Toyota wins Portugal and cuts Al Attiyah's lead to nine points

With a 34-second lead at the start of the final stage, Lucas Moraes needed to keep his cool to secure his first victory in the W2RC. Moraes did not falter. He gained an additional 19 seconds on Sunday's 103-kilometer timed section around Lisbon and won the BP Ultimate Rally Raid Portugal by 53 seconds over his teammate Henk Lategan.

The result changes the landscape of the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship. Nasser Al Attiyah maintains the lead with 140 points, but his advantage was reduced to nine points over Lategan and ten over Moraes. Toyota placed its two drivers in a position to attack for the Rallye du Maroc, the final round of the 2025 season.

Al Attiyah maintains the lead despite problems

The three-time world champion Nasser Al Attiyah (The Dacia Sandriders) finished in fourth place, although his championship lead was significantly reduced. Al Attiyah, who had won the prologue and stage 4, suffered two difficult days that ruled him out of the fight for victory on Portuguese soil.

Al Attiyah arrives at the Rallye du Maroc, the final round of the 2025 season, with 140 points, followed by Lategan with 131 points and Moraes with 130. The leader's gap was reduced from 20 to nine points over Lategan and to ten over Moraes.

Loeb salvages the weekend for Dacia

Sébastien Loeb rescued third place for Dacia, finishing ahead of Al Attiyah. The team had achieved a double victory in stage 3, when Al Attiyah won the special stage and Loeb was second, also placing all three of its cars in the top 5 with Cristina Gutiérrez in fifth position.

The result allowed Dacia to add two stage wins at the Portuguese event, while Toyota won the other three special stages. This balance proved decisive for Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC to mathematically secure the manufacturers' title for the fourth consecutive season, with a 110-point lead over Dacia.

Photo By A.S.O

Guerreiro wins in Lisbon eight months after the Dakar

In the Challenger category, Gonçalo Guerreiro got revenge for what happened at the Dakar, where Nicolas Cavigliasso had snatched his first W2RC victory from him. Guerreiro won in Lisbon with three wins in the six special stages, including the final stage.

Guerreiro finished ahead of Pim Klaassen (Daklapack Rallysport) and Dania Akeel (BBR Motorsport). Cavigliasso, who finished fourth, maintains the championship lead with a 29-point advantage over Pau Navarro and 42 over Akeel, both from the BBR team.

Photo By A.S.O

Perfect Pinto in SSV scores fifth consecutive win

Alexandre Pinto completed a perfect performance in SSV by winning all stages of the BP Ultimate Rally Raid Portugal. Pinto (Old Friends Rally Team) became the third driver in the category to achieve a perfect performance in a W2RC race in 2025, joining Rokas Baciuska at the Sonora Rally and Shinsuke Umeda at the Desafío Ruta 40.

Pinto leads his teammate Enrico Gaspari by 33 points in the championship, with only Gaspari able to prevent him from taking the title. Bernardo Oliveira has already secured the co-drivers' crown in SSV.

Fez to host the World Championship decider in October

The W2RC will conclude the 2025 season with the Rallye du Maroc, which will begin on October 10 with administrative and technical checks in Fez. Al Attiyah arrives as the most successful driver in the Moroccan event, where he holds the record with seven victories, the most recent in 2024.