Portugal – Stage 2: João Ferreira new leader, Dacia suffers

The second stage of Rally-Raid Portugal 2025 was tipped by the favorites as being the longest of this edition (429 km between Grândola and Badajoz in Spain). It was actually much more selective than expected! 

On a terrain of hard sandy tracks, then hilly terrain before ending with agricultural tracks, the Toyota gave it their all. Inducted this summer into the Toyota Gazoo Racing team  Coming from X-Raid, the Portuguese João Ferreira and Filipe Palmeiro were astonishingly efficient. In full progression (they won the Baja Aragón in July, and won the Baja Ultimate World Cup in 2024), they won their first stage victory in the World Championship of rally-raid (W2RC). And in style: they took the lead at km 105 and held on. 

The 26-year-old driver opens a new chapter in his record book by taking the lead in the overall standings. This is also the first for a Portuguese driver in Ultimate. This is the 17th of his W2RC career, as Ferreira has already achieved three victories in Challenger and 13 in SSV.

Still going strong at 62, Carlos Sainz set the second fastest time, just 1 minute behind the winners. The Madrilenian, along with Lucas Cruz, is driving an Evo version of the Ford Raptor T1+ that is 30 to 40 kg lighter than the 4x4 seen at the Dakar 2025. The improvements seem to be paying off! 

Third place goes to the Dakar 2025 stage winners, Saood Variawa and Frenchman François Cazalet (Toyota SVR, 3rd, 2'13'' behind). They are ahead of the Toyota factory crew, Lucas Moraes and Armand Monleon.

Dacia in difficulty, Toyota in the lead

It was a bad day for the Dacia clan, however. Trouble started early for Sébastien's duo. Loeb-Édouard Boulanger. At km 57, the Alsatian pulled over due to a mechanical problem with his right rear axle. Sébastien Loeb and his new co-driver waited for their teammates Cristina Gutiérrez and Pablo Moreno to arrive to repair the defective part. In the process, they lost 14 minutes before setting off again.

 

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Further back, at km 200, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Fabian Lurquin also stopped. The Qatari driver, leader of the W2RC world championship at the start of this penultimate round of the 2025 season, also had to undergo a mechanical session on the edge of the special stage. He lost 17 minutes in the process, but attacked to come back to within 14 minutes at the finish. The chances of victory for these two stars of the bivouac are compromised, but not non-existent, as there are still three stages to go and the gaps remain relatively tight.

Dacias aren't the only 4x4s affected by this daunting stage. The 2025 Dakar Rally winner and 2023-24 world runner-up, Yazeed Al-Rajhi (Toyota), completely left the stage due to mechanical failure! The Saudi was making his W2RC comeback after an injury sustained in the spring.

Overall, Toyota is putting in an excellent performance to secure the overall victory. Ferreira-Palmeiro are more than 3 minutes ahead of Variawa-Cazalet and Moraes-Monleon. Carlos Sainz (Ford) is the only non-Toyota competitor in the top 8! The two Dacias of Loeb and Al-Attiyah are 16'27" and 17' behind. After the first stage, Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings (Toyota) dropped back to 5th place, penalized by their opening position on a sandy track.

W2RC – Rally-Raid Portugal
Stage 2 ranking

The general classification