The Baja Aragón runs from 11 to 13 September around Teruel, almost two months later than planned. The 42nd edition of the Spanish classic counts towards the FIA World Baja Cup, the FIA European Baja Cup, the FIM Bajas World Cup and the Spanish championship. For both FIA cups it is the fifth round of the season.
The field, however, looks different than it did in July. The FIA entry list numbers 58 crews, against 92 for the original date. In the motorcycles and quads, 61 riders are on the list, where there were still 80 in July. In the truck category, four crews remain, whereas last year ten trucks lined up at the start.
Moved from July to September
The rally was originally due to run from 24 to 26 July. Two days before the start, the regional government of Aragón decided to cancel the event because of a red alert and extreme wildfire risk in the province of Teruel. High temperatures, wind, low humidity and a long period without rainfall lay behind that decision, in a summer in which Aragón had already been hit hard by wildfires. Some of the teams were already on site at that point. Team De Rooy, for example, already had its trucks and equipment in the bivouac and returned to the Netherlands empty-handed.
The organisers then looked for an alternative date and settled on the second weekend of September. The format and the location remained unchanged. Alongside that, they announced that they would look for a more stable slot on the calendar for future editions, outside the weeks with the greatest risk of wildfires. That is a reasonable consideration: the Baja Aragón is traditionally run in late July, in the middle of the period when southern Aragón is at its driest and hottest.
The postponement comes at a sporting cost. The FIA itself speaks of 34 crews fewer than on the original list. In the Ultimate class, the number of entries dropped from 36 to 26, in the Challengers from 33 to 18 and in the SSV class from 20 to 10. Only the Stock class grew, from three to four cars. Names such as Henk Lategan, Rokas Baciuška, Eryk and Marek Goczał, Nani Roma, Laia Sanz, Isidre Esteve, Pau Navarro, Lucio Álvarez, Sebastián Halpern and Adam Lacko were still entered in July and are now absent. In the motorcycles, the same applies to Bradley Cox, Neels Theric, Gautier Paulin and Alessandro Botturi. The new date is also tight: two weeks after the AKPOL Baja Poland and one week before the Baja TT Sharish Reguengos Mourão in Portugal, and two weeks before the Rallye du Maroc.
Motorcycles and Quads
The motorcycle riders compete in the FIM Bajas World Cup. Tosha Schareina of Monster Energy Honda HRC and Lorenzo Santolino of Sherco TVS Rally Factory are the most notable names. Both have won the Baja Aragón before, Schareina in 2024 and Santolino in 2025. David Braceras, Spanish MX2 motocross champion, makes his rally debut, as does Spanish enduro champion Sergio Navarro. Also on the list are Mohammed Al Balooshi, Alfredo Pellicer, Sara García, Joanna Modrzewska and Javi Vega, among others. In the quad classes, ten riders compete for the World Cup and five in the Open Baja Aragón. Dutch riders are absent from both categories.
Al-Rajhi Tops the List, Ferreira Defends His Win in the Ultimate
Yazeed Al-Rajhi starts with number 200 in the Overdrive Racing Toyota Hilux, but not with his regular co-driver: Timo Gottschalk sustained rib injuries in a motorcycle accident in August and is replaced by his compatriot Dennis Zenz. Toyota has won the last five editions and is aiming for a sixth consecutive victory.
Defending champions João Ferreira and Filipe Palmeiro return with a Toyota Gazoo Racing Hilux EVO. Guillaume de Mévius, winner in 2024, drives a petrol-powered Mini JCW Rally from X-raid and again has Mathieu Baumel alongside him, who has won the event six times. Also present are Saood Variawa, Dania Akeel, Lionel and Lucie Baud, Francisco Barreto, Khalid Al-Jafla and Jourdan Serderidis with Lucas Cruz, among others.
In the Ultimate class, Pim Klaassen of Daklapack Rallysport drives a DKR Evo GTR with South African Leander Pienaar as co-driver. It is the only Dutch entry scoring points for the European Baja Cup. Rients Hofstra and Wouter de Graaff compete with a Red-Lined REVO GTR in the same class. Richard Timmerman and Kala Senders drive a Toyota Hilux in the T1.1 class.
In the World Baja Cup standings, Hamed Al-Wahaibi and Maciej Giemza lead with a 24-point advantage over Akeel and Sébastien Delaunay. Al-Wahaibi is absent in Teruel after an accident and hopes to be back for the final two rounds in Qatar and Dubai. Akeel can therefore take over the lead. In the European Baja Cup, Benediktas Vanagas and Aisvydas Paliukenas hold an eight-point lead over Paulo Rodrigues and Fausto Mota after Poland. Both crews are at the start. Magdalena Zając, Maria Gameiro, Mariusz Wiatr, José Rogeira, Pim Klaassen and José Luis García are also chasing European Ultimate points.
Challenger and SSV
In the Challenger class, Mitchel van den Brink is the only driver entered for the World Baja Cup. He won both in Greece and in Italy this season and stands 49 points behind Al-Wahaibi, who is absent in Spain and has already contested four rallies. Full points in Teruel bring the lead in the Challenger standings within reach. In the European Challenger standings, Portuguese junior Dinis Rogeira heads the classification with a 43-point lead over Pole Marek Kubiczek. Both are present.
Among the Challengers, Mitchel van den Brink with co-driver Bart van Heun is the Dutch entry on whom eyes will be fixed. The pairing made its T3-class debut this year with South Racing Can-Am, following the 2025 SSV-category world title. Henk Klaassen and Thai co-driver Sasha Siripanyavuthi drive a Taurus T3 Max for Daklapack Rallysport, which fields a second car with Sander Derikx and Michael Schuttel, a Taurus Evo Max. Johan and Yvet Senders complete the Dutch presence with a Taurus T3 Max.
Among the SSVs, standings leader Hedda Hosås is absent, which allows Mansour Al-Helai and Khalid Al-Kendi of R-X Sport to make up their deficit. Fernando Álvarez and Xavier Panseri of South Racing Can-Am stand third in the standings. In the World Baja Cup team standings, R-X Sport holds a 200-point lead over South Racing. Rio Seco Racing leads the European team standings with a 170-point margin over the 767/PRK Sport Rally Team.
Three Dutch Crews Among the Four Trucks
The truck category is heavily thinned out this year. Only the Czech MM Technology of Karel Poslední stands against three Dutch crews. Gerrit Zuurmond drives his MAN TGA with Belgian Jan van der Vaet and Jaap Zuurmond. Tjeerd van Ballegooij competes in a MAN TGN with Anthony Dekker and Dick Zuurmond. William de Groot drives an MMT Dakar EVO 04 with Koen Hendriks and Remon van der Steen. With three of the four trucks, the Dutch presence in this category is relatively large, although the field is thereby very small for an event that had the trucks as a crowd-puller for many years.
Route and Programme
The organisers are working with a modified route of 810 kilometres, of which 489 kilometres are timed. The course consists entirely of gravel and sand tracks. On Friday 11 September, a 6.5-kilometre prologue determines the starting order, with the first car at 17:15. Saturday brings two special stages of 151 and 180 kilometres, starting at 08:16 and 13:23. The long stage runs from Caminreal to Gea de Albarracín, west of Teruel. The shorter stage starts at Argente and ends at Concud, just outside the city, and is run again on Sunday 13 September with the first car at 11:16. The podium ceremony is scheduled for 15:00, the prize-giving for 19:00.
RallyTracks follows the Baja España-Aragón day by day this weekend. From the prologue on Friday, a report appears each day covering the main developments. With our reporter on location, we provide daily video footage of the stages and the bivouac, with attention for the Dutch competitors.
