The Ultimate class struggled at the 2024 Italian Baja, where only four of ten reached the finish. Fast forward a year later, and it was nothing but Toyotas on down.

Toyota Hiluxes locked out the top four overall led by Juan Cruz Yacopini, who set the fastest time in all five Selective Sections. While a two-minute speeding penalty he got after SS2 meant he did not lead the overall from start to finish, first place for a brief moment was held by another Hilux piloted by Francisco Barreto.

The win is Yacopini’s second of the 2025 FIA World Baja Cup after claiming the Jordan Baja in April. Overdrive colleague Martin Kaczmarski was second to rebound from his DNF at Jordan.

Benediktas Vanagas celebrated Lithuania’s Statehood Day by finishing third and tops for European Baja Cup drivers, ensuring a Hilux podium sweep. Italy was the first race for his new navigator Aisvydas Paliukėnas, who is filling in for the injured Kuldar Sikk.

Barreto lost the lead to Yacopini after finishing ninth overall in SS3, where he was the first Ultimate car to be beaten by a Challenger as Lőrinc Mészáros placed eighth. Still, he was five minutes quicker than the Ford of Miroslav Zapletal to preserve a top four for Toyota.

Zapletal left Italy frustrated with race officials. He lost time during the SS1 Friday when he caught up to an SSV that didn’t yield to his Hilux despite navigator Marek Sýkora repeatedly sending overtake requests via the Sentinel system. As it turned out, the SSV’s Sentinel was down and its drivers were were unaware of the Hilux due to the dust. Zapletal finally passed the SSV during the next leg.

“We informed the organizers about it,” said Zapletal after Friday’s racing. “They promised that they would send a technician to the start line before the next special stage to check the devices in our car and the buggy, but that didn’t happen. […] We tried to explain to the organizers that if it weren’t for the buggy delay, our result in the previous SS would have been different. In vain.

“It’s sad. We paid to rent devices that don’t work and no one really cares.”

SS4 was briefly neutralized due to an accident that required an ambulance to be summoned onto the course. However, Zapletal pointed out he and some other drivers did not get their time compensated for waiting. Mitchel van den Brink lodged a protest regarding the matter but it was thrown out because he was “unable to provide specific evidence or data to prove” any wrongdoing by the officials.

“Only doubts were raised as to whether the time spent by the protester’s crew No. 402 in the neutralization zone could be considered fair in a sporting sense, when compared to other crews who were compensated for time lost on the basis of the CoC (Clerk of the Course) Notification because they were detained in the neutralization zone by official persons due to the need to provide urgent medical assistance to a local resident,” explained the stewards’ report.

“However, such doubts (that the crews who were compensated for time could have gained some advantage) are refuted by the fact that only minutes were compensated, not seconds. Therefore, there is no basis for claiming that the protest crew, which spent not exactly 15 minutes but an extra seconds in the neutralization zone, could question the fairness of the results.”

Van den Brink would finish third in SSV and second for World Cup drivers in the class. After winning the Baja Greece in the first race of his WBC pursuit, his Italian Baja began with a broken turbo in SS1 that he couldn’t repair afterward as everyone had to report to the next Selective Section. A flat tire in SS2 followed, then losing four-wheel drive after that and even barbed wire being jammed underneath the wheels that his dad Martin had to remove.

He and Zapletal weren’t the only drivers to have encounters with FIA officials. Challenger winner Miklós Trébitsch and Mészáros were each fined €500 because their crew members were not wearing gloves in the refuel zone.

Barreto and Vanagas were both summoned by the stewards after SS3 because they left the neutralization prior to their mandated time in the area expiring before returning. Both navigators explained they didn’t see any signage marking the end of the neutralization zone while a track marshal, who they struggled to speak with due to language differences, seemingly told them to continue until they crossed paths with another official. Upon realizing their mistake, they went back.

The stewards corroborated their claims and indeed found no proper markings, though they still received a reprimand for going backwards on the track to return to neutralization.

FIA

Ultimate

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Vehicle	Class	Total Time	Margin
1	1	200	Juan Cruz Yacopini	Daniel Oliveiras	Overdrive Racing	Toyota Hilux Overdrive	T1+	5:40:40.2	Leader
2	2	207	Martin Kaczmarski	Armand Monleón	Overdrive Racing	Toyota Hilux	T1+	5:46:50.6	+ 6:10.4
3	3	208	Benediktas Vanagas	Aisvydas Paliukėnas	Gurtam Toyota Gazoo Racing Baltics	Toyota Hilux	T1+	5:47:56.7	+ 7:16.5
4	4	203	Francisco Barreto	Carlos Silva	Barata Racing Team	Toyota Hilux	T1+	5:53:51.1	+ 13:10.9
5	5	202	Miroslav Zapletal	Marek Sýkora	Offroadsport	Ford F-150 EVO	T1+	5:59:12.2	+ 18:32.0
6	6	204	Włodzimierz Grajek	Michał Goleniewski	Grajek Rally Team	Toyota Hilux	T1+	6:02:17.9	+ 21:37.7
7	9	206	Luis Recuenco	Daniel Cámara Ordóñez	GPR Sport	Toyota Hilux	T1+	6:18:29.5	+ 37:49.3
8	23	201	Denis Krotov	Konstantin Zhiltsov	X-raid Mini JCW Team	Mini John Cooper Works Rally 3.0i	T1+	11:41:19.2	+ 6:00:39.0
9	26	209	Magdalena Zajac	Błażej Czekan	Proxcars TME Rally Team	Toyota Hilux	T1.1	14:54:59.7	+ 9:14:19.5
DNF	DNF	205	Mark Mustermann	Michael Zajc	MM Rallye	Toyota Hilux	T1+	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	210	Andrea Schiumarini	Daniel Coffaro	Team Azimut	Toyota Hilux	T1.2	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	212	Pál Lónyai	Alexey Kuzmich	LP Racing	Toyota Hilux	T1.1	DNF	N/A

Challenger

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Vehicle	Total Time	Margin
1	10	305	Miklós Trébitsch	Sandor Trébitsch	Bedu Racing	Bedu Pro X3	6:19:09.2	Leader
2	14	303	Lőrinc Mészáros	Albert Horn	M1 Motorsport	G Rally OT3	6:38:15.6	+ 19:06.4
3	17	301	Miguel Valero Chuliá	Carlos Ruiz Moreno	Gedeser XXI	VM Competition T34	6:48:06.7	+ 28:57.5
4	18	302	Tiago Reis	Paulo Fiúza	Team Transfradelos	Taurus T3 Max	9:29:56.9	+ 3:10:47.7
5	21	300	Khalid Al-Jafla	Andrei Rudnitski	Al-Jafla Racing	Taurus T3 Max	10:11:37.4	+ 3:52:28.2
DNF	DNF	304	Gianpaolo Bedin	Sara Torielli	Raitec Racing	Raitec RT3B	DNF	N/A

SSV

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Vehicle	Class	Total Time	Margin
1	7	413	Sean Haran	Martin Hales	Xtremeplus	Polaris RZR Pro R	T4	6:14:11.9	Leader
2	8	404	Hamed Al-Wahaibi	Khalid Al-Kendi	R-X Sport	Can-Am Maverick R	SSV1	6:16:51.	+ 2:39.2
3	11	402	Mitchel van den Brink	Bart van Heun	Eurol Rally Sport / South Racing Can-Am	Can-Am Maverick R	SSV1	6:20:40.3	+ 6:28.4
4	12	401	Amerigo Ventura	Erika Mingozzi	Quaddy Racing	Yamaha YXZ1000R	T4	6:22:43.2	+ 8:31.3
5	13	400	Paul Severn	Max Delfino	Xtremeplus	Polaris RZR Pro R	T4	6:32:56.2	+ 18:44.3
6	15	412	Rebecca Busi	Sergio Lafuente	South Racing Can-Am	Can-Am Maverick R	SSV1	6:40:16.0	+ 26:04.1
7	16	410	Afonso Oliveira	Fabio Belo	Santag Racing	Polaris RZR Pro R	T4	6:43:12.1	+ 29:00.2
8	19	406	Diego Martinez	Bernardo Graue	South Racing Can-Am	Can-Am Maverick R	SSV1	9:43:10.8	+ 3:28:58.9
9	20	408	Yağız Birinci	Evangelos Sotirchos	Birinci Racing	Can-Am Maverick X3 XRS Turbo RR	T4	9:59:18.1	+ 3:45:06.2
10	22	415	Vic Flip	Gherard Schmiedberger	MM Rallye	Can-Am Maverick R	SSV1	10:22:24.4	+ 4:08:12.5
11	24	403	Maha Al-Hamali	Michaël Metge	South Racing Can-Am	Can-Am Maverick R	SSV1	12:26:02.4	+ 6:11:50.1
12	28	407	Eugenio Amos	Paolo Ceci	South Racing Can-Am	Can-Am Maverick R	SSV1	18:21:58.1	+ 12:07:46.2
DNF	DNF	405	Abdullah Al-Haydan	Bader Al-Ajmi	Abdullah Al-Haydan	Can-Am Maverick X3 XRS Turbo RR	T4	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	409	Murat Kapanoğlu	Alexander Trendafilov	Murat Kapanoğlu	Can-Am Maverick X3 XRS Turbo RR	T4	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	411	Balázs Molnár	Gabriella Molnár	M1 Motorsport	Can-Am Maverick R	SSV1	DNF	N/A

Stock

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Vehicle	Total Time	Margin
1	25	501	Bartłomiej Wajzer	Ernest Gorecki	Bartłomiej Wajzer	Toyota Land Cruiser KDJ 155	14:50:38.8	Leader
2	27	500	Fernando Barreiros	José Sá Pires	Fernando Barreiros	Isuzu D-Max	18:20:40.7	+ 3:30:01.9

Featured image credit: MCH Photo