Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed Al-Rajhi and his German co-driver Timo Gottschalk and the Portuguese pairing of João Ferreira and Filipe Palmeiro lead a quality-packed 110-vehicle entry into this weekend’s Baja Spain Aragón, round three of the 2024 FIA World Baja Cup. 

The entry list includes 27 cars in the Ultimate category, a staggering 57 running in the Challenger section for lightweight prototype cross-country machines and a further 26 entered in the SSV section. 

Al-Rajhi (Toyota Hilux Overdrive) is currently enjoying a 32-point cushion over Ferreira (X-Raid Mini) in the Ultimate category after the opening two rounds in Saudi Arabia and Greece but both drivers are more focused on the battle for the overall FIA World Baja Cup’s Drivers’ Championship that also features competitors from the other categories. 

Because of the way that the points system has been devised this season, each of the three section have excellent opportunities to challenge for the overall title. The South Racing Can-Am duo of Fernando Alvarez and Xavier Panseri currently have a 15-point lead over Al-Rajhi and Gottschalk in the Drivers’ and Co-Drivers’ Championships in addition to a big lead in the battle for SSV honours.  

In the Ultimate class, Al-Rajhi faces competition from a fleet of additional Overdrive Racing-prepared Toyota Hiluxes in the hands of Lithuania’s Rokas Baciuška, Argentina’s Juan Cruz Yacopini, Belgian Guillaume de Mévius and the returning Pole Martin Kaczmarski. De Mévius will be partnered in Spain by Mathieu Baumel for the first time. 

Ferreira, meanwhile, currently holds fourth in the Drivers’ Championship and third in the Ultimate section and wheels out the official X-Raid Mini JCW Rally Plus, although the Trebur-based operation also has privateer Minis in the hands of Portugal’s Alejandro Martins and Maria Gameiro and Spaniard José-Luis Garcia. 

Additional likely front-runners in the Ultimate category include Frenchman Mathieu Serradori (Century CR7-T), Daniel Alonso (Ford Ranger) and João Ramos (Toyota).

The South Racing Can-Am Team currently holds a 20-point cushion over Overdrive Racing in the Teams’ Championship with Escuderia JMP Racing, Santag Racing and the X-Raid JCW Team rounding off the top five. 

Five-time Dakar winner Al-Attiyah tops Challenger category 

Qatari legend Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah will use his new Dacia for the first time in Morocco in October but the five-time Dakar Rally winner has taken a break from his preparations for the shooting competition at the forthcoming Paris Olympics to drive a Taurus T3 Max at the head of a 58-strong list of Challenger crews.  

The defending W2RC champion is not registered for the FIA World Baja Cup but will be chasing honours in a quality field that includes the current leading South Racing Can-Am crew of Diego Martinez/Sergio Lafuente and their closest challengers, Khalid Al-Jafla/Andrei Rudnitski (Taurus) and João Dias/Pedro Ré (OT3). 

Spaniard Eduard Pons will also be chasing championship points in his Past Racing Taurus, in addition to the G Rally Team’s Ghislain de Mévius. 

There is massive talent down the entry with the talented Polish trio of Eryk, Michal and Marek Goczal wheeling out Taurus T3 Max machines and registering late for the FIA World Baja Cup. The list also includes young Spaniard Pau Navarro driving the X-Raid Yamaha YXZ 1000 R Turbo, veteran Dutchman Erik van Loon returning to drive a South Racing Can-Am and the likes of Ricardo Porém (Can-Am) and Tiago Reis (Taurus) flying the flag for Portugal. 

Belgian WRC and Dakar veteran Grégoire de Mévius (OT3), WRC2 star and former M-Sport factory rally driver Pierre-Louis Loubet (Apache) and Lukas Lauda (Can-Am) - the son of the late Formula One racer Niki - are also on the list. 

FIA World Baja Cup-leading Alvarez and Panseri head impressive SSV field

Alvarez and Panseri head a 26-strong field of SSV runners and will defend their commanding 47-point leads in the SSV Drivers’ and Co-Drivers’ Championships, in addition to trying to stay ahead in the overall FIA World Baja Cup. 

The Spanish duo of Alexander and Miguel Toril are Alvarez’s closest challengers after two rounds with French veteran Claude Fournier holding fourth. Can-Am Maverick XRX Turbo RRs fill the leading places in the points’ standings. Of the six drivers registered for the FIA World Baja Cup in Spain, only Italy’s Amerigo Ventura (Yamaha) is not driving a Can-Am. 

The list also includes the Brazilian former FIA champion Cristiano de Sousa Batista whose son Otavio is taking part in the Challenger category. Both drivers are with Santag Racing. 

The list of non-registered crews features an impressive number of privateers from across Europe. They include Spain’s Federico Mogni, the British duo of Sean Haren and Paul Severn and the experienced Swiss driver Jérôme de Sadeleer.

The event is based out of the town of Teruel in the Aragón region of eastern Spain where fierce summer temperatures, intense heat and dust are expected on the demanding rural off-road stages. Competitors will tackle 522.98km competitive kilometres in a revised route laid on by Motor Club Baja – Octagon.

Action gets underway with a short 7.57km Prologue to determine starting orders on Friday afternoon (July 26th). 

Competitors then tackle two stages of 173.25km and 181.08km on Saturday (July 27th) and the on-stage action concludes on Sunday (July 28th) with a single stage of 161.08km.

2024 Baja Spain Aragón – leading entries (top 10 in each category):

*denotes not registered for FIA World Baja Cup