*As Rally Raid Portugal Gets Underway
The 2026 BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal roared into action with a short but decisive prologue in Grândola on Tuesday, where Ross Branch secured a place among the top 10 in order to keep the title hopes on track. Branch started well, delivering a sharp performance
finishing provisional fourth on stage one on Wednesday, and 10 th on stage two on Thursday.
The BP Ultimate Rally Raid Portugal is a technically demanding rally that combines fast gravel tracks, beach terrain, coastlines, forest trails and navigation- heavy sections across Portugal and Spain.
Taking place from the 17 th -22 nd of March, the 1000 km BP Ultimate Rally Raid Portugal is the second round of the 2026 FIM World Rally Raid Championship and takes place across Portugal and neighbouring Spain. The five stage race is divided into 180km stretch, 377km, 296 km, 315km and lastly 101 kilometres during stage five.
“I’m really prepared though it has been slower than normal because I’m still nursing an injury suffered at Dakar Rally. I haven’t spent as much time on the bike as I’d have liked,” Branch told Voice Sport.
The Hero MotoSports Team rider said the preparations in the BP Ultimate are completely different because they ride on roads and tight spaces.
The Kalahari Ferrari however said he’s tested himself on the rough Namibian and Portugal terrains before competing.
Following last years’ difficulties dominated my mechanical faults and failure to finish races, Branch started the 2026 campaign with a hard- fought top ten finish at the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia. The “Kalahari Ferrari” as he is affectionately known secured an eighth overall finish at the world’s toughest rally, completing the gruelling 8,000km, 13- stage event that pushed riders beyond limit across the Arabian Desert.
“Rain here has been crazy and there is still lot of water on the track right now so the route is going to be difficult and demanding. But it’s the same for everybody. So we just have to make sure we are safe and minimise risks,” he said.
“I really want to win but racing nowadays is about high risk and speed so there is no chance that you can approach other stages on slow mode. We have to ride at maximum capacity each and every single day but the risk is really big so we will really have to try,” said Branch.
Having won the championship in 2024, Branch endured a tough season last year failing dismally to defend his title. However, with Dakar Rally serving as the opening round of the FIM World Rally Raid Championship, the 39 year old collected 12 championship points and currently sits eighth in the standings as the series moves to Europe.
“A top five finish in Portugal will be good for me because normally I’m not one of the fastest here and it’s not really my favourite round. If we can walk away with top 5 finish I will be happy in order to keep the championship in check. The next race is in Argentina where we head to open deserts so we have to just complete this round and earn points and avoid any mistakes. My technical off-road background is Botswana but with this kind of terrain in Portugal I don’t have much of experience. So the aim is to finish every stage,” Branch shared his ambitions for the race.
