                             12hr 52min 20sec*

28. Pal Lonyai (HUN)/Alexey Kuzmich (ANA) G Rally Team G-ECKO                                      12hr 55min 26sec*

29. Puck Klaassen (NED)/Augusto Sanz (ARG) G Rally Team G-ECKO                                    12hr 58min 57sec

30. Sara Price (USA)/Sean Berriman (USA) Defender Dakar D7X-R                                       13hr 09min 58sec

31. Mindaugas Sidabras (LTU)/Ernestas Česokas (LTU) Can-Am Maverick R                        13hr 44min 25sec

32. Hernán Garcés (CHI)/Juan Pablo Latrach (CHI) Toyota Hilux GR                                      13hr 47min 10sec

33. Juan Piferrer (ESP)/Xavier Blanco (ESP) Can-Am Maverick R                                           13hr 57min 20sec

34. Sam Heyvaert (BEL)/Dave Berghmans (BEL) Nissan Red-Lined VK56                              16hr 52min 08sec*    

35. Mitchel Van Den Brink (NED)/Bart Van Heun (NED) Taurus T3 Max                               21hr 35min 08sec

36. Laia Sanz (ESP)/Maurizio Gerini (ITA) Ebro S800 XRR                                                      23hr 20min 58sec

37. Rúben Rodrigues (POR)/Rui Paulo (POR) Can-Am Maverick R                                         23hr 43min 00sec*

38. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Fabian Lurquin (BEL) Dacia Sandrider                             29hr 17min 55sec

39. Marcelo Gastaldi (BRA)/Crlos Sachs (BRA) Toyota Hilux Evo                                           29hr 52min 51sec*

40. Paul Spierings (NED)/Mark Salomons (NED) Taurus Evo Max                                         30hr 05min 02sec

41. Bruno Oliveira (POR)/Jose Sá Pires (POR) Can-Am Maverick R                                        30hr 29min 07sec*

42. Miroslav Zapletal (CZE)/Marek Sykora (SVK) Ford F150 Evo                                            31hr 03min 00sec

43. Ricardo Porém (POR)/Nuno Sousa (POR) Kaizen S1                                                         31hr 07min 15sec*

44. Mathieu Serradori (FRA)/Loic Minaudier (FRA) Century CR7                                          32hr 21min 31sec

45. Jose Gayoso (ESP)/Santiago Ramiro (ESP) Polaris RZR Pro R                                           33hr 34min 54sec*

46. Luís Cidade (POR)/Valter Cardoso (POR) Can-Am Maverick R                                         34hr 06min 56sec

47. Filipe Lopes (POR)/Gonçalo Reis (POR) Can-Am Maverick R                                           35hr 21min 15sec*

48. Marco Pereira (POR)/Eurico Adão (POR) Can-Am-Maverick X3                                       35hr 45min 02sec*

Luís Portela Morais (POR)/David Megre (POR) Polaris RZR Pro R                                          RETIRED – SS5*

Juan Gasso (ESP)/Ion Del Cid (ESP) G Rally Team OT3                                                           RETIRED – SS5*

Pedro Macdowell (BRA)/Daniel Spolidorio (BRA) Can-Am Maverick R                                  RETIRED – SS5

Matthias Walkner (AUT)/Oliver Pyerin (AUT) Can-Am Maverick X3 XTR Turbo RR               RETIRED – SS5*

Luis Recuenco (ESP)/Daniel Camara (ESP) Toyota Hilux Evo                                                  RETIRED – SS5*

Lucas Del Rio (CHI)/Bruno Jacomy (ARG) Taurus T3 Max                                                      RETIRED – SS4

Saood Variawa (RSA)/François Cazalet (FRA) Toyota Hilux GR                                              RETIRED – SS4

Oscar Ral (ESP)/Pol Ros (ESP) Taurus Evo Max                                                                       RETIRED – SS4*

Henk Lategan (RSA)/Brett Cummings (RSA) Toyota Hilux GR                                                RETIRED – SS3

Pau Navarro (ESP)/Jan Rosa (ESP) Bairons SRT Viking                                                           RETIRED – SS3

Mark Mustermann (AUT)/Michael Zajc (AUT) Ford Raptor                                                   RETIRED – SS2

Dania Akeel (KSA)/Sébastien Delaunay (FRA) Taurus T3 Max                                               RETIRED – SS2

Carlos Sainz (ESP)/Dani Oliveras (ESP) Ford Raptor                                                               RETIRED – SS1

Martin Prokop (CZE)/Viktor Chytka (CZE) Ford Raptor                                                          RETIRED – SS1

Mattias Ekström (SWE)/Emil Bergkvist (SWE) Ford Raptor                                                   RETIRED – SS1

Denis Krotov (KGZ)/Konstantin Zhiltsov (KGZ) Ford Raptor                                                   RETIRED – SS1

Steven Rotsaert (BEL)/Emile Dewitte (BEL) Red-Lined Revo+                                                DISQUALIFIED*

*denotes not registered for W2RC