Algarve Great Derby Summer 2026. Race 3

Hello everyone! Ringo here!

After extremely hot days across Portugal, reaching 40°C, today finally cooled down a little. Time for Race 3 – 241 km, our last preparation before next week’s 330 km Semi-Final!

Besides the usual morning fog, today brought a completely new challenge: two big wildfires near our route. One was north of the release area, while another was directly on our way home, involving around 350 firefighters, 150 vehicles and 5 helicopters.

At 09:00, visibility finally improved enough for a safe release. With stronger winds at altitude, the trainers expected us to fly high and go over or around the fire and smoke. They took the calculated risk… and we handled it well!

Our groups arrived steadily and close together, with no sign of major dispersion. Many of us came from the west, lower against the wind on the final kilometres, while others appeared from different directions at very high altitude, probably using different wind layers.

𝗪𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿

09:00 Portalegre — ~20°C · NW ~10 km/h · ~90%

11:00 Portel — 22°C · NW ~15 km/h · ~55%

~11:36 Moncarapacho — ~29.4°C · NW ~15 km/h · ~40%

𝗥𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝟯 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝘀

2,497 basketed

1,518 within 15 min — 60.8%

2,190 within 30 min — 87.7%

2,377 arrived — 95.2%

Winner’s flight: 2h36m20s

𝗥𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝟯 – 𝗧𝗼𝗽 𝟯

𝟭𝘀𝘁 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲

Elite Team 2026 – B · Germany

DV-2026-09585-977 · Athlet 977

Speed: 1541.5318 m/min

𝟮𝗻𝗱 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲

Team Mr. XI – Lemmens – A · China

CN-2026-01-0107510 · UL 510

Speed: 1541.5170 m/min

+00:00:00.090

𝟯𝗿𝗱 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲

Eppendorf – Hillemeier · Germany

DV-2026-01111-917 · EH 917

Speed: 1541.3658 m/min

+00:00:01.010

𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆’𝘀 𝘄𝗶