Portuguese pair Joao Ferreira and Filipe Palmeiro finished a great third in the MINI JCW Rally Plus at the Italian Baja, the third round of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Bajas. Their teammates Krzysztof Holowczyc and Lukasz Kurzeja, who also drive a MINI JCW Rally Plus, were also on their way to a top result. But after a long water crossing, the brake disc broke and the two Poles had to quit. At that point, they were in fourth place overall. The third MINI JCW Rally Plus crew Michal Maluszynski and Szymon Gospodarczyk finished the Italian Baja in ninth place.
For Ferreira, it was the first World Cup event in the MINI JCW Rally Plus. The young Portuguese was aggressive right from the start. He won the prologue on Friday afternoon and always finished the other special stages in third place.
Joao Ferreira: “I am very happy that I could finish the race on the podium. It was a very difficult rally – for us and for the car. But we found a good pace from the beginning without taking any risks.”
The fourth event of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Bajas will already take place in a fortnight. Then the X-raid team will travel to Teruel in Spain for the Baja España Aragon.
Overall standings Italian Baja
1. Y. Al-Rajhi / T. Gottschalk – Toyota – 4h 41m 12s
2. N. Al-Attiyah / M. Baumel – Toyota – 4h 50m 40s
3. J. Ferreira / F. Palmeiro – MINI JCW Rally Plus – 4h 53m 51s
4. J. Yacopini / D. Oliveras – Toyota – 4h 55m 24s
5. B. De Sousa / F. De Almeida – Can-Am – 5h 08m 48s
…
9. M. Maluszynski / S. Gospodarczyk – MINI JCW Rally Plus – 5h 17m 48s
