“We”ll need to discuss our pace as the race progresses”
En resumen
R.S.
- Rui started racing karts at the age of seven, back home in Angola.
- From there he went on to competing in Caterham Super 7. Probably the closest thing to a road legal kart!
- He is now into his 4th year of his rally raid ‘career’.
- After winning their national championship (5 best races out of 8), in 2024 Rui and his co-driver Francisco decided to have a crack at some rounds of the Portuguese national championships including the ultra competitive Portalegra Baja where they finished 8th in the T3 category.
- Encouraged by their performance in a more demanding series they decided that for 2025 they would concentrate on preparation for the Dakar.
- Using a Polaris, rather than the Can-Am they raced back home, the pair took part in navigation schools run by Bianchi Prata in Portugal and Namibia and the Rallye du Maroc alongside their chosen assistance team TH-Trucks.
- Away from racing Rui studied mechanical engineering in both Portugal and the UK and now runs his own business in Angola. He is married with a young child. His wife is supportive of his racing…providing it is followed by at least one good holiday!
F A:
- A keen sportsman, Francisco competed at federation level in both swimming and football before turning his attention to rally raid.
- As well educated as his teammate, he studied in Portugal, Spain, France and the UK and is currently a market analyst at the Spanish embassy in Angola.
- His Portuguese mother isn’t keen on Francisco’s racing activities but his Angolan dad, an ex-racer himself, is right behind him, as is his brother. In the future he plans on emulating his dad by getting behind the wheel himself.
Francisco lives with his girlfriend, who he says is also supportive of his racing.
Ambición
R S: “Our final preparation for the Dakar, the Rallye du Maroc back in October, went better than expected with a best stage result of 8th place. On the last day we discussed how we should approach the final special with the guys from TH-Trucks and we decided to push hard to see what might break, rather than go for a safe finish. The team wanted to see how the suspension would hold up. Every thing was going well until 50 kms from the end when we managed to find the limits of our Polaris! For the Dakar we obviously want to finish but I’m quite competitive so I’d like a reasonable result as well. It is something we’ll need to discuss as the race progresses. In the future Francisco would like to get behind the wheel, so I will probably come back to Dakar with a professional navigator.”
F A: “We had 4 good days on this year’s Rallye du Maroc and were pleased with our stage results. Racing alongside well-known crews made us think that we can be competitive. Unfortunately, right towards the end of the last stage we crashed the car on a step-up coming out of fast track. But we were going for it. I don’t think we’ll be attacking that hard on the Dakar. Our priority for our first attempt has to be a finish above everything else.”
