American Sara Price and Co-Driver Sean Berriman Win Stage 4 in Portugal
American Sara Price and co-driver Sean Berriman placed first in the Stock class in Stage 4 of the bp Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal, marking the second stage win in Portugal for car #504. The pair finished with a time of 2:59:47.
In second, Rokas Baciuška and Oriol Vidal (#502) completed the stage in 3:00:10, just 23 seconds slower than Price.
Stéphane Peterhansel and co-driver Mika Metge (#500) placed third, three minutes 26 seconds behind the winning Stock car with a time of 3:03:13.
Today, the Defender Rally crews placed 23rd (#504), 24th (#502) and 27th (#500) overall in the Car category, beating the time of some T1 Ultimates.
Ahead of the final stage, Peterhansel remains in first position overall in the Stock class for Rally-Raid Portugal, with a gap of three minutes 54 seconds between him and Baciuška.
Jack Lambert, Head of Technical Integration, Defender Rally, said: “A great stage for all three crews with Sara taking the overall win in the Stock class today. Stéphane started with the top T1 cars, setting off at P12 in the starting order. The pace was great; and the Defender held its own amongst the T1s which is impressive and something the team is super proud of. Rokas brought the car home safe and had no issues. We’re excited for the final stage of the rally tomorrow.”
Sara Price, Defender Rally driver, said: “Today was a pretty long stage and it was very technical, there was a little bit of everything going on out there and it was treacherous at times. Plenty of trees and obstacles around, so a lot of ways you could get yourself into trouble. At the end was a total mud bog, so just getting through that was a huge deal. We were focused on having a good stage and I was proud of my driving, so winning was the cherry on top.”
Rokas Baciuška, Defender Rally driver, said: “No problems with the car today, it worked really well. The stage was tricky, very slippery and easy to make a mistake, but we pushed at the end and were impressed with how the Defender handled the route. We were amongst the SSVs again so let some go past, but it was a good day and enjoyable to drive.”
Stéphane Peterhansel, Defender Rally driver, said: “A long but nice stage to drive. It was a little bit dangerous between the trees, but we had no issues or problems, nothing wrong with the suspension or navigation, so it was a good day. We played it safe, but we’re happy we did that. Final stage tomorrow and we’re anticipating it being twisty in the mountains, so it’ll be demanding on the brakes. It’s not the end yet, but we’re ready and we’ll try to finish the job.”
The fifth stage takes place on Sunday 22nd March 2026, the final stage of bp Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal. The last route runs from Loulé to Loulé and covers a total of 290km, 100km of which is timed.