The BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal’s bivouac in Lisbon woke up to some rather unpleasant conditions as a rainstorm had blown though the area overnight. Consequently, the final day was held under cloudy skies and plenty of gusts.

Antanas Kanopkinas noted the weather forced everyone to remove the tents on their roofs so they wouldn’t get blown away. A side of the course was also closed off and some media members had to stay elsewhere overnight.

“I just want to go back to bed now,” quipped his teammate Gaëtan Martinez before the start. “It’s a lot of wind, some rain also, but it’s the last stage. […] Just tackle this bad weather because I don’t really like this, but it’s part of the job.”

While not the sunniest circumstances, it certainly didn’t rain on Red Bull KTM’s parade. In what is by far the team’s best stage performance, Luciano Benavides led a podium sweep ahead of newly crowned champion Daniel Sanders and Rally2 winner Edgar Canet.

Although the margins between the field were all fairly close since the stage only lasted roughly an hour, the KTM trio still had a healthy gap on the field. Canet and Sanders both set identical times (Sanders got the tiebreaker since he recorded the time first) and were only ten seconds behind Benavides, while fourth-placed Tosha Schareina of Honda was 38 seconds back.

“This final stage was perfect,” Canet said. “With some rain overnight, the track was really grippy and suited the tire we’re using, so we were able to push and come home with a KTM 1–2–3 on the special. Daniel has won the championship and I am leading Rally2, so it’s been an incredible event for the team. I’m looking forward to the final race in Morocco now.”

João Ferreira won the stage on the FIA side to wrap up what had been a disappointing race on his home soil on a solid note. He had been knocked out of contention by mid-race trouble.

Benavides and Ferreira were the only competitors in any class to set a Stage 5 time below one hour.

In Rally3, Salvador and Gonçalo Amaral finished top two for the stage, separated by just six seconds while Carlo Cabini was third and over eight minutes behind. The brothers had dominated the 2024 Rally Raid Portugal in the class, with Gonçalo scoring the overall win, but neither had an answer for Thomas Zoldos this year.

Zoldos, who won every stage up to Sunday, received a 27-minute penalty that dropped him from third to last for the leg because he was late. Still, his overall performance had been so dominant that the penalty didn’t impact his final result. Marek Łój got the same penalty, albeit of 18 minutes and it didn’t drop him any further since he was already fourth and at last for Quads in Stage 5.

Stage 5 winners

FIA

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Total Time
Ultimate	1	240	João Ferreira	Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa	59:29
Challenger	8	306	Gonçalo Guerreiro	Nasser Racing	1:02:05
SSV	22	406	Luís Cidade*	South Racing Can-Am	1:04:25

FIM

Class	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time
RallyGP	1	77	Luciano Benavides	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	59:53
Rally2	3	73	Edgar Canet	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	1:00:03
Rally3	20	54	Salvador Amaral	Wingmotor Honda	1:04:46
Quad	28	173	Antanas Kanopkinas	CFMOTO Thunder Racing Team	1:12:55
E-Bike	45	17	Pedro Bianchi Prata*	Offroad Center Bianchi Prata	1:35:09

Overall winners

FIA

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Total Time
Ultimate	1	203	Lucas Moraes	Toyota Gazoo Racing	12:13:05
Challenger	6	306	Gonçalo Guerreiro	Nasser Racing	12:37:38
SSV	11	404	João Dias*	Santag Racing	12:56:28

FIM

Class	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time
RallyGP	1	4	Daniel Sanders	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	12:39:39
Rally2	5	73	Edgar Canet	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	13:01:36
Rally3	19	58	Thomas Zoldos	Thomas Zoldos	14:23:12
Quad	25	174	Gaëtan Martinez	CFMOTO Thunder Racing Team	15:45:20
E-Bike	40	17	Pedro Bianchi Prata*	Offroad Center Bianchi Prata	21:54:59

Featured image credit: Edoardo Bauer / Edophoto / DPPI / ASO