Saood Variawa has won the prologue of the Dubai International Baja. The South African, with navigator Charan Moore in the Toyota Hilux of Toyota Gazoo Racing SA, set the fastest time in Mushrif Park, the city park that served as the backdrop for the opening section for the first time. Aliyyah Koloc finished second at 6.5 seconds, Sergei Remennik third. Mitchel van den Brink and Bart van Heun, the only Dutch crew in the field, finished fifth at 11 seconds.
The biggest development of the day, however, only came that evening. The stewards struck Francisco Barreto, the leader in the FIA World Baja Cup, from the prologue results because his navigator used his own notes during the stage. With that, the Portuguese loses the points that were on offer in the prologue in the final round, in which he has to defend his 23-point lead over Van den Brink. Among the bikes, Alex McInnes was the fastest, in a prologue where the gaps were minimal.
Barreto out of the results after using own notes
The FIA Sporting Delegate filed a report on Friday evening with video footage that had appeared on social media. It showed navigator Paulo Fiuza using notes during the prologue that had not been issued by the organisation. That violates article 14.2.6 of the Cross-Country Rally Sporting Regulations 2026, which specifies exactly which documents are allowed on board.
During the hearing, Fiuza confirmed that he had used his own notes. The stewards called the breach significant and contrary to the fairness of the event, and decided to disqualify the crew from the prologue and adjust the results. The decision came more than four hours after the end of the prologue. SVR has the right to appeal.
The penalty affects only the prologue. Barreto and Fiuza can start the first selective section on Saturday, but the prologue points are lost. Notably, the matter was not set in motion by an official observation along the course, but by footage that the crew itself or its circle posted online.
Shortly after the stage, and therefore hours before the decision was made, the Portuguese was still satisfied. He spoke of a good result and said he had won the prologue in the T1+ class, after which he looked ahead: “the race only starts tomorrow.” According to Barreto, his crew has to keep pushing the way it has all season and be present from start to finish, in a race he called tough because of the quality of the field.
Variawa the fastest in the park
The 4.5-kilometre prologue produced a result in which the entire top ten was within fifteen seconds. The first five:
1st Saood Variawa and Charan Moore (Toyota Hilux IMT Evo) 00:03:01.5 2nd Aliyyah Koloc and Michal Pasek (Red-Lined Revo GRT) at 6.5 seconds 3rd Sergei Remennik and Anton Ignatov (Taurus T3 Max) at 7.4 seconds 4th Hamed Al-Wahaibi and François Cazalet (Can-Am Maverick R) at 9.3 seconds 5th Mitchel van den Brink and Bart van Heun (Can-Am Maverick R) at 11.7 seconds
Variawa is the only one who can still keep Barreto from the Ultimate title and starts from the best position. He himself was not entirely satisfied: he felt he had driven too cautiously in a number of sections, but called his run “clean and smooth” and pointed out that a long race lies ahead. Behind him, it stood out that the Challenger drivers mixed in nicely among the heavier machinery: Remennik and Al-Wahaibi kept two Ultimate crews behind them in their lighter cars. Khalid Al-Jafla finished twelfth in his Toyota Hilux IMT Evo, Martin Koloc ended up eighteenth after a time penalty. Rashid Alketbi was the fastest SSV driver with the sixth time, ahead of Fernando Alvarez Castellano and Mohammed Al-Marri. In that class it is about the last open world title: Alvarez Castellano leads with 233 points ahead of Hedda Hosas (215) and the Emirati Mansour Al-Helei (212), who set the ninth time in his home race. Hosas was 2.1 seconds slower than Al-Helei and dropped to fourteenth place through a ten-second speeding penalty.
Bikes and quads: McInnes sets the tone
Among the bikes, Alex McInnes stayed just ahead of his rivals. The Briton, who led the FIM Bajas World Cup going into Qatar with a two-point advantage over Abdulhalim Al-Mogheera, put 00:02:56.5 on the clocks. The first five:
1st Alex McInnes (KTM 450 RFR) 00:02:56.5 2nd Ethan Lane (Yamaha YZF 450) at 0.7 seconds 3rd Konrad Dabrowski (KTM 450 Rally Replica) at 3.3 seconds 4th Romain Dumontier (KTM 450 Rally) at 3.7 seconds 5th Toni Mulec (KTM 450 Rally) at 6.4 seconds
Dabrowski, winner in Dubai in 2024 and 2025 and last week in Qatar, came up 3 seconds short. Lane, winner of the Baja TT Dehesa Extremadura earlier this season, kept him behind in the battle for second place. The Pole said after the stage that he did not yet know his time, but was enthusiastic about the setting: racing in a park in the middle of the city, he called a “really cool” way to start the race, with two tough days in prospect. Al-Mogheera already lost 51 seconds to McInnes over 4.5 kilometres and got no further than the 22nd time. Even more remarkable was the day of Mohammed Al-Balooshi: the title holder was 1 minute and 34.1 seconds slower than the fastest in his home race and finished 32nd. A prologue of four and a half kilometres says little about the pace in the dunes, but for Saturday’s starting order it is not a comfortable point of departure.
Among the quads, Abdulaziz Ahli (Yamaha Raptor 700) was the fastest with the sixth time overall, at 22.8 seconds off McInnes. Ahli has won the quad class in Dubai for the past four years in a row. Almarzouqi followed as second quad, Khalifa Albastaki third. Joanna Modrzewska was the only entrant in the Women’s class and set the sixteenth time overall on her Triumph TF 450 E. Mohammed Almuaikil received a nine-minute penalty and with that dropped to last place.
Van den Brink third in the Challenger class
Mitchel van den Brink and Bart van Heun drove their South Racing Can-Am Maverick R to the fifth time overall and the third time in the Challenger class. The gap to Al-Wahaibi, the man closest on his heels in the Challenger standings, was 2.4 seconds in the Omani’s favour. Remennik, who has no title stake in the class, was faster in both cases.
Van den Brink spoke of a nice and fast stage and was satisfied with the result. One corner went wrong, “but for the rest it was a clean stage,” he said. With Saturday’s starting order still uncertain, he stuck to one instruction for the first leg: push.
Van den Brink leads the Challenger standings with an 80-point advantage over Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari, who is not starting, and 81 points over Al-Wahaibi. A world title in the class is therefore a matter of finishing. Overall, the Dutchman is second at 23 points off Barreto, whose prologue setback actually makes that tally slightly more favourable. After Qatar, Van den Brink already spoke of a chance: he and Van Heun are “still” leading in Challenger and also have chances overall, he said, and they will do everything to close out the season with a title. No other Dutch crews appear on the entry lists for cars, bikes and quads.
Through the desert on Saturday and Sunday
After the prologue, the ceremonial start followed on Friday evening at Festival Bay in Dubai Festival City. The real work begins on Saturday with the first selective section over 177 kilometres in Al Qudra, where the first car sets off at 10:40 local time. Sunday brings the second section over 179 kilometres at Al Faqa’a, with the first car at 09:45. With that, the order of the two sections has been reversed compared to last year. In total the field covers 701 kilometres, of which 361 kilometres against the clock. The rally ends on Sunday with a ceremonial finish at Dubai Festival City and a podium ceremony at 20:00.
