Summarize

Red-Lined Motorsport kicked off its monster April with one of the most challenging FIA World Rally Raid championship races in recent memory in the third round in Portugal and Spain over the past week. Rather than dry desert conditions one would usually expect from a W2RC race, teams were faced with stages usually seen on a WRC rally. The extremely muddy, wet, and treacherous conditions made the going particularly challenging on the Iberian Peninsula.

Incessant rain before and during the event made the going tough and an extraordinary challenge for the Red-Lined privateer teams of Stefan Carmans and Wouter de Graaf  in their CSA Racing REVO T1+, and the DaklaPack Rallysport pairing of Pim Klaassen and Teun van Dal’s in their trusty VK50. Both gentlemen crews however made the best of the extraordinary conditions as Carmans and de Graaf came home a best yet 13th overall, and Klaassen and van Dal an impressive fifth in the FIA T1.1 class.

“This is a huge shout out to our two privateer teams for mastering the treacherous conditions to deliver brilliant results,” said Red-Lined Motorsport team principal Terence Marsh.  “Stefan’s Red-Lined REVO T1+ has now run faultlessly over 12,000 km and multiple events including the entire Dakar 2024 since it first turned a wheel. Despite he and Wouter being amateur drivers, they still brought it home well within a star studded field of 38 of the best rally raid teams in the world. 

“18-year old Pim and Teun can also be very proud of their excellent run in the most demanding conditions imaginable in their Red-Lined VK50. Not many can boast a finishing badge after this one, so we are truly proud of both crews’ achievements. They say that there’s no rest for the wicked, however. Now we must look ahead to supporting our Red-Lined teams in both the Morocco Desert Challenge and the South African Rally Raid Nkomazi 400 over the next two weeks. So we need to stay focused!”

While the Morocco and Nkomazi races may both be happening in Africa, the two events go down over 11,000 kilometres apart and partially even run at the same time. “That’s as challenging as it’s exciting, especially with what’s going down in the local race,” Terence Marsh concluded. “At the Nkomazi event we will also be officially launching our new GT-R powered Red-Lined REVO T1+, so there’s both added pressure and excitement.

“In the meantime, we salute our international partners for a job well done in ensuring that we can field competitive machinery in totally different races running quite literally worlds apart at the same time. April is a mad month for us, so hats off to all concerned. It certainly is a great team effort!”