2025 BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal: Consistency secures Lucas Moraes’ first Ultimate win

It was a long time coming, but Lucas Moraes is finally a World Rally-Raid Championship race winner. The Brazilian narrowly held off his teammate Henk Lategan by less than a minute to win the BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal, also securing the manufacturer title for Toyota.

Although Moraes didn’t win a stage, he scored top-five finishes on all five days. He placed second behind Lategan in Stage 1, third in Stage 3, fourth in Stage 4, and fifth in Stages 2 and 5.

His consistency proved vital as his rivals-slash-teammates gradually stumbled around him. Lategan lost the overall lead just a day after his stage win because due to a broken driveshaft, though TGR South Africa colleague João Ferreira picked up where he left off by winning Stage 2. However, Ferreira in turn fell out of contention by crashing the next day, dropping the lead into Moraes’ lap.

Lategan tried to claw his way back, and trailed Moraes by just 34 seconds entering the final day. However, Moraes beat him by 19 seconds to secure the victory.

“The car was unbelievable for the whole week,” said Moraes. “We ran a very strategic race, a clever one. We only had one puncture throughout the whole rally and that was key for the win.

“I am also happy to deliver this win for Brazil, because this is the first time for a Brazilian to win a World Championship round.”

Moraes and Lategan’s contributions helped Toyota clinch the marque championship with one race remaining. The Toyota Hilux has won every manufacturers’ crown since the W2RC’s inception in 2022.

Although he came up short of his second straight win, Lategan more than halved the gap between him and Nasser Al-Attiyah in the drivers’ championship standings. Al-Attiyah entered Portugal leading Lategan by 20 points and struck first by winning the Prologue, but Stage 1 penalties dropped him down the order. He salvaged a stage win, but was otherwise a nonfactor in the overall as he finished fifth.

Al-Attiyah still leads going into the season finale in Morocco, but only by nine points.

Dacia ally Sébastien Loeb also won a leg, though damage in Stage 2 put him in an early hole that he had to work his way out of. Still, he was able to prevent Toyota from sweeping the race podium.

Cristina Gutiérrez was mainly in a support role to Al-Attiyah and Loeb, but was herself hampered by brake and tire issues. Still, she enjoyed a fifth-place run in Stage 4 and scored a top ten.

“It was really tough terrain and, to be honest, we didn’t expect it to be so hard, especially on the brakes,” confessed Dacia boss Tiphanie Isnard. “I’m really, really proud of the team, they reacted really quickly to fix the issues and bring a good mindset. We had one of the best performances with two stage wins and a wonderful top-five place for Cristina, so it’s a strong result for the team. Nasser is keeping the lead of the championship and even when you don’t win a rally you are learning a lot to come back stronger.”

Before the race, Al-Attiyah and Loeb switched navigators so that Édouard Boulanger was now with Loeb and Fabian Lurquin with Al-Attiyah. Ironically, the swap seemed to work for Boulanger since he and Loeb finished higher than Al-Attiyah-Lurquin, meaning the gap between him and Lategan’s navigator Brett Cummings in their respective points race is wider than on the drivers’ side.

While Moraes and Lategan’s contributions lifted Toyota to the manufacturers’ title, Hiluxes in general seemed almost unbeatable throughout the first half. Toyota drivers swept the top five in Stage 1 following Al-Attiyah’s penalty then made up nine of the top ten spots in Stage 2. Four Hiluxes also finished right behind Loeb in the third leg and still made up the non-Dacias among the first five in Stage 4.

In the Stage 2 top ten, Carlos Sainz was the only driver that didn’t drive a Toyota. However, his Ford Raptor was taken out by steering and clutch failures two days later.

Justin Birchall was disqualified after his Red-Lined REVO’s air restrictor was deemed 0.3 millimeters larger than permitted. His team eventually discovered the part’s manufacturer had used a machine polisher that shaved off material unevenly, leading to the violation.

“The team are saddened to end the event in this way, but support the Steward’s decision,” reads a statement from TerraTorque. “We will take this as a learning curve to ensure an error of this matter will not be repeated.”

Results

FinishOverallNumberDriverNavigatorTeamClassTotal TimeMargin
11203Lucas MoraesArmand MonleónToyota Gazoo RacingT1+12:13:05Leader
22202Henk LateganBrett CummingsToyota Gazoo RacingT1+12:13:58+ 00:53
33219Sébastien LoebÉdouard BoulangerDacia SandridersT1+12:23:10+ 10:05
44218Cristian Baumgart*Luis Felipe EckelSVRT1+12:30:48+ 17:43
55200Nasser Al-AttiyahFabian LurquinDacia SandridersT1+12:37:18+ 24:13
67213Francisco Barreto*Paulo FiúzaBarata Racing TeamT1+12:39:26+ 26:21
78212Cristina GutiérrezPablo MorenoDacia SandridersT1+12:39:35+ 26:30
89211Marek GoczałMaciej MartonEnergylandia Rally TeamT1+12:43:42+ 30:37
913220Jourdan Serderidis*Frédéric MiclotteFord M-SportT1+12:57:28+ 44:23
1015224Lionel BaudLucie BaudX-raid Mini JCW TeamT1+13:07:09+ 54:04
1120229Hernán Garcés*Juan Pablo LatrachOverdrive RacingT1+13:38:11+ 1:25:06
1222235Daniel Alonso*Cándido CarreraPAST RacingT1+13:41:23+ 1:28:18
1325237José Rogeira*Nélson Ramos767 / PRK Sport Rally TeamT1+14:00:56+ 1:47:51
1427206Saood VariawaFrançois CazaletToyota Gazoo Racing South AfricaT1+14:25:29+ 2:12:24
1528236Rik van den Brink*Gydo HeimansBrinky RallysportT1+14:26:44+ 2:13:39
1629239Markus Walcher*Stephan StenskyWalcher Rally TeamT1.114:28:32+ 2:15:27
1730243Johan Senders*Yvet SendersOeste Racing CompetitionT1.114:36:37+ 2:23:32
1831234Vincent Thijs*Arjan Van TielRT OffroadT1+14:38:30+ 2:25:25
1932214Michał GoczałDiego OrtegaEnergylandia Rally TeamT1+14:38:51+ 2:25:46
2033242Richard Timmerman*Kala SendersOeste Racing CompetitionT1.114:46:56+ 2:33:51
2134208Daniel SchröderHenry KöhnePS Laser RacingT1+14:55:31+ 2:42:26
2235205Juan Cruz YacopiniDaniel OliverasOverdrive RacingT1+15:01:26+ 2:57:21
2336231Isidre Esteve*José María VillalobosRepsol Toyota Rally TeamT1+16:25:23+ 4:12:18
2437225Carlos SainzLucas CruzFord M-SportT1+28:52:36+ 16:39:31
2538223Adroaldo Weisheimer*Fred BudtikevitzX-raid Mini JCW TeamT1+29:47:22+ 17:34:17
2639240João FerreiraFilipe PalmeiroToyota Gazoo Racing South AfricaT1+30:16:48+ 18:03:43
2740216Marcos Baumgart*Kleber CinceaSVRT1+30:48:05+ 18:35:00
2844210Eryk GoczałSzymon GospodarczykEnergylandia Rally TeamT1+32:32:30+ 20:19:25
2946201Yazeed Al-RajhiTimo GottschalkOverdrive RacingT1+37:00:44+ 24:47:39
DNFDNF204Seth QuinteroAndrew ShortToyota Gazoo RacingT1+DNFN/A
DNFDNF217Denis KrotovKonstantin ZhiltsovX-raid Mini JCW TeamT1+DNFN/A
DNFDNF230Akira Miura*Polato Jean-MichelOverdrive RacingT1+DNFN/A
DNFDNF232Mark Mustermann*Michael JazcMM RallyeT1+DNFN/A
DNFDNF241Bert Mourik*Robert voor de PoorteRed-Lined MotorsportT1.1DNFN/A
DSQDSQ238Justin Birchall*Andy PowellTerraTorqueT1+DSQN/A
* – Not competing for World Rally-Raid Championship

Stage winners

StageOverallDriverTime
Prologue1Nasser Al-Attiyah5:02.9
Stage 11Henk Lategan2:30:21
Stage 21João Ferreira3:02:51
Stage 31Sébastien Loeb3:06:08
Stage 41Nasser Al-Attiyah2:22:36
Stage 51João Ferreira59:29

W2RC standings

Ultimate does not have a class trophy and is instead part of a larger championship that includes all categories.

Drivers

RankDriverPointsMargin
1Nasser Al-Attiyah140Leader
2Henk Lategan131– 9
3Lucas Moraes130– 10
4Seth Quintero84– 56
5Yazeed Al-Rajhi77– 63
6Sébastien Loeb71– 69
7João Ferreira55– 85
8Juan Cruz Yacopini48– 92
9Mattias Ekström46– 94
10Mitch Guthrie44– 96
11Saood Variawa39– 101
12Carlos Sainz37– 103
13Mathieu Serradori32– 108
14Guillaume de Mévius31– 109
15Dania Akeel28– 112
16Nani Roma27– 113
17Martin Prokop25– 115
18Daniel Schröder22– 118
T-19Gonçalo Guerreiro20– 120
T-19Cristina Gutiérrez20– 120
T-19Pau Navarro20– 120
22Nicolás Cavigliasso17– 123
23Rokas Baciuška16– 124
T-24Guy Botterill14– 126
T-24Adam Kuś14– 126
26Alexandre Pinto13– 127
T-27Enrico Gaspari12– 128
T-27Marek Goczał12– 128
T-27Yasir Seaidan12– 128
T-30Lionel Baud11– 129
T-30Denis Krotov11– 129
32Eryk Goczał10– 130
33Pim Klaassen9– 131
T-34Michele Cinotto8– 132
T-34Claude Fournier8– 132
T-34Puck Klaassen8– 132
T-34Eduardo Pons8– 132
T-38Khalifa Al-Attiyah7– 133
T-38Khalid Al-Jafla7– 133
T-38Mário Franco7– 133
T-38Pedro Gonçalves7– 133
42Dave Klaassen6– 134
43David Zille5– 135
T-44Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari4– 136
T-44Manuel Andújar4– 136
T-44Jean-Luc Ceccaldi4– 136
T-44Roger Grouwels4– 136
T-44Corbin Leaverton4– 136
T-44Sara Price4– 136
T-44Guoyu Zhang2– 138
T-51Mansour Al-Helei2– 138
T-51Fernando Álvarez2– 138
T-51Rui Carneiro2– 138
T-51Michał Goczał2– 138
T-51Diego Martinez2– 138
T-51Carlos Vento2– 138

Navigators

RankNavigatorPointsMargin
1Édouard Boulanger145Leader
2Brett Cummings131– 14
3Armand Monleón130– 15
4Dennis Zenz79– 66
5Timo Gottschalk77– 68
6Fabian Lurquin66– 79
7Filipe Palmeiro55– 90
8Daniel Oliveiras48– 97
9Emil Bergkvist46– 99
10Kellon Walch44– 101
11François Cazalet39– 106
12Lucas Cruz37– 108
13Loïc Minaudier32– 113
14Álex Haro27– 118
15Viktor Chytka25– 120
16Oriol Mena24– 121
T-17Bruno Jacomy22– 123
T-17Henry Carl Köhne22– 123
T-19Stéphane Duplé20– 125
T-19Pablo Moreno20– 125
T-21Xavier Panseri17– 128
T-21Valentina Pertegarini17– 128
23Mathieu Baumel16– 129
T-24Dennis Murphy14– 131
T-24Jan Rosa i Viñas14– 131
T-24Dmytro Tsyro14– 131
27Bernardo Oliveira13– 132
T-28Maciej Marton12– 133
T-28Michaël Metge12– 133
T-30Lucie Baud11– 134
T-30Konstantin Zhiltsov11– 134
32Mark Laan9– 136
T-33Jaume Betriu8– 137
T-33Rui Franco8– 137
T-33Charan Moore8– 137
T-33Fausto Mota8– 137
T-33Carlos Sachs8– 137
38Andrei Rudnitski7– 138
T-39Tessa Klaassen6– 139
T-39Lisandro Sisterna6– 139
T-41Sebastian Cesana5– 140
T-41Cadu Sachs5– 140
T-41Andrew Short5– 140
T-44Nasser Al-Kuwari4– 141
T-44Sean Berriman4– 141
T-44Alberto Bertoldi4– 141
T-44Delphine Delfino4– 141
T-44Maurizio Dominella4– 141
T-44Bernardo Graue4– 141
T-44Patrick Jimbert4– 141
T-44Antoine Lecourbe4– 141
T-44Rudolf Meijer4– 141
T-44Taye Perry4– 141
T-44Grégory Revest-Arnoux4– 141
T-44Yicheng Wang4– 141
T-56Khalid Al-Kendi3– 142
T-56Jorge Brandão3– 142
T-58Ola Fløene2– 143
T-58Szymon Gospodarczyk2– 143
T-58Sergio Lafuente2– 143
T-58Hugo Magalhães2– 143
T-58João Miranda2– 143
T-58Diego Ortega2– 143

Manufacturers

RankManufacturerPointsMargin
1Toyota397Leader
2Dacia387– 10
3Ford217– 180

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

Leave a comment