Martim Ventura and Preston Campbell successfully completed the opening stage of Rally-Raid Portugal today for the Monster Energy Honda HRC team, navigating a challenging day that tested both riders.
Overnight rain significantly impacted the stage and with nearly 200 km of timed racing on a loop from the Grândola bivouac, conditions were far from easy. The stage was split into two main sections: after a 12 km liaison, the first 177 km of the special stage featured extremely wet and muddy tracks, deep riverbed crossings and technical navigation that demanded full concentration. Riders then faced a 31 km road section bringing them back to the start of yesterday’s prologue, which was raced again in reverse under the watchful eyes of enthusiastic Portuguese fans.
For Preston Campbell, more familiar with the Californian desert than Portugal, the stage proved a real test. In only his second Portuguese event, the young American delivered an impressive performance, finishing just off the stage podium in fourth, 3’42” behind stage winner Bruno Santos. Just 13 seconds from the overall podium and 3’46” off the lead, Campbell will aim to climb higher tomorrow aboard his Honda CRF450 RX RALLY.
Martim Ventura, rode with determination to secure seventh fastest, 5’26” behind the stage winner. Sitting seventh overall and 5’38” back, the Portuguese rider is ready to fight to regain time over the coming days.
With both riders safely back at the Grândola bivouac, attention now turns to stage two, which will take them into Spain. The industrial city of Badajoz awaits after 500 km of racing tomorrow and both riders hope for drier conditions for what promises to be a long, demanding day in the saddle.
Ruben Faria
General Manager
Today there was a lot of water and it was quite a good results for the riders. Preston was our best rider in the Rally 2 class finishing in fourth, 3’42” from the winner. Martim is not in the best shape and his goal is to finish the race, everyday he will try to increase his confidence and speed. He’s not far off the top spot though. I believe tomorrow they can push a little bit more and move up the standings.
Martim Ventura 84
Stage: 7th Overall: 7th
Not a good day for me, I’m not really feeling it and I’m in some pain. I tried to manage the best I could and hope tomorrow will be a better day. I’ve got to regroup and tomorrow I know I will be better.
Preston Campbell 85
Stage: 4th Overall: 4th
The first part of the special was good, started off in the sand and it was pretty deep and wet, by the end it was more hard pack and slippery. It was super fun and I had a good time, the bike was working well and then we took a little break and did a last special test which was only three minutes long, it was the prologue backwards and I felt better on that today too than I did yesterday. I had a good first day here and ready for the rain tomorrow.
Rally 2 Result – Stage 1
Pos. Rider Num Nation Team Time/Gap
1 Santos Bruno 35 POR BS FRUTAS PATRICIA PILAR 01:37:17
Theric Neels 66 FRA Kove Factory Racing + 02:56
3 Pellicer Alfredo 50 SPA Xraids Experience + 03:32
4 Campbell Preston 85 USA Honda HRC + 03:42
5 Mulec Toni 16 SLO BAS World KTM Racing Team + 03:45
6 Simão Micael 8 POR Xraids Experience + 05:05
7 Ventura Martim 84 POR Honda HRC + 05:26
8 Knuiman Jeremy 81 NDL Xraids Experience + 08:42
9 Drdaj Dusan 18 CZE Cajdasrot + 11:42
10 De Gavardo Tomás 20 CHI De Gavardo Team + 14:09
Rider Standings
Rally 2 Provisional Standings After Stage 1
Pos. Rider Num Nation Team Time/Gap
1 Santos Bruno 35 POR BS FRUTAS PATRICIA PILAR 01:40:25
2 Theric Neels 66 FRA Kove Factory Racing + 02:59
3 Pellicer Alfredo 50 SPA Xraids Experience + 03:33
4 Campbell Preston 85 USA Honda HRC + 03:46
5 Mulec Toni 16 SLO BAS World KTM Racing Team + 03:51
6 Simão Micael 8 POR Xraids Experience + 05:12
7 Ventura Martim 84 POR Honda HRC + 05:38
8 Knuiman Jeremy 81 NDL Xraids Experience + 08:41
9 Drdaj Dusan 18 CZE Cajdasrot + 11:42
10 Escofet Marti 49 SPA Joyride Race Service + 14:23
