Baja Aragón 2016, the 33rd running in the history of this event and Round 5 of this year's FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies, will take place from 21st to 24th July in Teruel.

There are more than 170 registered drivers in all the categories, including cars, motorbikes, quads, buggies and trucks, as well as special categories such as  regularity, Baja Experience by Polaris or ParaBaja, a format for handicapped drivers. In total, more than 95 cars and 8 trucks will contest the event.

Two Dakar winners stand out from the rest of the drivers; and they have also won Baja Aragon in the past: Nani Roma and Nasser Al Attiyah. They both switched teams for this year, but they will repeat as partners as each has elected to pilot a Toyota.

Nani Roma is the current winner of the Baja – indeed he won in the last two years and remains as the most successful driver in this competition.

Al Attiyah has won the Paris-Dakar two times and also Baja Aragon in 2008, so he will be a tough opponent and is likely to be a contender for the win.

This year, they will also have to face Carlos Sainz, two times winner of the FIA World Rally Championship, who comes back to this event after more than 25 years. Another WRC star – Mikko Hirvonen – returns after finishing third last year in his first ever Baja Aragon.

Other contenders include Kuba Przygonski, Orlando Terranova, Raúl Orlandini, and Spanish Isidre Esteve and Xevi Pons.

In trucks category, a number of heavyweights return to the action including Martin Macik, who took victory in Aragon in 2009.

They will all together contribute to make Baja Aragon number 33 one of the most contentious. They will compete over 800 kilometres with a similar race format to the used in previous editions, with two stages on Saturday and one on Sunday as well as Friday’s Super Special Stage.

Click here to go to the Baja Aragon website for more information.