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 | Baja Terras d’El Rei: Health problems for Barbosa, X-Raid double-win.
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Sunday March 21st, the competitors of the "Baja Terras d’El Rei" have finished the 320 km special stage in the Algarve region in the south of Portugal. Miguel Barbosa and Miguel Ramalho have marked points in the general ranking of the Portuguese Cross Country Championship by obtaining the 3rd place of this Baja’s podium after five hours and half.
Driving the JMB Stradale Offroad Mitsubishi 2.0 L Turbo Lancer, the Portuguese tandem was at the head of the race until the 2nd Control Point. Unfortunately, after this point, Miguel Barbosa was sick and had to decrease the rhythm in order to reach the finish line.
"I’m feeling horrible" comments Miguel. "I threw up so much that I’m suffering from dehydration! I feel really bad as the 2.0 L Turbo Lancer drove perfectly. I’ve just seen the first times where we were ahead. It could have been a much better result but we came out all right in the end with our third place as I almost did not make it to the finish, 14:54 minutes behind the winner Filipe Campos (X-Raid BMW X3CC)."
The car is back in the parc fermé and the new motor has proved its efficacity and performance on a short distance. "This is just the proof that many factors are required to win a race in cross country" said Dominique Serieys, the team manager of the JMB team.
"After the technical and administrative scrutineering which were successful, a prologue and two check points on the timed stage where the Miguel’s recorded the best time, it was a health problem which brought the crew away from the victory! I admire Miguel who drove until the end of the race. Luckily he was in very good physical condition and was able to push himself to finish the stage. We are very proud of the crew, the team, and the 2.0 L Turbo Lancer which has proven it’s competitively. We still have some more kilometers to run to prove the reliability. Until the next race..."
The Portuguese crew Barbosa and Ramalho will attack on the 3rd event of the Portuguese Cross Country Rally Championship which will be held April 17th and 18th in Alentejo region’s town of Evora.
Final Overall Ranking Baja Terras d’El Rei
01) Campos/Baptista I BMW X3CC I 05:08:32 I 00:00:00
02) Moniz da Maia/Sotto-Mayor I BMW X3CC I 05:21:15 I 00:12:43
03) Barbosa/Ramalho I Lancer Turbo I 05:23:26 I 00:14:54
04) Dinis Lucas/Tirano I Mitsubishi Pajero DID I 05:38:24 I 00:29:52
05) Gameiro/Saraiva I Nissan Navara I 05:39:21 I 00:30:49
06) Dinis Lucas/Luis I Mitsubishi MPajero I 05:43:01 I 00:34:29
07) Porém/Porém I Nissan Navara I 05:46:21 I 00:37:49
08) Menezes/Carvalho I Nissan Navara I 06:01:19 I 00:52:47
09) Carapeta/Antonio I Bowler QT Wildcat I 06:01:20 I 00:52:48
10) Sousa/Santos I Mitsubishi Pajero I 06:07:27 I 00:58:55
2010/03/21 | 23:20 CET | ARTICLE: MR/HS/DIVELEC
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