Edgar Canet had one goal entering the BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal: pass Tobias Ebster for the Rally2 points lead.

Well, mission accomplished.

Canet entered the penultimate round trailing Ebster by just three points while Michael Docherty was breathing down both their necks with an eight-point deficit on the leader. He exited Portugal with a convincing lead over both after a dominant performance in which he won all but one stage.

Part of this was because Ebster’s race and points lead quickly went down the drain. After finishing third behind Canet and Bruno Santos in Stage 1, his oil cooler broke during the second stage and forced him to bow out; his retirement added insult to a tough Stage 2 for Hero, who also lost Ross Branch to a crash that day. While he rejoined the race afterward and continued to put up solid numbers (fourth in Stage 3, sixth in Stage 4, fourth in Stage 5), the DNF guaranteed him a spot at the bottom of the running order.

With Ebster out of the picture, Canet theoretically only had to worry about Docherty. Docherty never finished worse than sixth across the five legs, but he stood little chance with Canet winning nearly every stage from Prologue to finish.

The only stage Canet failed to win was instead a day for the Portuguese riders as Martim Ventura and Bruno Santos led the way. Ventura notched his maiden W2RC stage win in the debut race for Honda HRC’s Rally2 program, though he was relegated to ninth overall because of a clutch issue in Stage 1 that he had to climb out of.

“It was a good week,” Ventura stated. “I was a bit disappointed on the first day as I’d got into a very good rhythm but I had a problem with the clutch, which I’d overused on the stage as I wasn’t used to it. The days after that were continually competing in the dust and on the fourth day I had clear track and managed to win the Rally2 class stage. It was super good for the team, the bike and for me. I was very happy and it was the best thing from this week. Now we focus on Morocco and then get the bike ready in the desert for Dakar.”

Ventura’s teammate Preston Campbell, making his W2RC debut, was consistent and impressive as he finished fourth. Despite being on unfamiliar terrain, the American desert star overcame a crash on the first stage to ride in the top ten for much of the rally. Campbell also rounded out the top ten for all bikes.

Santos, who won Rally2 at the 2024 BP Ultimate Rally-Raid, kept pace with Canet but the latter’s stage wins ensured he had enough of a cushion. Even in Stage 4 when Santos beat Canet, he only did so by 1:05.

Canet enjoyed his third win of the season after the Dakar Rally and South African Safari Rally. Ebster’s troubles dropped him to third in the standings and 21 points back of Canet with one race to go, while Canet leads Docherty by 14.

“It’s been a fantastic week for us here in Portugal,” said Canet. “I’m super happy with the feeling on the bike and how I rode.”

Liek Campbell, 2023 Spanish champ Alfredo Pellicer impressed in his first with a top five in his first World Rally-Raid start, narrowly edging out Konrad Dąbrowski for fifth.

Dakar Classic navigator Ignas Daunoravičius finished 19th in his two-wheeled W2RC debut. He is using races like Portugal and Morocco to prepare for a Dakar bike entry in 2027.

Justin Gerlach’s first time in Portugal didn’t go as hoped. A friend of 131 Off-Road who raced this year’s Dakar, he was intrigued by the race since he figured the route’s profile would be quite similar to Rallye Breslau in Poland.

Unfortunately, he instead had a hard time on the slippery terrain. Gerlach crashed early into the first stage and hurt his shoulder, then had a flap valve in his fuel system break two stages later. The latter made him stop 40 kilometers before the refuel because he thought he ran out of gas, wasting time as he tried to flip between the front and rear tanks. Things improved by the fourth day and he avoided further incident to finish 20th.

“As fun as the ending was, I can’t say the same for the whole week,” Gerlach commented. “Because of the early injury, I was never really able to find the focus I last felt at Rallye Breslau. Additionally, the slippery, fast roads just didn’t suit me.

“I never thought I’d long for the soft sand again so much.”

Martí Escofet was the lone retirement after crashing. Jeremías Pascual wasn’t classified because of stage penalties.

Results

Finish	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time	Margin
1	5	73	Edgar Canet	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	13:01:36	Leader
2	8	25	Bruno Santos	BS Frutas Patrícia Pilar	13:06:57	+ 5:21
3	9	22	Michael Docherty	BAS World KTM Racing Team	13:11:58	+ 10:22
4	10	85	Preston Campbell	Honda HRC	13:32:31	+ 30:55
5	12	29	Alfredo Pellicer	Xraids Experience	13:38:46	+ 37:10
6	13	26	Konrad Dąbrowski	DUUST Rally Team	13:38:57	+ 37:21
7	14	20	Harith Noah	Sherco TVS Rally Factory Team	13:52:35	+ 50:59
8	15	47	Arnau Lledó	Pedregà Team	13:59:15	+ 57:39
9	16	84	Martim Ventura	Honda HRC	14:04:49	+ 1:03:13
10	18	27	Joël van Mechelen	BAS World KTM Racing Team	14:17:38	+ 1:16:02
11	20	48	David Pabiška	SP Moto Bohemia Racing Team	14:38:30	+ 1:36:54
12	21	49	Jorge Brandão	Old Friends Rally Team	14:47:11	+ 1:45:35
13	22	35	Pedro Pinheiro	Old Friends Rally Team	14:49:43	+ 1:48:07
14	23	52	Marshall Méplon	MMX Competition	15:19:49	+ 2:18:13
15	26	28	Mathieu Liebaert	Joyride Race Service	15:50:47	+ 2:49:11
16	27	43	Sebastián Urquía	Xraids Experience	15:58:07	+ 2:56:31
17	28	30	David Brock	Joyride Race Service	16:05:17	+ 3:03:41
18	30	38	Nuno Silva	Old Friends Rally Team	16:15:11	+ 3:13:35
19	31	50	Ignas Daunoravičius	Ringfreaks	16:18:07	+ 3:16:31
20	32	99	Justin Gerlach	THATS-RALLY × JG Racing	16:51:08	+ 3:49:32
21	35	55	Fabio Bernardini	Fabio Bernardini	17:31:52	+ 4:30:16
22	37	46	Joan Viñals	Joyride Race Service	17:33:47	+ 4:32:12
23	38	39	Srdan Jablan	THATS-RALLY × JG Racing	17:48:45	+ 4:47:09
24	39	44	Jatin Jain	Desert Storm	18:23:42	+ 5:22:06
25	42	96	Tobias Ebster	Hero MotoSports	36:08:48	+ 23:07:12
26	43	31	Aishwarya Pissay	Aishwarya Pissay	51:25:31	+ 38:23:55
27	45	41	Jeremías Pascual	Pedregà Team	N/C	N/A
DNF	DNF	51	Martí Escofet	Joyride Race Service	DNF	N/A

Stage winners

Stage	Overall	Rider	Time
Prologue	2	Edgar Canet	4:49.9
Stage 1	5	Edgar Canet	2:43:34
Stage 2	5	Edgar Canet	3:17:51
Stage 3	6	Edgar Canet	3:20:20
Stage 4	7	Martin Ventura	2:33:43
Stage 5	3	Edgar Canet	1:00:03

W2RC

Riders

Rank	Rider	Points	Margin
1	Edgar Canet	88	Leader
2	Michael Docherty	74	– 14
3	Tobias Ebster	67	– 21
4	Konrad Dąbrowski	55	– 33
5	Ruy Barbosa	26	– 62
6	Romain Dumontier	24	– 64
7	Bruno Santos	22	– 66
8	Toni Mulec	20	– 68
9	Martim Ventura	18	– 70
10	Neels Theric	15	– 73
11	Preston Campbell	13	– 75
12	Dušan Drdaj	12	– 76
T-13	Toby Hederics	11	– 77
T-13	Alfredo Pellicer	11	– 77
T-15	Florian Bancilhon	10	– 78
T-15	Dwain Barnard	10	– 78
T-15	Andro Korlaet	10	– 78
T-18	Khaliunbold Erdenebileg	9	– 79
T-18	Emanuel Gyenes	9	– 79
T-18	Mauritz Meiring	9	– 79
T-18	Harith Noah	9	– 79
T-18	Juan Santiago Rostan	9	– 79
T-23	Hamdan Al-Ali	8	– 80
T-23	Arnau Lledó	8	– 80
T-23	Benjamin Melot	8	– 80
T-26	Thomas Childs	7	– 81
T-26	David Pabiška	7	– 81
T-28	Jacob Argubright	6	– 82
T-28	Filip Grot	6	– 82
T-28	Joël van Mechelen	6	– 82
T-28	Mattia Riva	6	– 82
T-32	Milan Engel	5	– 83
T-32	Markus Hertlein	5	– 83
T-32	Matthieu Jauffraud	5	– 83
T-35	Jorge Brandão	4	– 84
T-35	Justin Gerlach	4	– 84
T-35	Marshall Méplon	4	– 84
T-35	Pedro Pinheiro	4	– 84
T-35	Anthony Raynard	4	– 84
T-35	Abdul Wahid	4	– 84
T-41	Massimo Camurri	3	– 85
T-41	Martin Chalmers	3	– 85
T-41	Jaromír Romančík	3	– 85
T-41	Sebastián Urquía	3	– 85
T-45	Francisco Álvarez	2	– 86
T-45	Ahmed Al-Jaber	2	– 86
T-45	Francisco Arredondo	2	– 86
T-45	Clément Artaud	2	– 86
T-45	Willem Avenant	2	– 86
T-45	Damien Bataller	2	– 86
T-45	Max Bianucci	2	– 86
T-45	Vasilis Boudros	2	– 86
T-45	Benjamin Bourdariat	2	– 86
T-45	Jan Brabec	2	– 86
T-45	David Brock	2	– 86
T-45	Jiří Brož	2	– 86
T-45	Marc Calmet	2	– 86
T-45	David Casteu	2	– 86
T-45	Guillaume Chollet	2	– 86
T-45	Álvaro Cóppola	2	– 86
T-45	Julien Dalbec	2	– 86
T-45	Fabien Domas	2	– 86
T-45	Mathieu Dovèze	2	– 86
T-45	Rafic Eid	2	– 86
T-45	Xavier Flick	2	– 86
T-45	Tomás de Gavardo	2	– 86
T-45	Arūnas Gelažninkas	2	– 86
T-45	Philippe Gendron	2	– 86
T-45	Jérémie Gerber	2	– 86
T-45	Sandra Gómez	2	– 86
T-45	Charlie Herbst	2	– 86
T-45	Óscar Hernández	2	– 86
T-45	James Hillier	2	– 86
T-45	Zhao Hongyi	2	– 86
T-45	Tiziano Internó	2	– 86
T-45	Jatin Jain	2	– 86
T-45	Nerimantas Jucius	2	– 86
T-45	Thomas Kongshøj	2	– 86
T-45	Manuel Lucchese	2	– 86
T-45	Paolo Lucci	2	– 86
T-45	Simon Marčič	2	– 86
T-45	Jérôme Martiny	2	– 86
T-45	Zhang Min	2	– 86
T-45	Jeremy Miroir	2	– 86
T-45	Ottavio Missoni Jr.	2	– 86
T-45	Jim Moisa	2	– 86
T-45	Tomasso Montanari	2	– 86
T-45	Axel Mustad	2	– 86
T-45	Gad Nachmani	2	– 86
T-45	Ian Olthof	2	– 86
T-45	Mykolas Paulavičius	2	– 86
T-45	Adam Peschel	2	– 86
T-45	Maxime Pouponnot	2	– 86
T-45	Martin Prokeš	2	– 86
T-45	Murun Purevdorj	2	– 86
T-45	Jean-Philippe Révolte	2	– 86
T-45	Ignacio Sanchis	2	– 86
T-45	Modestas Siliunas	2	– 86
T-45	Edvard Sokolovskij	2	– 86
T-45	Jordan Strachan	2	– 86
T-45	Sunier	2	– 86
T-45	Bartłomiej Tabin	2	– 86
T-45	Javi Vega	2	– 86
T-45	Joan Viñals	2	– 86
T-45	Robbie Wallace	2	– 86
T-45	Mike Wiedemann	2	– 86
T-45	Andrea Winkler	2	– 86
T-45	Fang Xiangliang	2	– 86
T-109	Eduardo Alan	1	– 87
T-109	Fabio Bernardini	1	– 87
T-109	Dominique Cizeau	1	– 87
T-109	Leonardo Cola	1	– 87
T-109	Ignas Daunoravičius	1	– 87
T-109	Xavier Gregoire	1	– 87
T-109	Massimiliano Guerrini	1	– 87
T-109	Srdan Jablan	1	– 87
T-109	Yugandhar Prasad Jasti	1	– 87
T-109	Jason Joslin	1	– 87
T-109	Kees Koolen	1	– 87
T-109	Ricardo Lastra	1	– 87
T-109	Mathieu Liebaert	1	– 87
T-109	Martin Lourens	1	– 87
T-109	Roberto Mariscal	1	– 87
T-109	John Medina	1	– 87
T-109	Alessandro Mendoza	1	– 87
T-109	Ludwig Messager	1	– 87
T-109	Gustavo Milutín	1	– 87
T-109	Aishwarya Pissay	1	– 87
T-109	Benjamin Pousset	1	– 87
T-109	Robert Przybyłowski	1	– 87
T-109	Nathan Rafferty	1	– 87
T-109	Tony Schattat	1	– 87
T-109	Carl Searles	1	– 87
T-109	Craig Searles	1	– 87
T-109	Nuno Silva	1	– 87
T-109	Alexandre Torrão	1	– 87
T-109	Blas Zapag	1	– 87
T-109	Iñigo Zardoya	1	– 87

Teams

Rank	Team	Points	Margin
1	BAS World KTM Racing Team	99	Leader
2	Xraids Experience	59	– 40
3	SRG Motorsports	41	– 58
4	DUUST Rally Team	37	– 62
5	HT Rally Raid	23	– 76
6	Honda HRC	20	– 79
7	Joyride Race Service	8	– 91
T-8	AG Dakar School	4	– 95
T-8	Fantic Rally Team	4	– 95
T-8	Nomadas Adventure	4	– 95
T-8	Nomade Racing	4	– 95
T-8	Pedregà Team	4	– 95
T-13	Supesunr Team	2	– 97
T-13	Team Casteu Trophy	2	– 97

Junior Trophy

Rank	Rider	Points	Margin
1	Konrad Dąbrowski	91	Leader
2	Edgar Canet	88	3
3	Justin Gerlach	46	45
4	Martim Ventura	31	60
5	Fang Xiangling	24	67
6	Alfredo Pellicer	20	71
7	Filip Grot	16	75
8	Arnau Lledó	13	78

Veteran Trophy

Rank	Rider	Points	Margin
1	David Pabiška	63	Leader
2	Sebastián Urquía	51	– 12
3	David Brock	33	– 30
4	Bartłomiej Tabin	30	– 33
5	Kees Koolen	25	– 38
6	Philippe Gendron	24	– 39
T-7	Jorge Brandão	20	– 43
T-7	Álvaro Cóppola	20	– 43
T-7	Jatin Jain	20	– 43
T-7	Nathan Rafferty	20	– 43
11	Fabien Domas	17	– 46
T-12	Dominique Cizeau	16	– 47
T-12	Robert Przybyłowski	16	– 47
14	Zhang Min	15	– 48
15	David Casteu	14	– 49
T-16	Xavier Gregoire	13	– 50
T-16	Massimiliano Guerrini	13	– 50
18	Gad Nachmani	12	– 51
T-19	Rafic Eid	11	– 52
T-19	Ricardo Lastra	11	– 52
T-19	Martin Lourens	11	– 52
T-19	Nuno Silva	11	– 52
T-23	Óscar Hernández	9	– 54
T-23	Yugandhar Prasad Jasti	9	– 54
25	Francisco Arredondo	8	– 55
26	Ignacio Sanchis	6	– 57

Women Trophy

Rank	Rider	Points	Margin
1	Sandra Gómez	38	Leader
2	Aishwarya Pissay	25	– 13

Featured image credit: Kin Marcin / Red Bull Content Pool / ASO