In hindsight, scheduling an FIA European Baja Cup race on the same weekend as the World Rally-Raid Championship was probably not a good idea. It’s a shame too because getting the Trojan Horse trophy underneath the Truva Heykeli (the model horse used in the 2004 movie Troy) has to be a cool experience.

With so many teams focusing on the South African Safari Rally, the Baja Troia Türkiye featured a paltry five entrants who earned points toward the European Baja Cup, one of the smallest fields in the series’ history. Every category but SSV was represented by a single car apiece; the class in question had two, but only one reached the finish.

The Can-Am Maverick of Yağız Birinci was the lone car to finish below eight hours, and probably could have gone sub-seven hours with just enough juice and drier conditions.

Rain had plagued the first day of racing, including an overnight storm that knocked around many teams’ tents in the bivouac. The course was really slick during SS1 as a result, though it improved to the intended fast pace once the sun came out afterward and stayed the rest of the way.

SSV rival Murat Kapanoğlu had won the Prologue with a time of 3:38.7, six seconds quicker than Birinci. However, the former bowed out the next day and Birinci took advantage.

Bartłomiej Wajzer was second and third on Saturday and Sunday, respectively, to score a runner-up behind Birinci. Since those ahead of him in the European Baja Cup overall standings were not present, Wajzer unofficially moves from fourth into the points lead ahead of João Ferreira, who won the season opener earlier in May (where Wajzer was also the only Stock car) but is in South Africa with the W2RC.

Magdalena Zajac rounded out the overall podium. Her race was ruined by a broken right front control arm in SS3 on Saturday, which happened after she took a hairpin just five kilometers before the finish too tight and hit a rock. She retired from the stage as a result, but salvaged the race by being the fastest on Sunday when she beat Birinci by a minute.

Lukács “Csucsu” Kornél was knocked out of overall contention by an electrical failure on Saturday. Although he reached the finish, he could only place a distant fourth overall.

While the FIA field was unimpressive, there was fortunately intrigue in the Turkish Baja Championship as 24 cars took part there. Birinci was also entered on the national side.

Can-Ams dominated the national classes, sweeping the top six in the Prologue led by İsrafıl Akyüz’s Maverick R. Akyüz went on to win the overall by an even faster time than Birinci’s, clearing him by over 32 minutes.

FIA

Ultimate

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Vehicle	Class	Total Time	Margin
1	3	200	Magdalena Zajac	Błażej Czekan	Proxcars TME Rally Team	Toyota Hilux	T1.1	9:33:45.3	Leader

Challenger

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Vehicle	Class	Total Time	Margin
1	4	300	Csucsu	Márk Mesterházi	Speedy Motorsport	Can-Am Maverick X3	T3.1	18:06:07.7	Leader

SSV

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Vehicle	Class	Total Time	Margin
1	1	400	Yağız Birinci	Uğur Tepe	Birinci Racing Performance	Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR	T4	7:08:13.3	Leader
DNF	DNF	401	Murat Kapanoğlu	Alexander Trendafilov	Murat Kapanoğlu	Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR	T4	DNF	N/A

Stock

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Vehicle	Class	Total Time	Margin
1	2	500	Bartłomiej Wajzer	Ernest Gorecki	Bartłomiej Wajzer	Toyota Land Cruiser KDJ 155	T2.1	8:47:46.3	Leader

National

Finish	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Vehicle	Class	Total Time	Margin
1	51	İsrafıl Akyüz	Mert Tepe	İsrafıl Akyüz	Can-Am Maverick R	SSV	6:35:313.7	Leader
2	400	Yağız Birinci	Uğur Tepe	Birinci Racing Performance	Can-Am Maverick X3 XRS Turbo	SSV	7:08:18.3	+ 32:46.6
3	64	Özgür Şenyurt	Sertaç Tatar	Ge Rally Raid Team	Can-Am Maverick R	SSV	7:39:24.6	+ 1:03:52.9
4	62	Erkan Sülün	İrem Yağmur Simitçi	Ankara Off-Road Kulubü	Can-Am Maverick R	SSV	8:10:36.0	+ 1:35:04.3
5	403	Tarık Gökbay	Osman Meti̇n	Tarık Gökbay	Land Rover Defender	S4	8:36:42.3	+ 2:01:10.6
6	402	Ahmet Tınkır	Rafet Yılmaz	Ahmet Tınkır	Mitsubishi L200	S4	8:42:44.6	+ 2:07:12.9
7	204	Zeki Karaçaylı	Okan Dilberoğlu	Zeki Karaçaylı	Suzuki̇ Grand Vi̇tara	S2	9:06:35.7	+ 2:31:04.0
8	203	İdil Tüfekçıoğlu	Bülent Gültekıṅ	İdil Tüfekçıoğlu	Suzuki̇ Grand Vi̇tara	S2	9:13:29.0	+ 2:37:57.3
9	407	Yaman Uzun	Yaşar Kiliç	Yaman Uzun	Jeep Cheroke	S4	9:14:40.3	+ 2:39:08.6
10	63	Murat Altun	Emir Altun	Murat Altun	Can-Am Maverick R	SSV	13:06:37.6	+ 6:31:05.9
11	301	İhsan Günak	Fati̇h Günak	İhsan Günak	Volkswagen Touareg	S3	14:08:16.1	+ 7:32:44.4
12	202	Ali Kutay	Ebru Demirbay	Ali Kutay	Suzuki Vitara	S2	14:11:57.0	+ 7:36:25.3
13	405	Giusva Sıṁone Agazzı̇	Medeni Soysal	Giusva Sıṁone Agazzı̇	Toyota Hilux	S4	14:54:43.9	+ 8:19:12.2
DNF	52	Derın Doğaner	Erdem Şımşek	Derın Doğaner	Can-Am Maveri̇ck X3	SSV	DNF	N/A
DNF	54	Ali Çetin	Sabahattin Mustafa Demir	Ali Çetin	Can-Am Maverick	SSV	DNF	N/A
DNF	55	Alı̇ Saım Tekin	Abdullah İnci	Alı̇ Saım Tekin	Can-Am Maverick R	SSV	DNF	N/A
DNF	56	Engin Kap	Can Kap	Engin Kap	Can-Am Maverick	SSV	DNF	N/A
DNF	57	Şahın İzzet Nazliaka	Hakan İsen	Ge Rally Raid Team	Can-Am Maverick R	SSV	DNF	N/A
DNF	58	Serdar Tunca Gürayman	Umit Ural	Serdar Tunca Gürayman	Can-Am Maverick X3 Turbo RR	SSV	DNF	N/A
DNF	59	Muhammet Cihangir Aydın	Seyfullah Tahir	Muhammet Cihangir Aydın	Can-Am Maverick R	SSV	DNF	N/A
DNF	60	Onur Talay	Tuğberk Türken	Onur Talay	Can-Am Maverick R	SSV	DNF	N/A
DNF	61	Adem Kalyon	Meryem Betül Kalyon	Adem Kalyon	Can-Am Maverick R	SSV	DNF	N/A
DNF	302	Mehmet Yilmaz	Ahmet Karakoyunlu	Mehmet Yilmaz	Suziki Vitara	S3	DNF	N/A
DNF	303	Yusuf Öztürk	Mustafa Andıbay	Yusuf Öztürk	Subaru Forester	S3	DNF	N/A
DNF	404	Alper Sarper	Samet Kiyici	Alper Sarper	Mitsubishi L 200	S4	DNF	N/A
DNF	406	Ali Seyda Kivrak	Serkan Sıvvri	Ali Seyda Kivrak	Mitsubishi L200	S4	DNF	N/A
DNF	408	Gökhan Doğan	Şakiṙ Eskioğlu	Gökhan Doğan	Mitsubishi	S4	DNF	N/A

Featured image credit: Selen Karahan