Yazeed Al-Rajhi was in position to extend his FIA World Baja Cup points lead when he led the Jordan Baja overall after Stage 1. He and navigator Timo Gottschalk ultimately left the race on stretchers and their availibility for the next W2RC and WBC rounds uncertain.

Al-Rajhi rolled their Toyota Hilux Overdrive in SS2 on Saturday, fracturing two of his vertebrae while Gottschalk suffered four spinal fractures. Gottschalk went home to Germany soon after, being taken to a special clinic in Murnau, while Al-Rajhi went back to Riyadh for treatment.

Their injuries leave their statuses unknown for the next few months. The South African Safari Rally, the third round of the World Rally-Raid Championship, and the World Baja Cup’s Baja Greece are both scheduled for late May.

With Al-Rajhi out of the picture, Hilux colleague Juan Cruz Yacopini won SS2 by just seven-tenths of a second over Miroslav Zapletal. The overall win also narrowly swung in Yacopini’s way as he cleared the Taurus of Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari by 11 seconds. Zapletal’s runner-up in Ultimate marks a strong comeback to Jordan for his navigator Marek Sýkora, who had to abort racing the 2024 edition due to a heart attack.

Alexey Shmotev was knocked out of the first day by a rock that damaged a suspension arm. Given the extremely low likelihood of such an event occurring, his team did not bother bringing a spare and thus forced him to retire. Teammate and fellow Russian Sergei Remennik placed third in Challenger but tops for those competing for WBC points.

“We are getting used to each other from event to event,” began Remennik. “I think we will go to all the rounds of the series. The only questionable issue is the Italian Baja, but we’ll see. The rest seem to fit perfectly into our schedule. I hope that everything will work out for us.”

Khalid Al-Jafla initally led in T3 before rolling in SS2, relegating him to the bottom of the order. Mansour Al-Helei also rolled in SSV.

The Prologue in particular was unusually mean to Nissan Patrols. Majed Al-Thunyyan’s Patrol Y61 and Naser Al-Ajami’s Patrol Safari both went over during the day, destroying the latter’s front windshield. Al-Ajami rejoined the race the next day, where he was mostly doing rescue duty for those like Maha Al-Hamali—who got stuck in between rock formations Austin Powers-style—and Mohammed Al-Atteya. Dania Akeel also crashed in roughly the same location as Al-Atteya.

On two wheels, Mohammed Al-Balooshi topped the FIM Bajas World Cup for the fifth time in a row. He beat Rafic Eid by two minutes.

FIA

Ultimate

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Vehicle	Class	Total Time	Margin
1	1	201	Juan Cruz Yacopini	Daniel Oliveira	Overdrive Racing	Toyota Hilux Overdrive	T1+	5:23:13.3	Leader
2	4	202	Miroslav Zapletal	Marek Sýkora	Offroadsport	Ford F-150 EVO	T1+	5:30:56.0	+ 7:42.7
3	20	203	Dania Akel	Stéphane Duplé	Overdrive Racing	Toyota Hilux Overdrive	T1+	18:12:05.2	+ 12:48:51.9
4	23	205	Naser Al-Ajami	Arūnas Gelažninkas	Naser Al-Ajami	Nissan Patrol Safari	T1.1	19:02:47.3	+ 13:39:34.0
DNF	DNF	200	Yazeed Al-Rajhi	Timo Gottschalk	Overdrive Racing	Toyota Hilux Overdrive	T1+	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	204	Martin Kaczmarski	Armand Monleón	Overdrive Racing	Toyota Hilux Overdrive	T1+	DNF	N/A

Challenger

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Vehicle	Class	Total Time	Margin
1	2	305	Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari	Oriol Mena	QMMF Racing Team	Taurus T3 Max	T3.1	5:23:24.3	Leader
2	3	304	Khalifa Al-Attiyah	Bruno Jacomy	QMMF Racing Team	Taurus T3 Max	T3.1	5:30:38.7	+ 7:14.4
3	6	301	Sergei Remennik	Alexey Ignatov	Nasser Racing	Taurus T3 Max	T3.1	5:52:34.6	+ 29:10.3
4	8	300	Ahmad Al-Kuwari	Augusto Sanz	QMMF Racing Team	Taurus T3 Max	T3.1	5:58:41.6	+ 35:17.3
5	9	308	Nouef Al-Sowaidi	Aisvydas Paliukėnas	QMMF Racing Team	Taurus T3 Max	T3.1	5:59:27.6	+ 36:03.3
6	10	309	Mohammed Al-Harqan	Szymon Gospodarczyk	QMMF Racing Team	Taurus T3 Max	T3.1	6:02:54.3	+ 39:39.0
7	11	302	Khaled Al-Jafla	Andrei Rudnitski	Al-Jafla Racing	Taurus T3 Max	T3.1	6:08:57.1	+ 45:328
8	12	306	Francisco Barreto	Paulo Fiúza	Nasser Racing	Taurus T3 Max	T3.1	7:21:53.2	+ 1:58:28.9
9	22	303	Alexey Shmotev	Yaroslav Fedorov	Nasser Racing	Taurus T3 Max	T3.1	18:17:05.9	+ 12:53:41.6

SSV

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Vehicle	Class	Total Time	Margin
1	5	404	Hamzah Bakhashab	Marcin Pasek	Nasser Racing	Can-Am Maverick R	SSV1	5:43:00.6	Leader
2	7	402	Paul Severn	Max Delfino	Paul Severn Racing	Polaris RZR Pro R	T4	5:57:37.8	+ 14:37.2
3	13	407	Mohammed Al-Attiyah	Dmytro Tsyro	Nasser Racing	Can-Am Maverick R	SSV1	7:32:09.9	+ 1:49:09.3
4	14	406	Hamad Al-Wahaibi	Ilka Minor	R-X Sport	Can-Am Maverick R	SSV1	7:40:23.1	+ 1:5:22.5
5	16	403	Amerigo Ventura	Erika Mingozzi	Quaddy Racing	Yamaha YXZ1000R	T4	8:39:40.0	+ 2:56:39.4
6	17	400	Maha Al-Hamali	Michaël Metge	South Racing Can-Am	Can-Am Maverick R	SSV1	8:41:22.9	+ 2:58:22.3
7	21	408	Mansour Al-Helei	Khaled Al-Kendi	Liwa Team	Can-Am Maverick R	SSV1	18:12:28.1	+ 12:29:27.5

Stock

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Vehicle	Class	Total Time	Margin
1	15	502	Abdullah Al-Rabban	Ali Al-Ajami	Abdullah Al-Rabban	Nissan Patrol	T2.1	7:57:02.0	Leader
2	18	500	Majed Al-Thunyyan	Fahad Al-Sufyani	Majed Al-Thunyyan	Nissan Patrol Y61	T2.1	8:54:01.9	+ 56:59.9
3	19	503	Mohammed Al-Meer	Ali Obaid	Mohammed Al-Meer	Nissan Patrol	T2.1	10:21:23.9	+ 2:24:21.9

FIM

450cc

Finish	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Vehicle	Total Time	Margin
1	1	1	Mohammed Al-Balooshi	MX Ride Dubai	Husqvarna 450 Rally Replica	7:53:52.4	Leader
2	2	2	Rafic Eid	MX Ride Dubai	GasGas RX 450F	7:56:16.4	+ 2:24.0
3	3	5	Philip Horlemann	Philip Horlemann	KTM 450 Rally Replica	8:08:54.7	+ 15:02.3
4	4	7	Abdullah Abu Aisheh	Abdullah Abu Aisheh	GasGas RX 450F	8:21:52.8	+ 28:00.4
5	5	11	Thomas Childs	Thomas Childs	KTM 450 Rally Replica	8:24:31.1	+ 30:38.7
6	7	9	Barry Howe	Barry Howe	KTM 450 EXC	9:37:27.1	+ 1:43:34.7
7	8	12	Sultan Al-Shanqiti	MX Ride Dubai	KTM 450 Rally Replica	9:55:28.6	+ 2:01:36.2
8	9	6	Jason Joslin	Jason Joslin	GasGas RX 450F	10:08:10.4	+ 2:14:18.0
9	10	13	Abdallah Al-Batayneh	Abdallah Al-Batayneh	Honda CRF450R	10:09:55.1	+ 2:16:02.7
10	11	10	Frédéric Fontarosa	Frédéric Fontarosa	Kove 450 Rally	11:04:11.2	+ 3:10:18.8
11	12	3	Thomas Cross	Thomas Cross	Kove 450 Rally EX	11:48:53.6	+ 3:55:01.2
DNF	DNF	4	Hamdan Al-Ali	Hamdan Al-Ali	Honda CRF450R	DNF	N/A

Quad

Finish	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Vehicle	Total Time	Margin
1	6	102	Hani Al-Noumesi	Hani Al-Noumesi	Yamaha Raptor 700	8:25:01.8	Leader

National

Finish	Number	Driver	Navigator	Vehicle	Class	Total Time	Margin
1	805	Hashem Kalbouneh	Moad Arja	Black Ires Prototype	Stock	9:51:16.7	Leader
2	825	Taha Masoud	Taha Emran	Can-Am Maverick	Challenger	11:12:13.6	+ 1:20:56.9
3	826	Thomas Gugler	Lucien Fery	Polaris RZR Pro R	SSV	13:13:38.3	+ 3:22:21.6
4	801	Hasan Al-Kayed	Mohammed Abu Jaber	Mitsubishi Hunter	Ultimate	15:18:12.4	+ 5:26:55.7
5	806	Anwar Al-Dada	Yaser Al-Sheikh	Mitsubishi Pajero	Stock	18:32:42.6	+ 8:41:25.9
6	800	Mahmoud Al-Jabbarin	Anwar Al-sane	Mitsubishi L200	Ultimate	22:50:36.5	+ 12:59:19.8
DNF	807	Younies Al-Katatzi	Sakher Al-Khasasi	Mitsubishi Pajero	Stock	DNF	N/A
DNF	808	Yahia Sobar	Ibrahim Hamat	Toyota FJ Cruiser	Stock	DNF	N/A
DNF	804	Khaled Tiaha	Hussein Al-Qaied	Mitsubishi Buggy	Ultimate	DNF	N/A
DNF	803	Amir Al-Asibi	Osama Al-Batel	Mitsubishi Pajero	Ultimate	DNF	NA

Featured image credit: Marian Chytka