Following the UAE Desert Challenge et the Tunisia Rally, the third round of the FIA Cross-Country Rally World Cup took competitors to Portugal and Spain where they faced a variety of terrains, plus the added challenge of searing heat and dust which caused both the drivers and the cars to suffer throughout the four-day event.

 

BMW/BFGoodrich newcomer Nani Roma posted the fastest time on the super-special but was eliminated from the fight for victory shortly afterwards by an electrical problem. The incident transformed the run of the former Mitsubishi driver into a full-scale test session which gave him the opportunity to evaluate a new evolution of the All-Terrain tyre which won January's Dakar.

 

Competing on home soil, Portugal's Filipe Campos (BMW/BFGoodrich) emerged in front at the end of the first leg before profiting from a dust-free run to defend his lead until later crashing out. Compatriots Carlos Sousa (Mitsubishi/BFGoodrich) and Miguel Barbosa (BMW/BFGoodrich) suffered a similar fate on the same stage, allowing Guerlain Chicherit to take over at the top of the leaderboard to claim his second World Cup win of the year – and the 2009 title - ahead of another Portuguese driver, Helder Oliveira (Nissan/BFGoodrich).

 

Dominique Bravy (Rally-Raid Technician, BFGoodrich): "Some 93 per cent of the field was competing on BFGoodrich tyres and we saw all the different products that make up the range come out for the Rali Transiberico, including the Rock T/A on the Mitsubishi Pajero Evos, the All-Terrain on the BMW X3 CCs, and a new evolution of the All-Terrain which was tested by Nani Roma, exactly a year after this tyre's competition debut on the 2008 Rali Transiberico."

 

1, Chicherit/Thorner (BMW/BFGoodrich). 2, Oliveira/Palmeiro (Nissan/BFGoodrich). 3, Moniz da Maia/Sotto Mayor (BMW/BFGoodrich). Etc.