Saturday in Portugal: “The best stage of my life!”

Saturday, the fourth day of the BP Ultimate Rally Raid World Championship round, brought plenty of excitement for both riders and spectators. Starting the day in Spain, competitors covered more than 600 kilometers before reaching the city of Loulé in Portugal. Both CFMOTO Thunder Racing Team riders were full of emotion at the finish, saying they had never experienced such a fun stage before.

Adomas Gančierius, who set the fastest time in the quad category, said that today was simply amazing: “We had 80 kilometers of liaison to the start, then a 316-kilometer special stage. The first 200 kilometers were slippery, on narrow tracks, and the final 100 were already in Portugal, where we had water, mud, and all kinds of action.”

Antanas Kanopkinas, who finished just 57 seconds behind his teammate, also did not try to hide his emotions: “The most fun stage of my life! I don’t know how many times I went off track. I don’t know how many times Adomas did either. I had two moments where I thought we were going straight into a wall. Then we got a lot of mud – good thing we have enduro rally experience. Definitely the best stage ever!”

He joked that the organizers should pay them extra for the show they put on for the spectators: “Everywhere there were fans, Adomas and I were putting on a drift show.”

After four stages, Gančierius leads the quad standings, with Kanopkinas in second place. They are separated by three minutes and have built a gap of more than half an hour over their closest competitor.

On Sunday, competitors will tackle a loop stage starting and finishing in Loulé, Portugal. In total, they will cover nearly 300 kilometers, including 101 kilometers of special stage. After that, riders will cross the ceremonial finish ramp and attend the awards ceremony. However, the team knows it’s too early to relax and celebrate – that can only come after every racing kilometer is completed.