Today in Dubai, the Dubai International Baja gets underway with administrative checks, scrutineering, a press conference and a pre-event test in the desert. The rally (5 to 8 November) is the closing round of both the FIA World Baja Cup and the FIA Middle East Baja Cup, the penultimate round of the FIM Bajas World Cup and the final round of the FIM Asia Baja Continental Championship. It is the tenth edition since the event switched to the Baja format in 2016.
The headquarters and the bivouac are once again at Dubai Festival City. New this year is Friday’s prologue, run for the first time in Mushrif Park. Saturday and Sunday then bring two stages in the dunes of Al Qudra. Competitively, it is above all the World Baja Cup that is at stake: Francisco Barreto leads, followed 23 points behind by Mitchel van den Brink, the only Dutchman in the field.
Title fight in the World Baja Cup
After seven of the eight rounds, the standings in the FIA World Baja Cup look as follows. Each driver counts their best six results.
Francisco Barreto (Portugal) 338 points
Mitchel van den Brink (Netherlands) 315 points
Lionel Baud (France) 301 points
Saood Variawa (South Africa) 274 points
Dania Akeel (Saudi Arabia) 273 points
Baud is absent from the entry list and Akeel had already reached her maximum of six scores, so she skips Dubai. Of the registered entrants, Barreto and Van den Brink are closest together, with Variawa 64 points off the leader. All three have five results to their name, so Dubai becomes a sixth score for them without anything being dropped. By way of comparison: the highest score in a single round this season was 84 points.
Barreto drives an SVR Toyota Hilux IMT Evo with navigator Paulo Fiuza and won the Italian Baja and the Baja Portalegre 500 this season. In Qatar he finished second behind Nasser Al-Attiyah, who does not score for the World Baja Cup, and took 80 points as the best World Baja Cup driver. He lost more than 18 minutes on the final section due to navigation mistakes. For Barreto, first place in the World Baja Cup was by his own account “the most important thing”. He also leads the Ultimate classification. Variawa, with Charan Moore in the Toyota Gazoo Racing SA Toyota Hilux, won the Jordan Baja this season and finished second in Spain. In Qatar he got no further than twelfth place after two sets of time penalties.
The Ultimate class also features Khalid Al-Jafla (SRG Motorsport, Toyota Hilux IMT Evo), Ahmed El Shamy (Century CR6) and two Buggyra ZM Racing buggies driven by Aliyyah and Martin Koloc (Red-Lined Revo). In the World Baja Cup team classification, R-X Sport leads with 677 points ahead of South Racing Can-Am on 622.
Al-Attiyah already champion in the Middle East Baja Cup
In the FIA Middle East Baja Cup the matter is already settled. Nasser Al-Attiyah (Optimus MD Rallye) and his French navigator Max Delfino confirmed their titles in Qatar with overall victory. On Saturday he won his thirteenth Qatar Baja by a margin of more than 29 minutes. In Dubai, Al-Attiyah is the record holder: according to the roll of honour in the rally guide he has won here thirteen times, most recently in 2024. Last year’s winner was Juan Cruz Yacopini, the reigning champion, who does not appear on this year’s entry list. El Shamy is on course for second place in the Ultimate class of the Middle East Baja Cup.
In the World Baja Cup, Majed Al-Thunayyan is already champion in the Stock class, and Abdulla Al-Rabban won the Stock class in Qatar for the third year running. In the SSV class it is still tense: Fernando Alvarez (Argentina, South Racing Can-Am, with Xavier Panseri) has 233 points, followed by Hedda Hosas (Norway, R-X Sport, 215) and Mansour Al-Helei (United Arab Emirates, R-X Sport, 212). Hosas leads the junior classification.
Bikes and quads
Among the bikes, 28 riders and 6 quads are on the list of authorised starters. Konrad Dabrowski (Duust Rally Team, KTM 450 Rally Replica) won Dubai in 2024 and 2025 and became the first rider with four wins in that rally in Qatar, after leading from the prologue. Alex McInnes (Motozone Racing, KTM 450 RFR) led the FIM Bajas World Cup before Qatar with a two-point advantage over Abdulhalim Al-Mogheera (KTM 450) and finished second in Qatar. He hopes to seal the title in Dubai so that he does not have to travel to Portugal. Mohammed Al-Balooshi (MX Ride Dubai, Yamaha YZF 450), title holder and four-time winner of the FIM Bajas World Cup, is racing his home event. Romain Dumontier (KTM 450 Rally) made his debut in Qatar with a third place and won the final stage.
Among the quads, Ahmed Al-Jaber (Yamaha Raptor 700) led the FIM classification when he arrived in Qatar, but did not start the final stage. Abdulaziz Ahli has won the quad class in Dubai for the past four years in a row (2022 to 2025), and Khalifa Al-Bastaki won in Qatar. In the Women’s class, Joanna Modrzewska rides a Triumph TF 450 E for Duust Rally Team; in Qatar she was the only finisher in that class.
Dutch involvement: Van den Brink and Van Heun
Mitchel van den Brink and navigator Bart van Heun drive for Eurol Rally Sport in a South Racing Can-Am Maverick R, number 300 in the Challenger class. The pair made their debut in Dubai in 2024 with a third place and last year won the SSV class in Dubai (fifth overall), confirming their World Baja Cup title in that category.
In 2026 they moved up to the Challenger class and contested the remaining six rounds of the World Baja Cup. In Greece, Van den Brink took his first overall win in a Baja. In Italy he finished fifth overall and won the class, in Spain (Aragón) he took maximum points in the Challenger class, in Portugal he finished third after two punctures and in Qatar second in the Challenger class. His Challenger lead is 80 points over Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari, who does not start in Dubai, and 81 points over Hamed Al-Wahaibi, who does (R-X Sport, with François Cazalet). Al-Wahaibi got no further than fourth place in the class in Qatar after an accident at the finish with a broken front axle bracket. After Portugal, the pair said that Qatar and Dubai held “a very fine chance” of a world title.
No other Dutch drivers appear on the entry lists for cars, bikes and quads. Erik van Loon and Wouter Rosegaar, who sit fourth in the SSV standings on 180 points, are also not entered.
Prologue in a city park, two stages in Al Qudra
On Friday 6 November, cars, bikes and quads run the prologue in Mushrif Park, a public park within the city. Spectators are admitted free of charge, as long as capacity allows. The sessions run from 10:00 to 11:30 and from 13:30 to 16:30 local time (07:00 to 08:30 and 10:30 to 13:30 Dutch time), with a break for Friday prayers. In the evening there is a free ceremonial start at Festival Bay in Dubai Festival City, with the public admitted from 20:00 and the ceremony at 20:30.
The prologue is shorter than the regulations prescribe. On Thursday the stewards agreed to a length of 4.5 kilometres, whereas article 32.2 of the 2026 Cross-Country Rally Sporting Regulations calls for a minimum of 5.0 kilometres. The FIA granted a waiver for this. The organisation pointed to the maximum distance available within the enclosed park. The points for the prologue are awarded according to Appendix V2 of the regulations. By way of comparison: the prologue in Qatar was 11.12 kilometres long. The organisation’s press release about the prologue does not mention its length.
Saturday and Sunday bring two special stages in Al Qudra. According to the fuel plan in the rally guide these are roughly 177 and 180 kilometres, with an organiser’s refuelling stop halfway for bikes, Challengers and SSVs. All FIA cars and all FIM entrants navigate this year with the ERTF electronic roadbook. EMSO president Khalid Ben Sulayem called the Al Qudra stages a tough test of speed, endurance and navigation, in which “the smallest mistake” can make a big difference. Navigation mistakes also cost Barreto a lot of time in Qatar. The rally ends on Sunday with a ceremonial finish at Festival Bay.
