Overdrive Racing’s new recruits Luis Portela and Carlos Jorge Mendes made a mockery of their lack of Ultimate category experience by finishing second overall in the punishing Teruel-based Baja Spain Aragon.
The Portuguese driver comes from a motorcycling background and has driven in the T3 and T4 categories in the past. But he proved that winning the Prologue was no fluke when he held his cool and went on to seal the runner-up spot behind experienced fellow countryman Joao Ferreira on the fifth round of the 2026 FIA World Baja Cup.
Portela said: “I’m so happy to finish this race on the podium. I never imagined in my life that my first time would be a podium. This was my first time at Baja Aragon and my first time in the Ultimate class. It was a dream Prologue. I did P1. I only drove T3s and T4s before. I enjoy to drive fast. I come from motorcycles and we like to drive fast too.
“It’s a very high level. Let’s see if I have another opportunity to drive this beast. Thanks to Overdrive. I had a very warm welcome from the team, by Jean-Marc (Fortin), and all the mechanics.”
Overdrive Racing entered three cars in Spain’s ever popular round of the Baja series that had been originally postponed in July because of the risk of wildfires in the summer heat.
Yazeed Al-Rajhi and his stand-in navigator Dennis Zenz were well-placed to challenge for overall victory after holding second place before the final stage on Sunday. They lost a little time on the track and were forced to stop when the Saudi discovered an oil leak on to his brakes.
Fellow Saudi Dania Akeel teamed up with Frenchman Sebastien Delaunay in the third Toyota Hilux Evo. After suffering a disappointing result on the Prologue – that saw her down in 33rd place – Akeel fought back through the field and the dust to reach Teruel in 16th place.
Action got underway with a 6.48km Prologue on Friday afternoon after Overdrive Racing had carried out a shakedown test in the build up to the event near Teruel. Al-Rajhi clocked the third quickest time of 4min 13.7sec on the Prologue behind Portela in his Overdrive Racing Toyota and Guillaume de Mevius with Akeel stopping the clocks in 33rd after losing around half a minute.
Al-Rajhi’s stand-in navigator Zenz said: “It is a short notice race for me because Timo Gottschalk had a bike accident. We had a brief test this morning and had a clean run on the Prologue. It was super loose and slippery and a lot of rocks on top.”
Portela and Al-Rajhi duly lined up third and eighth on the road for the opening selective section of 151.07km with Akeel down in the dust with it all to do in 33rd.
Al-Rajhi was the quickest of the Overdrive pilots through the opener: the Saudi clocked a time of 2hr 04min 50.9sec and that put him into fourth place with Portela down in seventh and Akeel climbing through the field to finish 22nd. Portela was later handed a four-minute time penalty for missing a waypoint on the first stage.
Portela said: “It was a hard stage but we tried not to make any mistakes. We missed a waypoint, so we came back and then we got a penalty because we turned around. Other than that, we did a good job.”
The second stage of the day ran for 180.08km in rising autumn temperatures. It was a successful one for Overdrive Racing with Portela belying his lack of experience in the Ultimate category to finish just 8.6 seconds behind the stage-winning Ferreira. Al-Rajhi came in a close third and moved into second overall with Portela also climbing to third.
Akeel clocked the 18th fastest time and found herself in 19th overall at the night halt.
Disappointment followed for Al-Rajhi on the final morning but Akeel climbed to 16th and Portela clocked the second quickest time to seal the runner-up spot for Overdrive Racing.
The FIA World Baja Cup resumes with Portugal’s Baja de Portalegre 500 on October 15th-17th.
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