First Day of Racing in Portugal: Dry Tracks and Plenty of Dust

In Grândola, near the Portuguese capital, another round of the World Rally-Raid Championship kicked off today. For the quad category, this is the final round of the year, where the world champions will be decided. Both CFMOTO Thunder Racing Team riders started the rally sharing the top spot in the standings, but every race tells a new story.

The team riders completed the first 302-kilometer special stage with confidence – Gaetan Martinez set the fastest time in the class, while Antanas Kanopkinas finished second. After the finish, Kanopkinas said the day went well, though the stage was filled with dust: “It was a good, working day – hot and very dusty. The main news of the day is that I had some technical issues with the quad, but together with Gaetan we solved them quickly. Overall, we lost about two or three minutes, then pushed on.”

Laughing after the finish, Kanopkinas added that the only real loss of the day was his boots, which, as he put it, “broke down,” but emphasized that the team spirit is high and everyone is looking forward to the coming days.

“Everything went well, there were no ‘oops’ moments, but the track was very dry and extremely dusty. Sometimes it was even hard to follow the tracks. I stopped to help Antanas, but we lost just a couple of minutes,” said Martinez at the finish.

Today the riders started and finished in the same place, but tomorrow the bivouac will move to Spain, to the city of Badajoz, a little over 200 kilometers away. However, the competitors will first have to cover a 429-kilometer special stage plus 226 kilometers of liaison sections. It will be the longest day of this rally.