The Italian Baja has ended with the biggest victory of Francisco Barreto’s career. The Portuguese driver brought his SVR Toyota Hilux Evo safely to the finish in Pordenone on the final day, winning a round of the FIA World Baja Cup overall for the first time. His previous best result was a second place at last year’s Baja Portalegre 500.
Behind Barreto, the Dutch contingent produced notable results. Paul Spierings finished second overall in his Taurus, while Mitchel van den Brink won the World Cup round in the Challenger class.
Barreto in front, Variawa impresses
The final day was run in extreme heat, with temperatures reaching 42 degrees. On the closing “Tagliamento” stage of just over 94 kilometres, the two crews who had retired on Saturday were the fastest. Saood Variawa, with Charan Moore in the Toyota Hilux Evo, won the final stage in the Ultimate class and overall, earning ten bonus points in the World Cup. With two stage wins, Variawa was the standout of the weekend in terms of pace, but his Saturday retirement kept him out of the fight for the overall result.
Standings leader Dania Akeel also had a mixed weekend. The Saudi driver won the prologue with navigator Sébastien Delaunay, but made a mistake in the first stage on Saturday and, after a collision, lost so much time that she was unable to start the afternoon stage. Following an overnight repair, the pair fought back on Sunday to the ninth-fastest time on the final stage, once again gathering points for the title battle she continues to lead.
In the Ultimate class final standings, Benediktas Vanagas with Aisvydas Paliukenas finished second in class and third overall. The Lithuanian also won the European Baja Cup round. Pole Mariusz Wiatr completed the Ultimate podium in his Ford and, with third place in the European Baja Cup, recorded his best-ever result in that series. Lionel and Lucie Baud ran near the front for a long time in their X-raid Mini, but a heat-induced electrical problem dropped them to eleventh in the Ultimate class; they still set the second-fastest time on the final stage, good for valuable points. In the SSV class, Britain’s Sean Haran enjoyed a flawless weekend, winning the prologue and all three stages and finishing fourth overall. In the Challenger class, Frenchman Stéphane Sarrazin provided the surprise of the day by winning the final stage with the new Minotor M1, a prototype with hybrid drive.
Dutch haul
Paul Spierings and Mark Salomons crowned a strong weekend. The pair won the Challenger class in the final standings and finished second overall, with only Barreto faster. In the distribution of World Cup points, however, the class win went to Mitchel van den Brink and Bart van Heun. In the World Baja Cup, in which only the crews registered for it are counted, they won the Challenger round and finished second in the overall standings of that World Cup round.
That result came despite a technical setback on the final day. “Not much went wrong, but 10 kilometres from the finish we had an engine problem, which meant we couldn’t go full throttle on the last section,” Van den Brink said. “We showed that, when we have no problems, we can really fight for the win, in our class and overall too.” The pair thus took maximum points in their class and are already looking ahead to the next round in Aragón, Spain.
Erik van Loon and Wouter Rosegaar completed the Dutch tally, scoring maximum World Cup points in their class. A puncture cost them around five minutes on the final stage, but the pair finished ninth overall and third in the SSV class, behind winner Haran and Portugal’s Paulo Rodrigues. In the World Baja Cup, Van Loon and Rosegaar also won both their SSV class and the Master classification. “We scored maximum points, and that’s what we came for,” said Van Loon.
What’s next
The Italian Baja counted towards both the FIA World Baja Cup and the FIA European Baja Cup. The next appointment in the World Baja Cup is the Baja Aragón in Spain.
