Rally of Portugal: Brazilian co-driver Gabriel Morales highlights the country’s potential for rallies – Rallies

See your country with conditions to assert itself in the sport

Co-driver Gabriel Morales, the only Brazilian representative on the Rally de Portugal entry list, believes that his country has the potential to assert itself in the sport, but regrets the lack of investment in young talents.

“We have a very large country with a strong economy, which has produced champions in other aspects of motorsport. But, unfortunately, in rallies this does not happen. I believe it is a basic problem, there is a lack of more stimulus and investment in young drivers”, analyzed Gabriel Morales, 34 years old, to the Lusa agency.

The co-driver, born in São Paulo, shared that many young Brazilians “prefer to go off-road rather than rallying” and explained that Brazil’s territorial extension “makes it difficult to establish a sustainable national championship” .

“We are talking about a country that is more than 5 thousand kilometers long from end to end. It is complicated to cover all the states. In the southern part, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, rallies are well established, with interesting events, but then there is a lack of incentive for there to be more races across the country”, he explained.

Thus, for a Brazilian to develop in the sport, coming to Europe is almost an essential premise, on a path that was taken by Morales, who started in rallying under family influence and, later, as navigator for Paulo Nobre, one of the best -successful Brazilian pilots.

“I started rallying when I was 17, as my father and mother were also co-drivers. Until 2017 I raced in Brazil and South America, but then, with Paulo Nobre, I started an international career, in WRC races and also in the European rally”, he recalled.

Currently, the Brazilian is the navigator of Bolivian driver Bruno Bulacia, driving a Ford Fiesta in the WRC3 category, but both also compete regularly in the Toyota Ibérico trophy, with races already held in Portugal

“We have already competed in the Rali Terras de Aboboreira, in Fafe. Which helped us a lot in preparing for this rally. The people in Portugal are very friendly, and the rally public is very passionate. And with the good food here, I feel me a little at home,” he said.

In what will be the first dirt rally for the Bulacia/Morales duo driving the Fiesta WRC2, Gabriel points to a presence on the podium in the category as an objective.

“Our goal is to fight for the top 3 in WRC3, but if we can get a victory in this category it would be very important. We didn’t start well in Sweden, but we will now try to reverse it, especially because it is in the land that Bruno [Bulacia] has more experience,” he said.

For this, and as one of the representatives of Lusophony in this Rally of Portugal, Gabriel Morales counts on “the support of the Portuguese and also of the many Brazilians who live in the country”.

By Lusa