Pedro Bianchi Prata debuts electric bike at Baja TT Escuderia Castelo Branco

Pedro Bianchi Prata has accomplished plenty in his rally career, so when the FIM Bajas World Cup visited his native Portugal for the Baja TT do Oeste, the reigning Veteran Trophy champion decided to shake things up.

Bianchi traded in his usual Honda CRF450RX for a fully electric Honda motorcycle, which was developed in collaboration with his sponsor Moeve. Formerly known as Cepsa, Moeve is a Spanish energy company that mainly produces oil but has recently shifted toward sustainable and greener power like electricity.

The bike is powered by a Moeve generator that uses biocompostable products and synthetic fuel, while the battery was swapped out every 40 kilometers.

“It is very important that we are not using the normal fuel to charge the bikes,” said Bianchi. “This is a challenge because everything is new: it’s new for me, it’s new for the organization, it’s new for FIM, but I think it’s a good challenge for everyone because it’s a new chapter, a new start, and it will change the way that people are seeing motorsports.

“We have a lot of work to do still in the bike for the next races. We have a lot to develop. Our federation will have to adopt and make new rules for this kind of bikes. But I think we are in the good path, in a good way.

“Even if this is a 100% electric bike, we have to be careful with the environment. We are going to put oil on the chain and we have to be careful. We have to reuse the the carpets, we have to update the rules because we have to take care of our planet and one of the starters to make take care of our planets is our sports. We have to worry with our planet. This is a start.”

Competing in a separate Experimental category, Bianchi set the 30th fastest time among all bikes. He finished 23rd in the Prologue, then 32nd in Stage #1 and 30th the day after. His final time was faster than seven other riders who reached the finish. The rainy conditions and freezing cold made it difficult for Bianchi to preserve the battery while keeping a competitive pace, but he was ultimately satisfied with how he fared.

His gas-powered teammate Gustavo Gaudêncio was the fastest bike outright, beating even the FIM Bajas winner Martim Ventura as the only rider to set a time below six hours at 5:59:55.2. Mohammed Al-Balooshi finished fifth to gain the Bajas World Cup points lead as Alex McInnes, who won the season opener in Ha’il, did not take part.

Bianchi was not the only rider on a different bike than usual. António Maio, who normally competes with a Yamaha WR450F Rally, opted for a Yamaha Ténéré 700 World Raid. He won the Trail class, which is reserved for 600cc bikes and stronger.

The race was also known as the Baja TT Escuderia Castelo Branco on the Portuguese Cross-Country Championship (CPTT) side, where it was the second round of the season. While João Ferreira won the T1+ class for the second time in as many races, he was only fifth among all cars as the forests and rainy weather made it harder for his Mini to go faster.

Instead, UTVs shined and locked out the top four. The Taurus T3 Max of Tiago Reis was the fastest car overall, beating the Polaris RZRs of Gonçalo Guerreiro and João Dias.

Auto

T1

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Vehicle	Total Time	Margin
1	19	591	Edgar Condenso	Nuno Silva	Prolama Competição	Ford Ranger EXR 05 Proto	2:49:14.3	Leader
2	21	567	José Rogeira	Paulo Marques	767 / PRK Sport Rally Team	Ford Ranger	2:52:58.9	+ 3:44.6
3	25	513	César Sequeira	Filipa Sequeira	César Sequeira	Mercedes-Benz 350SLC	2:58:30.3	+ 9:16.0
4	28	565	Jasper Herman	Jasper Jenne	DaklaPack Rallysport	Nissan Infiniti FX50	3:02:27.0	+ 3:12.7
5	35	573	Vitor Figueiredo	Amílcar Damião	Vitor Figueiredo	Mini Cooper D Prototype	3:47:01.5	+ 57:47.2
DNF	DNF	562	Jorge Cardoso	André Barras	MMSport	Ford Ranger	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	563	Sérgio Matos	Sebastião Dominguez	Sérgio Matos	Toyota Hilux	DNF	N/A

T1+

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Vehicle	Total Time	Margin
1	5	501	João Ferreira	Filipe Palmeiro	X-raid Mini JCW Team	Mini John Cooper Works Rally 3.0d	2:35:31.0	Leader
2	7	599	João Ramos	Jorge Carvalho	Toyota Gazoo Racing Caetano Portugal	Toyota Hilux	2:38:07.5	+ 2:36.5
3	15	509	Luis Recuenco	Daniel Oliverias	GPR Sport	Toyota Hilux	2:46:53.1	+ 11:22.1

T2

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Vehicle	Total Time	Margin
1	34	572	Eduardo Rodrigues	António Nunes	Eduardo Rodrigues	Toyota Land Cruiser	3:39:49.5	Leader
DNF	DNF	575	Sandra Senders	Kala Senders	Sandra Senders	Nissan Navara	DNF	N/A

T3

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Vehicle	Total Time	Margin
1	1	511	Tiago Reis	Paulo Fiúza	Team Transfradelos	Taurus T3 Max	2:29:20.2	Leader
2	4	532	Miguel Barbosa	Hugo Magalhães	BP Ultimate Adventure Team	Taurus T3 Max	2:34:43.7	+ 5:23.5
3	6	557	Helder Oliveira	Carlos Mendes	Old Friends Rally Team	Can-Am Maverick X3	2:38:01.6	+ 8:41.4
4	10	538	Edgar Reis	Fábio Ribeiro	Team Transfradelos	Taurus T3 Max	2:40:32.8	+ 11:12.6
5	12	525	Mário Franco	João Miranda	Franco Sport	Can-Am Maverick X3	2:40:57.2	+ 11:37.0
6	16	518	Alexandre Cardoso	Jaime Cortes	MMSport	Can-Am Maverick X3	2:47:05.8	+ 17:45.6
7	17	536	Daniel Pereira	Vasco Franco	Daniel Pereira	Can-Am Maverick X3	2:48:23.7	+ 19:03.5
8	23	543	Renato Pita	Rui Moreira	Renato Pita	PH Sport Zephr	2:57:13.0	+ 27:52.8
9	27	537	Raf Herman	Daniel Camara	GPR Sport	GPR 24	3:02:19.2	+ 32:59.0
10	31	545	Nuno Faria	João Martins	Benimoto Racing	Can-Am Maverick X3	3:08:51.6	+ 39:31.4
11	36	512	Daniel Silva	Gonçalo Magalhães	Team Transfradelos	Taurus T3 Max	3:49:56.1	+1:20:35.9
DNF	DNF	506	Pedro Carvalho	Romeu Martins	Santag Racing	Can-Am Maverick X3	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	528	Nuno Matos	Ricardo Claro	Nuno Matos	Volkswagen Amarok PROTO	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	583	Paulo Rodrigues	Fausto Mota	Rio Seco Racing	Can-Am Maverick X3	DNF	N/A

T4

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Vehicle	Total Time	Margin
1	2	519	Gonçalo Guerreiro	Raquel Jimena	Gonçalo Guerreiro	Polaris RZR Pro R	2:29:26.0	Leader
2	3	529	João Dias	Rui Pita	Santag Racing	Polaris RZR Pro R	2:30:37.8	+ 1:11.8
3	8	508	Luís Cidade	Valter Cardoso	South Racing Can-Am	Can-Am Maverick R	2:38:48.6	+ 9:22.6
4	9	530	Herlando Araújo	Tiago Magalhães	Old Friends Rally Team	Can-Am Maverick X3	2:40:32.1	+ 11:06.1
5	11	531	Rúben Rodrigues	Rui Paulo	Rio Seco Racing	Can-Am Maverick R	2:40:54.6	+ 11:28.6
6	13	564	Filipe Lopes	Gonçalo Reis	Rio Seco Racing	Can-Am Maverick X3	2:43:06.4	+ 13:40.4
7	14	560	Filipe Ramos	José Marques	Benimoto Racing	Can-Am Maverick R	2:43:31.6	+ 14:05.6
8	18	544	Afonso Oliveira	Fábio Belo	Santag Racing	Can-Am Maverick X3	2:49:09.1	+ 19:43.1
9	20	542	Bruno Oliveira	Vitor Dinis Carita de Jesus	Bruno Oliveira	Can-Am Maverick R	2:50:12.6	+ 20:46.6
10	22	581	Tomás Lopes	Ivo Prieto	Rio Seco Racing	Can-Am Maverick X3	2:53:19.9	+ 23:53.9
11	24	517	Dinis Rogeira	José Carlos Silva	767 / PRK Sport Rally Team	Can-Am Maverick X3	2:57:20.1	+ 27:54.1
12	29	521	Paulo Duarte	Ivo Santos	767 / PRK Sport Rally Team	Can-Am Maverick X3	3:04:55.0	+ 35:29.0

T8

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Vehicle	Total Time	Margin
1	26	558	Marco Cardoso	Rui Marques	MMSport	Mercedes-Benz A140 Proto	2:59:23.4	Leader
2	30	505	Johannes Senders	Yvet Adrianna Senders	Oeste Racing Competition	Fiat Fullback Proto	3:05:12.8	+ 5:49.4
3	32	507	Filipe Cachopas	Francisco Ponte	Filipe Cachopas	BMW 346L Proto	3:14:42.2	+ 15:18.8
DNF	DNF	574	João Paulo Oliveira	Pedro Cação	João Paulo Oliveira	Nissan D21	DNF	N/A

T9

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Vehicle	Total Time	Margin
1	33	595	Sérgio Mourato	José Pereira	Sérgio Mourato	Nissan Navara D22	3:24:58.4	Leader

FIM

Moto

Finish	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time	Margin
1	1	Martim Ventura	BP Ultimate Adventure Team	6:03:01.5	Leader
2	39	Jorge Brandão	Jorge Brandão	6:35:54.8	+ 32:53.3
3	25	Paulo Cardoso	Racing Team 25	6:54:05.5	+ 51:04.0
4	27	Rafic Eid	Offroad Center Bianchi Prata	7:05:07.2	+ 1:02:05.7
5	10	Mohammed Al-Balooshi	MX Ride Dubai	7:06:35.2	+ 1:03:33.7
6	70	Sultan Al-Shanqiti	Sultan Al-Shanqiti	7:57:16.4	+ 1:54:14.9
7	222	Alona Ben Natan	Alona Ben Natan	7:57:35.4	+ 1:54:33.9
8	57	Maria Taranto	Offroad Center Bianchi Prata	8:53:16.0	+ 2:50:14.5
9	35	Frédéric Fontarosa	Offroad Center Bianchi Prata	9:0301.6	+ 55:40.6
DNF	89	Javi Vega	Pont Grup	DNF	N/A

Bold – Junior Trophy
Italics – Veteran Trophy
Underscore – Women Trophy

Quad

Finish	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time	Margin
1	164	Jorge Sampaio	Knull Racing	7:05:57.0	Leader
2	199	Hani Al-Noumesi	Hani Al-Noumesi	7:45:58.7	+ 40:01.7

Trail

Finish	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time	Margin
1	3	António Maio	Yamaha Motor Portugal	6:28:16.4	Leader
2	97	Alessandro Ruoso	Yamaha Motortimes	7:30:37.7	+ 1:02:21.3

Featured image credit: Offroad Center Bianchi Prata