New partnership of De Mévius and Baumel secure hard-earned victory in the punishing heat of Baja Spain Aragón
New partnership of De Mévius and Baumel secure hard-earned victory in the punishing heat of Baja Spain Aragón
The Belgian and his Andorra-based co-driver won the opening two stages and finished third on stage three to record a winning margin of 6min 26.8sec over their Toyota team mates Rokas Baciuška and Oriol Vidal. De Mévius is not registered for FIA World Baja Cup points, however, so the scoop of valuable points for first place in the eight-round series went to Baciuška.
De Mévius said: “So, here we are at the end of the race and we won, so very good, very happy. My first time with Mathieu, first time for me winning overall in a race, so a very good weekend for us. I am looking forward to the next step now.”
Baciuška added: “It was a tough rally. We had to open the stages on Saturday, first and second. I was driving carefully today because I thought I had a puncture in the beginning. In the last 20km, I had a flat rear tyre and I drove carefully to the finish. This was my first ever race in 2021 with T4. It was a good experience. This was the second time with Toyota.”
The Portuguese pairing of João Ferreira and Filipe Palmeiro are chasing FIA World Baja Cup glory and they rounded off the podium places and picked up points for second place in their X-Raid Mini JCW Rally Plus.
Ferreira said: “We lost too much time on Saturday. We were not finding the proper pace and the good set-up of the car and we changed a few things for the second day. It was very tough, very rough after everyone had passed. It’s like this. It’s part of the game. But we managed to finish without any problem.”
Young Pole Eryk Goczal was a late registration for FIA World Baja Cup points but the decision to register was a good one. He and Oriol Mena delivered a stunning performance in their Energylandia Rally Team Taurus T3 Max to finish fourth overall, pick up points for third in the Baja Cup and win the Challenger category.
Eryk Goczal said: “We won our category and finished fourth in the general classification. I cannot be more happy. I came here to fight with the best and I think the result shows that we are getting better and better and my dream of getting into the T1 (Ultimate) class is closer and closer with my skills. Oriol did a great job.”
The all-Spanish crew of Joan Roma and Alex Haro were late entrants in a Past Racing Ford Ranger but the former winner of the Dakar Rally – who will drive an M-Sport Ford in next year’s Dakar – drove well to finish fifth overall.
Juan Cruz Yacopini and Daniel Oliveras rounded off the top six and picked up points for fourth overall in the third of the Overdrive Racing Toyotas.
Saudi Arabian driver Yazeed Al-Rajhi and his German co-driver Timo Gottschalk suffered a rear suspension A-arm bolt breakage on the second stage and lost a lot of time to the leaders. They recovered in the best possible way to win the third stage but the damage had been done and the Saudi finished the Baja well down the rankings but remains in contention for Ultimate category and overall honours this season.
A total of 107 vehicles eventually passed technical checks and were permitted to start. The list featured 25 cars in the Ultimate category, 57 running in the Challenger section for lightweight prototype cross-country machines and 25 entered in the SSV class.
An amended itinerary saw the Prologue on Friday afternoon run for 5.83km and the two selective sections on Saturday modified slightly to 163.33km and 181.21km, respectively. Sunday’s final competitive stage ran for 162.41km.
De Mévius carded the fastest time on the Prologue to beat Al-Rajhi by 6.3 seconds with Ferreira in third place, although times were only used to determine starting positions for the first stage.
Magdalena Zajac retired her Proxcars TME Rally Team Toyota Hilux from the Ultimate category after the opening stage.
Challenger category win and fourth overall for Eryk Goczal
While Eryk Goczal dominated the Challenger category and finished fourth overall (see above), the G Rally Team’s Ghislain de Mévius and Johan Jalet finished the event in seventh overall and second in the Challenger category in an OT3.
The Belgian completed the event one place in front of five-time Dakar Rally winner Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and his co-driver Edouard Boulanger, who were not registered for points but had won the Prologue and been as high as fourth in the general classification after the first stage on Saturday in their Taurus T3 Max.
Portugal’s João Dias and Pedro Ré were classified third of the registered Challenger crews in their G Rally Team OT3 in 10th overall, with Spaniard Eduard Pons claiming points for fourth in his Past Racing Taurus T3 Max. Michal Goczal finished fifth of the registered drivers and the South Racing Can-Am crew of Diego Martinez and Sergio Lafuente finishing sixth after leading the Challenger category after the opening two rounds.
Pau Navarro was not registered for points but he held third early on in his X-Raid Yamaha before brake problems intervened. There were useful finishes for Chilean driver Emilio Fernandez and Portugal’s Rui Carneiro, but they were not registered for the FIA World Baja Cup.
Miguel Toril earns maximum SSV points
Spaniard Miguel Toril and his co-driver Rosa Romero guided their Escuderia JMP Racing Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR to a maximum points’ haul in the SSV category, although the category victory over the weekend went to the Portuguese crew of Gonçalo Guerriero and Jose Sa Pires, who were not registered for FIA World Baja Cup points in their Polaris RXR Pro R Sport.
Toril managed to finish ahead of Italian Amerigo Ventura (Yamaha), his brother Alex Toril (Can-Am) and runaway category leader Fernando Alvarez (Can-Am) to keep his title hopes alive with five rounds of the series still to run. Saudi driver Ibrahim Al-Muhanna was fifth of the registered drivers and finished ahead of French veteran Claude Fournier.
Guerreiro has been quickest on the Prologue and managed to win the opening stage from former champion Cristiano de Sousa Batista and Swiss driver Jérôme de Sadeleer. Alex and Miguel Toril and Alvarez all faced different challenges and lost time to the leading group, with the latter suffering a drive shaft breakage and resultant brake problems. De Sousa Batista eventually retired in SS2.
Behind Guerreiro, Ruben Rodrigues (Can-Am), Paul Severn (Polaris), Eric Galgani (Can-Am) and Christine Gz (Can-Am) filled the top five overall SSV positions but were not registered for the FIA World Baja Cup.
Action resumes in the FIA World Baja Cup with Baja Poland on August 23rd-25th.
2024 Baja Spain Aragón – final result (top 20):
1. Guillaume de Mévius (BEL)/Mathieu Baumel (AND) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 6hr 12min 26.5sec*
2. Rokas Baciuška (LTU)/Oriol Vidal (ESP) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 6hr 18min 53.3sec
3. João Ferreira (PRT)/Filipe Palmeiro (PRT) Mini JCW Rally Plus 6hr 19min 29.9sec
4. Eryk Goczal (ESP)/Oriol Mena (ESP) Taurus T3 Max 6hr 23min 56.1sec
5. Joan Roma (ESP)/Alex Haro (ESP) Ford Ranger T1+ 6hr 25min 28.4sec*
6. Juan Cruz Yacopini (ARG)/Daniel Oliveras (ESP) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 6hr 32min 58.0sec
7. Ghislain de Mévius (BEL)/Johan Jalet (BEL) G Rally Team OT3 6hr 38min 33.8sec
8. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Edouard Boulanger (CHE) Taurus T3 Max 6hr 39min 11.6sec*
9. Emilio Fernandez (CHL)/Álvaro León Quintanilla (CHL) Taurus T3 Max 6hr 39min 23.1sec*
10. João Dias (PRT)/Pedro Ré (PRT) G Rally Team OT3 6hr 42min 17.7sec
11. Rui Carneiro (PRT)/Ola Floene (NOR) G Rally Team OT3 6hr 42min 22.8sec*
12. Alejandro Martins (PRT)/David Monteiro (PRT) Mini JCW Rally Plus 6hr 44min 48.1sec*
13. Gonçalo Guerreiro (PRT)/José Sa Pires (PRT) Polaris RXR Pro R Sport 6hr 48min 12.2sec*
14. Eduardo Pons (ESP)/Jaume Betriu (ESP) Taurus T3 Max 6hr 49min 59.7sec
15. Roberto Rodrigues (ESP)/Herman Rodrigues (ESP) Herrator Inzane 901 6hr 52min 41.4sec*
16. Jose Manuel Rogeira (PRT)/Paulo Jorge Capela (PRT) Ford Ranger 6hr 54min 52.4sec*
17. Puck Klaasen (ZAF)/Augusto Sanz (ARG) G Rally Team OT3 6hr 56min 29.9sec*
18. Michal Goczal (POL)/François Cazalet (FRA) Taurus T3 Max 6hr 56min 36.8sec
19. Pedro Carvalho (PRT)/Nuno Morais (PRT) Can-Am Maverick X3 6hr 58min 09.1sec*
20. Ruben Rodrigues (PRT)/Rui Paulo (PRT) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR 7hr 01min 50.3sec*
*denotes not registered for FIA World Baja Cup