The King of Portugal has always been the stand-out event in the Ultra4 Europe series, and this year, with a massive entry of 51 cars spread over four classes it really came of age. The small town of Vimioso, used to a much quieter way of life welcomed crews from every corner of Europe for the fifth time and this year two came from America. But the U4E regulars had a few more teams to contend with than they usually do as Portugal is the spiritual home of extreme off-roading and there were some serious new machines ready to do battle. Read more…

Off Road The Planet | Robb Pritchard | © 2016 All Rights Reserved

For its fourth year the King of Portugal, the jewel in the crown of the ULTRA4 Europe calendar, attracted a massive entry of nearly 40 cars, by far the largest ever gathering of the most extreme off-road race cars on this fair continent.

The short but varied prologue threw up its customary spectacle and drama. Belgium’s Axel Burmann continued his incredible run of bad luck grinding to a halt with transmission failure an oil pressure issue while at the opposite end of the spectrum was Emanual Costa, who played to the crowd by getting some motocross style air on the jumps. It was an incredible performance and one that everyone expected to be repeated out on the first 18km lap through the gorgeous countryside around Vimioso… Read more…

If you want the best rocks outside King of the Hammers, you’ll have to make the trek to Vimioso, Portugal. Sadly, an Ultra4 scheduling conflict had me picking between my favorite children, and not seeing my east coast Ultra4 family all year I found myself in Hot Springs last weekend for the Ultra4s at Hot Springs race (which was amazing, that story coming later this week). Luckily, we’ve made some great friends over the years from across the pond, with Robb Pritchard and team putting together some amazing videos and photos throughout the KOP race. Read more…

Still waiting for the dust to settle, results are a bit unclear after the 1st day of Portugal racing. Outside of massive carnage all the way around, best we know teams and drivers are safe & having a blast. Today (Saturday) marks the final day of King of Portugal racing, we’ll post a video up with results as soon as we get it wrapped up.

The 2015 King of Portugal is currently underway. Here’s a little in-cab video from Thursday’s Prologue to keep us busy. Race day video updates will be posted over the next two days, be sure to stop back to check those out. Best of luck to all drivers and teams!