TGR Iberian Cup: Bruno Bulacia and Gabriel Morales win the Murça Rally to become champions

The CSM Automoció team’s Bruno Bulacia/Gabriel Morales duo won the Murça Rally and became champions of the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Iberian Cup (TGRIC), the one-make cup organised by Toyota Caetano Portugal, Toyota Spain and Motor & Sport Institute (MSi). The cup, contested with the competitive Toyota GR Yaris RZ Cup cars, has completed its third season since it was launched in 2022.

In this eighth and final race of the 2024 season, the young Bolivian driver started with a comfortable points lead over Javi Villa (Asturhíbrido) and put in a brilliant performance. He controlled his rivals to finish the eight timed stages (90.60 km) on gravel with a 1m 07.3s advantage over the Asturian. Bulacia was the fastest in four special stages and led the rally from the second section. In this way, he has confirmed his consistency on Portuguese terrain, where he has won every rally this season.

Javi Villa (Asturhíbrido), who entered Murça with the aim of maintaining his second position in the overall standings, was strongly opposed from the start by Josep Bassas (IPPON Motor Vallés), who was the first leader in Murça. The Catalan driver relegated Villa to third place in the second and third special stages, but a road off-road in the second pass through Salgueiro/Garraia, the longest section of the race (14.36 km), caused him to lose more than 3 minutes. From then on, Bassas lost any chance of fighting for the runner-up position in the TGRIC and this delay allowed José Lamela (Breogán Group) to finish the season with a podium finish.
Pedro Lago Vieira (Toyota Caetano Auto), who at the start of the Murça Rally still had a chance of snatching third place in the TGRIC from Bassas, suffered a road accident in the first special stage, which prevented him from continuing in the race. However, he kept his fourth place in the Toyota and MSi one-make cup, concluding the season as the best Portuguese driver.

Despite having secured the first place in the cup, the younger of the Bulacia brothers never left the wheel of his Toyota GR Yaris RZ Cup, demonstrating his superiority on gravel. Javi Villa (Asturhíbrido), on the other hand, already consolidated in second place of the rally, maintained the same position in the overall classification of the TGRIC and decided not to risk; among other things, because of the delicate nature of the stages after the presence of rain on them.

In the absence of Miguel Campos (Macedo & Macedo GTW Racing) in this last race of the season, José Lamela (Grupo Breogán) scored the necessary points to climb one position in the final standings, thanks to his third place in the Portuguese event. Manuel Martins and Ivan Rana closed the standings among the Toyota GR Yaris RZ in the Trás-os-Montes event.

Once again, the Toyota GR Yaris RZ Cup showed its potential by placing four TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Iberian Cup drivers in the top ten positions of the race, while the winner and 2024 champion, Bruno Bulacia, was on the overall podium.