Toyota has now won the last five editions of the Baja Aragón in a row and eight of the nine latest, and it only took their newest driver beating their longtime champion in a dramatic comeback.

João Ferreira entered the final day of the Baja Aragón trying to find a way to overtake Nasser Al-Attiyah, who won the event six times with five for Toyota. Set back by a tire puncture in SS1, Ferreira trailed Al-Attiyah by 13 seconds and fell into a deeper hole as SS3 began. However, the Portuguese managed to regain his footing and give pursuit. By the end, he edged out Al-Attiyah by only two seconds to score his first victory as a Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa driver and rebounding from DNFing in his debut.

The victory is also the first in an international baja for the TGR South Africa camp. Al-Attiyah’s Aragón victories came with the flagship team, who is based in Europe but fields Hiluxes produced by TGRSA’s partner SVR (until 2026, anyway), while Guillaume de Mévius won the 2024 edition in a Hilux for Overdrive Racing.

Despite the win, the mood in the TGRSA/SVR camp was dampened a bit by post-race scrutineering. Ferreira received a reprimand and suspended disqualification (which does not go into effect and take away his win as long as he avoids committing the same infraction for the rest of the 2025 FIA Baja Cup and W2RC seasons) because his Hilux’s rear wheel travel exceeded the maximum 350 millimeters in final inspection.

Team technical director Matthew Green theorized the changing sunlight may have tampered with the laser detector used to measure wheel travel. Indeed, the FIA attempted to measure the distance with three devices, finding each of them showed fluctuations of up to four millimeters. While these deviations typically resulted in a full disqualification, Ferreira only got a suspended one because the fluctuations were too great.

Al-Attiyah settled for second in his Dacia Sandrider, while Nani Roma rounded out the overall podium with his Ford Raptor from M-Sport. The team also fielded a Raptor for WRC veteran Jourdan Serderidis, who finished 13th in class in his maiden cross-country rally, while Martin Prokop impressed with a sixth as an affiliated privateer. Prokop’s Raptor chassis was previously used by Mattias Ekström at the Dakar Rally in January.

While Al-Attiyah came up short, his Nasser Racing enjoyed a class win courtesy of Gonçalo Guerreiro in SSV. Like Ferreira, Guerreiro landed in hot water afterward because his two master cylinders differed and one wasn’t on Polaris‘ parts catalog. Polaris conceded the offending part was not listed because they had forgotten to update their catalog, for which the company received a €2,500 fine.

Eryk Goczał retired from SS2 after a suspension arm bolt snapped off his Hilux, but salvaged a stage win on the final leg. His father Marek carried the family flag in the overall with a seventh while uncle Michał was 11th.

Charles Munster, also a WRC driver, overcame a flat tire in SS1 to score his first cross-country victory in the Challenger class. Fidel Castillo Ruiz placed third in the category in his return to racing after being sidelined since May due to a ruptured medical meniscus and PCL.

Sports car legend André Lotterer finished tenth in his maiden cross-country rally. Conversely, Ricardo Porém retired with a mechanical issue in the first race for the Kaizen T3.

Twice reigning Dakar Rally Truck winner Martin Macík Jr. topped the trucks with “Frank”, a LIAZ 111.154 that he occasionally brings out when not racing an IVECO. Richard de Groot scored a podium in Macík’s 2024 Dakar-winning PowerStar “Cenda”.

“Baja Aragón clearly suits Frank and our crew, and I’m thrilled to bring home another win,” said Macík. It is his fifth Aragón triumph. “It was tough, both for the truck and for us in the cabin, but when the crew is in sync and the machinery works perfectly, it’s a whole different game.”

On the FIM Bajas side, Lorenzo Santolino dominated the bikes from start to finish while Jérôme Connart did the same for quads. It is Santolino’s first time winning in Aragón while Sherco enjoyed their third Aragón victory after Michaël Metge in 2018 and 2019. Incidentally, Metge finished tenth in SSV with former Kove factory rider Xavier Flick making his navigation debut. Santolino’s Sherco teammate Harith Noah was fourth in his comeback to action after breaking his hand at the South African Safari Rally in May, crashing early on but otherwise finishing strong, while Bradley Cox retired with a mechanical failure.

Flick’s old Kove colleague Neels Theric scored the marque’s best international rally finish of second. Konrad Dąbrowski finished fourth, but felt he was cheated out of a better run after slowing down to comply with a 30 km/h speed limit while other bikes didn’t.

“This day reminded me why I enjoy big cross country races much more than the Bajas,” Dąbrowski commented. “The stuff that happens here is just ridiculous sometimes.”

FIA

Ultimate

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Class	Total Time	Margin
1	1	206	João Ferreira	Filipe Palmeiro	Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa	T1+	5:50:39.6	Leader
2	2	200	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Fabian Lurquin	Dacia Sandriders	T1+	5:50:41.6	+ 2.0
3	3	204	Nani Roma	Álex Haro	Ford M-Sport	T1+	5:52:21.6	+ 1:42.0
4	4	203	Saood Variawa	Oriol Mena	Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa	T1+	5:57:04.8	+ 6:25.2
5	5	201	Juan Cruz Yacopini	Daniel Oliveras	Overdrive Racing	T1+	5:59:12.2	+ 8:32.6
6	6	205	Martin Prokop	Viktor Chytka	ORLEN Jipocar Team	T1+	6:03:49.4	+ 13:09.8
7	7	210	Marek Goczał	Maciej Marton	Energylandia Rally Team	T1+	6:03:55.6	+ 13:16.0
8	8	211	Benediktas Vanagas	Aisvydas Paliukėnas	Gurtam Toyota Gazoo Racing Baltics	T1+	6:05:37.0	+ 14:57.4
9	9	216	Lionel Baud	Lucie Baud	X-raid Mini JCW Team	T1+	6:05:54.4	+ 18:14.8
10	10	208	Francisco Barreto	Carlos Silva	Barata Racing Team	T1+	6:06:42.7	+ 16:03.1
11	11	214	Michał Goczał	Daniel Dymurski	Energylandia Rally Team	T1+	6:07:49.6	+ 17:10.0
12	12	220	Félix Macías #	José Luis Conde	Escudería Team Repauto	T1+	6:10:02.9	+ 19:23.3
13	19	217	Jourdan Serderidis	Frédéric Miclotte	Ford M-Sport	T1+	6:16:09.5	+ 25:29.9
14	20	218	Santiago Carnicer #	Sergio Peinado	Santiago Carnicer	T1+	6:16:43.9	+ 26:04.3
15	21	207	Denis Krotov	Konstantin Zhiltsov	X-raid Mini JCW Team	T1+	6:17:02.9	+ 26:23.3
16	29	221	Daniel Alonso #	Alejandro López	Past-Racing	T1+	6:22:43.6	+ 32:04.0
17	38	202	Miroslav Zapletal	Marek Sýkora	Offroadsport	T1+	6:28:35.1	+ 37:55.5
18	54	222	Jesús Calleja	Eduardo Blanco	Century Racing	T1+	6:46:28.0	+ 55:48.4
19	56	225	Ronald Schoolderman	Mark Salomons	Ronald Schoolderman	T1.1	6:48:54.3	+ 58:14.7
20	63	212	Magdalena Zajac	Błażej Czekan	Proxcars TME Rally Team	T1.1	7:02:21.8	+ 1:11:42.2
21	74	223	Maria Luís Gameiro #	Rosa Romero Font	X-raid Mini JCW Team	T1+	8:25:37.2	+ 2:34:57.2
22	76	209	Eryk Goczał	Szymon Gospodarczyk	Energylandia Rally Team	T1+	10:00:29.6	+ 4:09:50.0

Challenger

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Class	Total Time	Margin
1	14	325	Charles Munster	Loris Pascaud	DaklaPack Rallysport	T3.1	6:11:17.9	Leader
2	16	310	Pau Navarro #	Jan Rosa Viñas	BBR Motorsport	T3.1	6:13:58.5	+ 2:40.6
3	17	308	Fidel Castillo Ruiz #	Cándido Carrera	Nasser Racing	T3.1	6:14:08.2	+ 2:50.3
4	18	316	Puck Klaassen	Auguto Sanz	G Rally Team	T3.1	6:15:33.8	+ 4:15.9
5	23	300	Cristina Gutiérrez #	Pablo Moreno	Nasser Racing	T3.1	6:17:51.9	+ 6:34.0
6	24	327	Pim Klaassen	Wade Harris	DaklaPack Rallysport	T3.1	6:18:28.2	+ 7:10.3
7	26	315	Laia Sanz #	Luka Larrosa	Raceseven	T3.1	6:19:37.2	+ 8:19.3
8	27	321	Charles Tuthill	Alex Sabater	ASM Motorsport	T3.1	6:21:19.4	+ 10:01.5
9	28	336	Romuald Lasne	Delphine Delfino	Romuald Lasne	T3.1	6:22:05.1	+ 10:47.2
10	30	320	André Lotterer	Alexandre Giroud	Rebellion Spierings	T3.1	6:23:15.3	+ 11:57.4
11	31	326	Yannick Panagiotis	Valérie Panagiotis	Yannick Panagiotis	T3.U	6:24:05.8	+ 12:47.9
12	35	318	Paul Spierings	Dick van Culenborg	Rebellion Spierings	T3.1	6:25:17.5	+ 13:59.6
13	37	301	Yasir Seaidan	Omar Allahim	Race World Team / MMP Compétition	T3.1	6:28:27.2	+ 17:09.3
14	40	331	Paulo Rodrigues	João Miranda	Paulo Rodrigues	T3.1	6:29:52.3	+ 18:34.4
15	41	329	Nicolas Martinez	Loriane Forgues	G Rally Team	T3.1	6:29:58.2	+ 18:40.3
16	42	302	Eduard Pons #	Jaume Betriu	PONS Rallysport	T3.1	6:30:31.0	+ 19:13.1
17	44	328	Pedro Gonçalves	Hugo Magalhães	BBR Motorsport	T3.1	6:31:35.7	+ 20:17.8
18	46	322	Alex Toril	Daniel Jordão	JMP Racing	T3.1	6:37:00.8	+ 25:42.9
19	47	338	Henk Klaassen	Mark Lann	DaklaPack Rallysport	T3.1	6:37:14.8	+ 25:56.9
20	48	319	Juan Gasso #	Pol Ros	Motor Club Sabadell	T3.1	6:37:19.2	+ 26:01.3
21	50	324	José María Naranjo	Eduard Ferran	JMP Racing	T3.1	6:39:33.7	+ 2:15.8
22	57	330	Vincent Albira	Maxime Albira	Vincent Albira	T3.1	6:50:39.9	+ 39:22.0
23	59	335	Benjamin Favre	Thibaud Darroux	MMP Compétition	T3.1	6:52:11.7	+ 40:53.8
24	61	339	Marco Pereira	Eurico Adão	Santag Racing	T3.1	6:54:10.9	+ 42:53.0
25	62	303	Sergei Remennik	Aleksei Ignatov	BBR Motorsport	T3.1	7:02:18.4	+ 51:00.5
26	67	337	Jordi Pons	Miquel Amblas	MMP Compétition	T3.1	7:19:52.6	+ 1:08:34.7
27	68	304	Miguel Ángel Valero #	Carlo Ruiz	Gedeser XXI	T3.1	7:20:11.3	+ 1:08:53.4
28	72	332	Jedidia Favre	Antoine Lecourbe	MMP Compétition	T3.1	7:48:45.3	+ 1:37:27.4
29	75	312	Emilio Fernández	Ion del Cid	️Emilio Fernández	T3.1	9:04:47.7	+ 2:53:29.8
30	77	317	Jesús Fuster #	Joan Rubi	Herrador Factory Team	T3.1	10:26:41.2	+ 4:15:23.3
31	78	306	Lőrinc Mészáros	Albert Horn	M1 Motorsport	T3.1	12:41:37.1	+ 6:30:19.2

SSV

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Class	Total Time	Margin
1	13	411	Gonçalo Guerreiro	Joel Lutas	Nasser Racing	T4	6:10:14.9	Leader
2	15	409	Alexandre Pinto	Bernardo Oliveira	Old Friends Rally Team	T4	6:11:32.4	+ 1:17.5
3	22	426	João Monteiro	Nuno Morais	South Racing Can-Am	SSV1	6:17:22.0	+ 7:07.1
4	25	401	Mitchel van den Brink	Bart van Heun	Eurol Rally Sport / South Racing Can-Am	SSV1	6:19:34.0	+ 9:19.1
5	32	408	Sean Haran	Martin Hales	Xtremeplus	T4	6:24:10.1	+ 13:55.2
6	33	422	Ruben Rodrigues	Rui Paulo	Ruben Rodrigues	SSV1	6:24:23.9	+ 14:09.0
7	34	429	Pierre-Antoine Rampon	Loïc Minaudier	Pierre-Antoine Rampon	SSV1	6:24:28.1	+ 14:13.2
8	36	426	João Monteiro	Nuno Morais	South Racing Can-Am	T4	6:25:57.9	+ 15:43.0
9	39	403	Hamed Al-Wahaibi	Ilka Minor	R-X Sport	SSV1	6:29:02.9	+ 18:48.0
10	43	420	Michaël Metge	Xavier Flick	Michaël Metge	T4	6:30:49.4	+ 20:34.5
11	45	412	Federico Mogni #	David Nieto	Federación Andaluza de Automovilismo	T4	6:36:41.4	+ 26:26.5
12	49	404	Diego Martinez	Bernardo Graue	South Racing Can-Am	SSV1	6:38:08.8	+ 27:53.9
13	51	421	Diego Martinez	Bernardo Graue	South Racing Can-Am	T4	6:41:44.6	+ 31:29.7
14	52	402	Amerigo Ventura	Erika Mingozzi	Quaddy Racing	T4	6:45:24.5	+ 35:09.6
15	53	427	Hedda Hosås	Harry Stubbs	South Racing Can-Am	T4	6:45:49.4	+ 35:34.5
16	55	423	Mónica Plaza #	Marta Plaza	Escudería Lanzarote	T4	6:47:00.1	+ 36:45.2
17	58	425	Juan Manuel Maña #	Giovanna di Blasi	Escudería Villa de Llanes	T4	6:51:55.5	+ 41:40.6
18	60	406	Abdullah Al-Haydan	Bader Al-Ajmi	Abdullah Al-Haydan	T4	6:54:04.3	+ 43:49.4
19	64	417	Jose Cami #	Cristian Cami	Jose Maria Cami Matesanz	T4	7:04:27.9	+ 54:13.0
20	65	407	Afonso Oliveira	Fabio Belo	Santag Racing	T4	7:07:16.8	+ 57:01.9
21	66	410	Herlando Araújo	Tiago Magalhães	Herlando Araújo	T4	7:11:33.5	+ 1:01:18.6
22	69	419	Gaël Queralt #	Marc Solà	BE Racing	T4	7:21:45.4	+ 1:11:30.5
23	70	428	Agnė Telyčėnaitė	Marion Andrieu	Agnė Telyčėnaitė	T4	7:47:05.9	+ 1:36:51.0
24	79	414	João Dias	Rui Pita	Santag Racing	T4	12:57:57.0	+ 6:47:42.1

Stock

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Total Time	Margin
1	71	500	Fernando Barreiros	José Sá Pires	Fernando Barreiros	7:48:05.8	Leader
2	73	501	Bartłomiej Wajzer	Ernest Gorecki	Bartłomiej Wajzer	7:54:58.8	+ 6:53.0

Truck

Finish	Number	Driver	Navigator	Mechanic	Team	Total Time	Margin
1	800	Martin Macík Jr.	František Tomášek	David Švanda	MM Technology	5:28:57.4	Leader
2	807	Steven Rotsaert	Barm Lapere	Emile Dewitte	RTS Racing	5:55:30.8	+ 26:33.4
3	801	Richard de Groot	Jan Hulsebosch	Martijn van Rooij	Firemen Dakarteam	5:57:22.2	+ 28:24.8
4	805	Tjeerd van Ballegooij	Simon Koetsier	Anthony Dekker	Rainbow Truck Team	6:17:16.8	+ 48:19.4
5	803	Gerrit Zuurmond	Klaas Kwakkel	Dick Zuurmond	Rainbow Truck Team	6:23:49.9	+ 54:52.5
6	809	Richard Gonzalez	Jean-Philippe Salviat	Philippe Voisin	Richard Gonzalez	6:35:47.9	+ 1:06:50.5
7	808	Javier Jacoste	Maria Jacoste	Marta Oliveras	Escudería Costa Daurada	6:39:59.2	+ 1:11:01.8
8	804	Jordi Esteve	Francisco Jose Pardo Benito	Jordi Pujol Fornos	Tibau Team	6:40:26.2	+ 1:1:28.8
9	806	María Helena Tarruell Tibau	Jaqueline Ricci	Arantxa Marti	Tibau Team	7:09:53.5	+ 1:40:56.1

FIM

450cc

Finish	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time	Margin
1	1	Lorenzo Santolino	Sherco TVS Rally Factory Team	6:38:59	Leader
2	4	Neels Theric	Kove Factory Team	6:45:08	+ 6:09
3	6	Javi Vega	Javi Vega Puerta	6:56:16	+ 17:17
4	11	Konrad Dąbrowski	DUUST Rally Team	7:14:56	+ 35:57
5	7	Harith Noah	Sherco TVS Rally Factory Team	7:16:32	+ 37:33
6	19	Martí Escofet	Joyride Race Service	7:25:02	+ 46:03
7	17	Norbert Zsigovits	Norbert Zsigovits	7:27:15	+ 48:16
8	16	Íñigo Zardoya	Joyride Race Service	7:33:50	+ 54:51
9	8	Jorge Brandão	Jorge Brandão	7:35:18	+ 56:19
10	22	Sara García Álvarez	Sara García Álvarez	7:4:02	+ 1:03:03
11	5	Rafic Eid	MX Ride Dubai	7:42:19	+ 1:03:20
12	10	Paulo Cardoso	Paulo Cardoso	7:53;08	+ 1:49:09
13	37	Lili-May Mansuy	Kove Factory Team	7:55:52	+ 1:16:53
14	34	Yuji Kahara	Yuji Kahara	8:01:49	+ 1:22:50
15	21	Sunier	Kove Factory Team	8:02:25	+ 1:23:26
16	23	David Brock	Joyride Race Service	8:06:12	+ 1:27:13
17	33	Nuno Silva	Nuno Silva	8:13:06	+ 1:34:07
18	31	Martin Klyver	Martin Klyver	8:16:02	+ 1:37:03
19	18	Dennis Mildenberger	Joyride Race Service	8:16:29	+ 1:37:30
20	30	Lionel Vericel	Lionel Vericel	8:21:08	+ 1:42:09
21	25	Borja Pérez Casimiro	Borja Pérez Casimiro	8:22:07	+ 1:43:08
22	9	Victor Manuel Moya Aguilera	Victor Manuel Moya Aguilera	8:29:36	+ 1:50:37
23	14	Richárd Hodola	Richárd Hodola	8:30:31	+ 1:51:32
24	35	Patrick Butaye	Patrick Butaye	8:34:38	+ 1:55:39
25	28	Joanna Modrzewska	DUUST Rally Team	8:40:32	+ 2:01:33
26	29	Cesare Salvi	Cesare Salvi	8:43:10	+ 2:04:11
27	15	Frédéric Fontarosa	Frédéric Fontarosa	8:57:03	+ 2:18:04
28	27	Alona Ben Natan	MX Ride Dubai	9:00:45	+ 2:21:46
29	12	Sultan Ahmed Alshanqiti	MX Ride Dubai	9:06:41	+ 2:27:42
30	20	Milan Engel	Orion – Moto Racing Group	9:12:12	+ 2:33:13
31	24	Tiziano Internò	Tiziano Internò	9:25;48	+ 2:46:49
32	38	María Taranto	María Taranto	10:41:16	+ 4:02:17
DNF	3	Bradley Cox	Sherco TVS Rally Factory Team	DNF	N/A
DNF	26	Jeff Chetail	Jeff Chetail	DNF	N/A
DNF	32	Paolo Lucci	Paolo Lucci	DNF	N/A

Trail

Finish	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time	Margin
1	39	Alessandro Ruoso	Alessandro Ruoso	7:33:33	Leader
2	42	Matteo Bottino	Kove Italia Lucky Explorer	7:37:31	+ 3:58
3	40	Julio Lopez	Julio Lopez	7:43:34	+ 10:01
4	41	Nicola Dutto	Nicola Dutto	9:21:30	+ 1:47:57

Quad

Finish	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time	Margin
1	100	Jérôme Connart	Jérôme Connart	7:06:15	Leader
2	101	Kevin Giroud	Kevin Giroud	7:24:05	+ 17:50
3	107	Alejandro García Domper	Alejandro García Domper	7:39:44	+ 33:29
4	106	Victor Carles Ainoza	Victor Carles Ainoza	7:41:57	+ 35:42
5	104	Toni Vingut	Toni Vingut	8:16:38	+ 1:10:23
6	103	Antoine Sanchez	Antoine Sanchez	11:46:59	+ 4:40:44
DNF	102	Jorge Sampaio	Jorge Sampaio	DNF	N/A
DNF	108	Tomás Paulo	Tomás Paulo	DNF	N/A

Featured image credit: LuisLima Production