The best time in the SSS1, 4m39, 31s, lead Miguel Barbosa/Miguel Ramalho to open the raod for the Baja Portalegre 500. The driver of the Mitsubishi Racing Lancer, who already secured the fifth title of Portuguese champion, was the only one to meet the 5, 52 km of the prologue with an average in excess of 71km/h and was faster 5,7s than Nuno Matos (Opel Astra Proto). The third quickest time went to the Russian Boris Gadasin, in G-Force Proto, it took more 5, 85s to complete the stage.
On an afternoon with overcast sky and some occasional drizzle, the current second placed in the Championship, Ricardo Porém, that drives a Bomcar Série 1 Proto, did the fourth time, with more 6,95s than Barbosa, and the fifth fastest, Hélder Oliveira, returning at the wheel of a Nissan Navara, was already almost 15 seconds slower than the leader.
"The prologue was normal. We kept our pace and did not make mistakes. The surface was completely dry, just stirred due to the passage of the bikes", said Miguel Barbosa. For the race, the leaders will open the road and knows that "if there is a lot of mud, it would be better from a little further back, but the biggest limitation is the fact that, as we are priority drivers, we had to choose the type of tire to use at the scrutineering and we cannot change during the race," explained the driver of the Mitsubishi.
At the end of the prologue, Nuno Matos was very pleased with the second time. "We have improved our time in 20 seconds compared to last year. It is expected a great flood and an old fashion Portalegre... If so, in theory was better to start a little further in the order, but I did not thought about it because, before our local supporters, we could only try to give as much spectacle as possible", said the Opel driver..
Third overall, Boris Gadasin explained that he had to use "mud tires chosen at the scrutineering. It took out some competitiveness, but it was a decision to try to be fast tomorrow. "
In the category T2, victory in the prologue went to Edgar's Condenso Nissan D-Max, by beating Reinaldo Varela by more than five seconds of difference.
Tomorrow, the competitors must drive two stages, with a total of 407,94km. The first competitor starts at 7h15 and it is estimated that will complete the 167,41km of the route around 9h20. The second stage of the day has 240,52 km against the clock and it is scheduled for 12h00.
SSS1 classification: 1st Miguel Barbosa/Miguel Ramalho, Mitsubishi Racing Lancer, 4m39,31s; 2nd Nuno Matos/Filipe Serra, Opel Astra Proto, at 5,70s; 3rd Boris Gadasin/Alexey Kuzmich, G-Force Proto, at 5,85s; 4th Ricardo Porém/Manuel Porém, Bomcar Série 1 Proto, at 6,95s; 5th Hélder Oliveira/José Marques, Nissan Navara, at 14,15s; 6th Vladimir Vasilyev/Vitaliy Yevtyekhov, Mini All4Racing, at 17,80s; 7th Pedro Grancha/Inês Ponte, BMW Proto PG, at 19,93s; 8th Miroslav Zapletal/Maciek Marton, H3 EVO, at 22,23s; 9th Zdenek Prizek/Marek Sykora, H3 EVO, at 22,57s; 10th Misikov Ruslan/Sergey Talantsev, NT X6, at 24,53s.