Nasser Al-Attiyah‘s quest for a third consecutive World Rally-Raid Championship started on the wrong foot when he retired from the Dakar Rally, but he seems to have regained his footing since. After winning the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge in February, he continued his newfound momentum with a victory in the inaugural BP Ultimate Rally-Raid.
Returning to Portugal, the site of his maiden race with Prodrive when he ran the Baja Portalegre 500 last October, Al-Attiyah won two stages and held off a late charge by João Ferreira to win by nearly three minutes. After winning the Prologue, Al-Attiyah had a relatively slow Stage #1 as he finished sixth before hitting his stride with back-to-back stage wins.
Yazeed Al-Rajhi trailed Al-Attiyah by just twenty seconds after Stage #2 but was eliminated by a rollover the following day, leaving Ferreira as the next closest rival. An SSV regular who switched to a Mini JCW Rally Plus for his home race, Ferreira sliced his deficit in half after Stage #4 to 2:41, but finished behind Al-Attiyah in the fifth and final stage. Ferreira also won the concurrent Portuguese Cross-Country Championship round that was run across the first two days.
With his win, Al-Attiyah moves past Ferreira’s Mini team-mate Carlos Sainz for the championship lead. His co-driver Édouard Boulanger, now two-for-two by his side, also assumes the top spot for his position.
“This was a very tricky rally and we had to be clever,” said Al-Attiyah. “Thank you to my co-driver Édouard and to Prodrive for the car. Now we have won two races and we’re leading the championship.”
Reunited with Mini for Portugal, Sainz narrowly missed the overall podium as he finished less than three minutes behind Lucas Moraes, who moved past him for third by winning Stage #5. Although he won at Dakar, his Team Audi Sport shuttered operations shortly after and left him out of a ride for the Abu Dhabi (for which they were fined). Despite being second in points and certainly still a championship contender, he has stressed that he is not racing the full calendar following Audi’s demise.
“I’m happy I came here and made this race. I now understand what this rally is all about and it was a good experience,” Sainz commented.
Toyota remains the manufacturer’s championship leader after a tumultuous race. Moraes and Guerlain Chicherit both scored stage wins for the Hilux, but the latter retired the day after his victory when he crashed into a tree. Their team-mates Seth Quintero and Guillaume de Mévius struggled with mechanical issues throughout, though Quintero was able to salvage a runner-up effort in Stage #4. Toyota Gazoo Racing‘s Saood Variawa received a two-hour time penalty after speeding too many times in a control zone, then opted to retire to preserve his vehicle for the South African Rally-Raid Championship.
Chicherit and Variawa were among twelve retirements, with other victims including W2RC contenders Marcos Baumgart and Aliyyah Koloc for mechanical reasons. Vaidotas Žala was forced out by a bizarre incident in which a crew member accidentally poured contaminated fuel into his Mini. Eduard Pons‘ Ultimate début in Past-Racing‘s Ford Ranger T1+ was cut short by an alternator failure. The alternator also claimed the Red-Lined Nissan of Dave Klaassen, while his team-mate Pim Klaassen overcame oil leaks and tpunctures to reach the finish.
Despite not reaching the finish, Quintero remarked that the race was “the most fun rally that I’ve ever done. The fans here have been unreal, it’s just a smile the whole time, there’s so many people lining the whole course.”
Ultimate overall results
| Finish | Number | Driver | Co-Driver | Team | Class | Time | Margin |
| 1 | 201 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | Édouard Boulanger | Nasser Racing | T1+ | 10:02:57 | Leader |
| 2 | 214 | João Ferreira | Filipe Palmeiro | X-raid Mini JCW Team | T1+ | 10:05:46 | + 2:49 |
| 3 | 205 | Lucas Moraes | Armand Monleón | Toyota Gazoo Racing | T1+ | 10:06:33 | + 3:36 |
| 4 | 200 | Carlos Sainz | Alex Haro | X-raid Mini JCW Team | T1+ | 10:09:09 | + 6:12 |
| 5 | 204 | Yazeed Al-Rajhi | Timo Gottschalk | Overdrive Racing | T1+ | 10:20:08 | + 17:11 |
| 6 | 209 | Cristian Baumgart | Gustavo Gugelmin | X Rally Team | T1+ | 10:25:07 | + 22:10 |
| 7 | 223 | Francisco Barreto* | Carlos Silva | Barata Racing Team | T1+ | 10:25:46 | + 22:49 |
| 8 | 211 | Juan Cruz Yacopini | Daniel Oliveiras | Overdrive Racing | T1+ | 10:49:54 | + 46:57 |
| 9 | 220 | Isidre Esteve* | José Maria Villalobos Valcarcel | Overdrive Racing | T1+ | 11:04:32 | + 1:01:35 |
| 10 | 232 | Maria Luís Gameiro* | José Marques | Maria Luís Gameiro | T1+ | 12:04:48 | + 2:01:51 |
| 11 | 228 | Ronald Schoolderman* | Mark Salomons | 4×4 Centrum Ermelo | T1.1 | 12:54:15 | + 2:51:18 |
| 12 | 224 | Benoit Fretin* | Cédric Duplé | Benoit Fretin | T1.2 | 13:01:21 | + 2:58:24 |
| 13 | 230 | Stefan Carmans* | Arjan van Tiel | Stefan Carmans | T1+ | 13:26:58 | + 3:24:01 |
| 14 | 231 | Rik van den Brink* | Gydo Heimans | Rik van den Brink | T1.1 | 13:28:04 | + 3:25:07 |
| 15 | 207 | Denis Krotov | Konstantin Zhiltsov | Overdrive Racing | T1+ | 13:41:03 | + 3:38:06 |
| 16 | 206 | Seth Quintero | Dennis Zenz | Toyota Gazoo Racing | T1+ | 16:44:54 | + 6:41:57 |
| 17 | 225 | Magdalena Zajac* | Marcin Pasek | Proxcars TME Rally Team | T1.1 | 19:35:53 | + 9:32:56 |
| 18 | 226 | Tomasz Baranowski* | Konrad Dudziński | Finarto Racing | T1.1 | 24:48:39 | + 14:45:42 |
| 19 | 215 | Lionel Baud | Lucie Baud | Overdrive Racing | T1+ | 30:53:55 | + 20:50:58 |
| 20 | 203 | Guillaume de Mévius | Xavier Panseri | Overdrive Racing | T1+ | 31:00:32 | + 20:57:35 |
| 21 | 213 | Eugenio Amos | Paolo Ceci | Overdrive Racing | T1+ | 33:48:57 | + 23:46:00 |
| 22 | 233 | Pim Klaassen* | Teun van Dal | DaklaPack Rallysport | T1.1 | 35:49:48 | + 25:46:51 |
| 23 | 227 | José Rogeira* | Paulo Marques | José Rogeira | T1.1 | 47:24:22 | + 37:21:25 |
| DNF | 202 | Guerlain Chicherit | Mathieu Baumel | Overdrive Racing | T1+ | DNF | N/A |
| DNF | 208 | Saood Variawa | François Cazalet | Toyota Gazoo Racing | T1+ | DNF | N/A |
| DNF | 210 | Marcos Baumgart | Kleber Cincea | X Rally Team | T1+ | DNF | N/A |
| DNF | 212 | Aliyyah Koloc | Sébastien Delaunay | Buggyra ZM Racing | T1+ | DNF | N/A |
| DNF | 216 | Vaidotas Žala* | Paulo Fiúza | Unique Racing Team | T1+ | DNF | N/A |
| DNF | 217 | Tiago Reis* | Valter Cardoso | Tiago Reis | T1+ | DNF | N/A |
| DNF | 218 | João Ramos* | Jorge Carvalho | João Ramos | T1+ | DNF | N/A |
| DNF | 219 | Alejandro Martins* | David Monteiro | Alejandro Martins | T1+ | DNF | N/A |
| DNF | 221 | Eduard Pons* | Candido Carrera | Past-Racing | T1+ | DNF | N/A |
| DNF | 222 | Jose Luis Garcia* | Manuel Navarro | Escudería Villa de Llanes | T1.1 | DNF | N/A |
| DNF | 229 | Rients Hofstra* | Wouter de Graaf | Rients Hofstra | T1.1 | DNF | N/A |
| DNF | 234 | Dave Klaassen* | Tessa Rooth | DaklaPack Rallysport | T1.1 | DNF | N/A |
Ultimate stage winners
| Stage | Driver | Time |
| Prologue | Nasser Al-Attiyah | 3:41.9 |
| Stage #1 | Guerlain Chicherit | 1:13:54 |
| Stage #2 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | 1:47:21 |
| Stage #3 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | 3:31:47 |
| Stage #4 | Yazeed Al-Rajhi | 2:33:43 |
| Stage #5 | Lucas Moraes | 49:56 |
W2RC Ultimate standings
Unlike Challenger and SSV, Ultimate does not have its own class-specific trophy and instead has a single championship where drivers from all three points-paying categories are eligible.
For readability, competitors registered for the championship who have not earned points are excluded.
Drivers’ standings
| Rank | Driver | Points | Margin |
| 1 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | 112 | Leader |
| 2 | Carlos Sainz | 100 | – 12 |
| 3 | Yazeed Al-Rajhi | 79 | – 33 |
| 4 | Lucas Moraes | 76 | – 36 |
| 5 | Guerlain Chicherit | 69 | – 43 |
| 6 | Guillaume de Mévius | 65 | – 47 |
| 7 | Rokas Baciuška | 43 | – 69 |
| 8 | Seth Quintero | 39 | – 73 |
| 9 | Martin Prokop | 36 | – 76 |
| 10 | João Ferreira | 34 | – 78 |
| 11 | Austin Jones | 33 | – 79 |
| 12 | Mathieu Serradori | 32 | – 80 |
| 13 | Cristian Baumgart | 27 | – 85 |
| 14 | Denis Krotov | 26 | – 86 |
| 15 | Saood Variawa | 22 | – 90 |
| 16 | Juan Cruz Yacopini | 17 | – 95 |
| 17 | Yasir Seaidan | 16 | – 96 |
| 18 | Mattias Ekström | 15 | – 97 |
| 19 | Marcos Baumgart | 14 | – 98 |
| 20 | Stéphane Peterhansel | 13 | – 99 |
| T-21 | Mitch Guthrie | 11 | – 101 |
| T-21 | Nicolás Cavigliasso | 11 | – 101 |
| 23 | Pau Navarro | 9 | – 103 |
| 24 | Ricardo Porém | 8 | – 104 |
| T-25 | Sebastián Guayasamín | 7 | – 105 |
| T-25 | Dania Akeel | 7 | – 105 |
| 27 | Aliyyah Koloc | 6 | – 106 |
| T-28 | Rebecca Busi | 5 | – 107 |
| T-28 | Mário Franco | 5 | – 107 |
| T-30 | Sara Price | 4 | – 108 |
| T-30 | Eugenio Amos | 4 | – 108 |
| T-30 | Ricardo Ramilo | 4 | – 108 |
| 33 | Krzysztof Hołowczyc | 3 | – 109 |
| 34 | Marcelo Gastaldi | 2 | – 110 |
| 35 | Lionel Baud | 1 | – 111 |
Co-drivers’ standings
| Rank | Co-Driver | Points | Margin |
| 1 | Édouard Boulanger | 107 | Leader |
| 2 | Timo Gottschalk | 79 | – 28 |
| T-3 | Lucas Cruz | 76 | – 31 |
| T-3 | Armand Monleón | 76 | – 31 |
| 5 | Xavier Panseri | 65 | – 42 |
| 6 | Alex Winocq | 64 | – 43 |
| 7 | Oriol Vidal | 43 | – 64 |
| 8 | Dennis Zenz | 39 | – 68 |
| 9 | Viktor Chytka | 36 | – 71 |
| 10 | Filipe Palmeiro | 34 | – 73 |
| 11 | Loïc Minaudier | 32 | – 75 |
| T-12 | Konstantin Zhiltsov | 26 | – 81 |
| T-12 | Oriol Mena | 26 | – 81 |
| 14 | Alex Haro | 24 | – 83 |
| 15 | Mathieu Baumel | 23 | – 84 |
| 16 | François Cazalet | 22 | – 85 |
| 17 | Gustavo Gugelmin | 18 | – 89 |
| 18 | Daniel Oliveiras | 17 | – 90 |
| 19 | Alberto Andreotti | 16 | – 91 |
| 20 | Emil Bergkvist | 15 | – 92 |
| 21 | Kleber Kincea | 14 | – 93 |
| T-22 | Kellon Walch | 11 | – 96 |
| T-22 | Michaël Metge | 11 | – 96 |
| T-22 | Valentina Pertegarini | 11 | – 96 |
| 25 | Andreas Schulz | 9 | – 98 |
| 26 | Luís Marques | 8 | – 99 |
| T-27 | Fernando Matias Acosta | 7 | – 100 |
| T-27 | Stéphane Duplé | 7 | – 100 |
| 29 | Sébastien Delaunay | 6 | – 101 |
| T-30 | Adrien Metge | 5 | – 102 |
| T-30 | Sergio Lafuente | 5 | – 102 |
| T-30 | João Serôdio | 5 | – 102 |
| T-33 | Paolo Ceci | 4 | – 103 |
| T-33 | Jeremy Gray | 4 | – 103 |
| T-33 | Fausto Mota | 4 | – 103 |
| 36 | Łukasz Kurzeja | 3 | – 104 |
| 37 | Carlos Sachs | 2 | – 105 |
| 38 | Lucie Baud | 1 | – 106 |
Manufacturers’ standings
| Rank | Manufacturer | Points | Margin |
| 1 | Toyota | 143 | Leader |
| 2 | Prodrive | 120 | – 23 |
| 3 | Mini | 77 | – 66 |
| 4 | Audi | 76 | – 67 |
