Cross-Nation – Jordan Baja returns as title races warmth up in World and Center East Baja Cups

Jordan Baja (November 14-16, 2024) – FIA World Baja Cup, spherical 7/8 and FIA Center East Baja Cup, spherical 3/4

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan returns to the FIA Baja calendar after a one-year absence when Jordan Motorsport hosts the three-day Aqaba-based Jordan Baja on November 14th-Sixteenth. 

A late inflow of entries has elevated the sector for the occasion to twenty automobiles, with two registered within the Final part, eight competing within the Challenger group, seven in SSV and three within the Inventory class for collection manufacturing cross-country machines. 9 crews are chasing FIA World Baja Cup factors and 11 are concentrating on the FIA Center East Baja Cup. 

Alvarez and Ferreira to go head-to-head in Wadi Rum 

Argentina-based Spaniard Fernando Alvarez and his French navigator Xavier Panseri head to the Purple Sea metropolis in southern Jordan with a slender five-point cushion within the Drivers’ and Co-drivers’ Championships over the Portuguese pairing of João Ferreira and Filipe Palmeiro. Ferreira is placing his lead within the Final class in danger by tackling the second occasion in two weeks with a Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR entered within the SSV class, as he tries to seek out Alvarez during the last two rounds in Jordan and Dubai.

Whereas Alvarez is just about sure to substantiate the SSV title in Jordan, Ferreira’s lead of 49 factors within the Final class is in critical jeopardy from Czech driver Miroslav Zapletal. The Ford F-150 driver is one among two entrants within the Final class and most factors throughout the beautiful Martian-type landscapes of Wadi Rum would set-up the prospect of a grand stand end to the collection in Dubai. 

High seed Zapletal’s co-driver Marek Sýkora stated: “We’re wanting ahead to Baja Jordan. It’s a novel and attention-grabbing nation. There are many rocks however the color of the land nearly resembles Mars with the pink sands. It’s actually wonderful. I first went there in 2022 and I used to be staring, feeling like I used to be on Mars!”

So far as the general Drivers’ Championship is anxious, Spaniard Eduardo Pons and Emirati Khalid Al-Jafla nonetheless have a mathematical likelihood of snatching victory however, for that to occur, the 2 Taurus T3 Max drivers would want each Alvarez and Ferreira to slide up badly. 

Pons and Jafla are extra involved with what’s growing into an exciting tussle for supremacy within the Challenger class. The Spaniard leads Al-Jafla by simply seven factors heading to Jordan and the South Racing Can-Am Group’s Diego Martinez is simply 18 factors adrift and nonetheless firmly in competition for the title. Al-Jafla’s co-driver Andrei Rudnitski leads Martinez’s navigator Sergio Lafuente by 11 factors within the Challenger Co-drivers’ Championship.

Barring a mathematical miracle, Alvarez and Panseri might be assured of the SSV titles in Jordan. Miguel Toril isn’t making the journey to the Center East and the South Racing Can-Am driver leads third-placed Quaddy Racing Yamaha driver Amerigo Ventura by 80 factors. The Italian’s navigator Erika Mingozzi is 81 factors behind Panseri within the Co-drivers’ Championship.

Santag Racing’s João Dias can be making the journey in a two-car crew with Ferreira. The Portuguese pair completed second and third total in Qatar two weeks in the past. Saudi Arabia’s Ibrahim Al-Muhanna completes the line-up.

With Overdrive Racing not making the journey to Jordan, the South Racing Can-Am Group has an unassailable 135-point cushion within the Groups’ Championship.

Ahmed Al-Kuwari to defend slender FIA Center East Baja Cup lead

Eleven drivers might be chasing factors in the direction of the four-round FIA Center East Baja Cup. Saudi Arabian driver Dania Akeel claimed most factors for ending fifth on the latest Qatar Worldwide Baja and that enabled her to shut to inside seven factors of Quaddy Racing’s Ahmed Al-Kuwari within the total standings.

The Saudi will crew up with Sébastian Delaunay in Jordan however has changed her Overdrive Racing Toyota for a Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR entered within the SSV class for the Jordan Baja. Al-Kuwari has additionally made the adjustments and Argentina’s Augusto Sanz will companion the Qatari in his Yamaha.

The result of the FIA Center East Baja Cup is broad open with two occasions remaining in Jordan and Dubai. Inventory class chief Majed Al-Thunayyan is third within the standings, a mere level behind Akeel, and the Saudi duo of Maha Al-Hamali and Hamad Al-Harbi are inside placing distance of the highest three. 

Neither of the front-running co-drivers, Manuel Lucchese and Stéphane Duplé, are making the journey to Jordan and that would effectively open the door for Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari’s navigating brother Nasser to make a late problem for the title. He’s fourth within the factors’ standings with Al-Thunayyan’s companion Fahad Al-Sufyani additionally firmly in competition. 

The Qatar Motor and Bike Federation (QMMF) has entered three Taurus T3 Max machines for Al-Kuwari, five-time Dakar winner Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah’s brother Khalifa and Rashid Al-Muhannadi. All three are entered underneath the Nasser Racing banner and are registered for the FIA Center East Baja Cup.

Quaddy Racing takes a 50-point cushion over the QMMF Group into the weekend’s motion within the Groups’ Championship, whereas Can-Am drivers Al-Hamali and Al-Harbi are separated by simply three factors within the Challenger class. Al-Kuwari leads Al-Hamali’s navigator Oriol Mena by three factors within the Co-drivers’ standings. 

Nasser Al-Kuwari stated: “I’ve competed right here twice. It’s a really distinctive panorama with difficult navigation in some areas. It’s related terrain to Tabuk and northern Saudi Arabia and it’s the very best preparation for Dakar.”

Neither Abdullah Al-Khelaifi nor Moaaz Hariri have entered the Jordan Baja and that leaves the door firmly open for Ahmed Al-Kuwari to seal the FIA Center East SSV title with one spherical to spare. His solely rival in southern Jordan might be Dania Akeel in her Can-Am. 

Al-Thunayyan and Al-Sufyani take 33-point leads over Qatar’s Abdullah Al-Rabban and Emirati Ali Hassan Obaid into the penultimate spherical within the Inventory part for collection manufacturing cross-country machines. Mohammed Al-Meer of Qatar drives a 3rd Nissan Patrol. 

A brief three-kilometre Prologue at South Seashore in Aqaba on Thursday (November 14) will decide the beginning order however is not going to rely in the direction of the overall classification. 

The motion then switches to the legendary Wadi Rum, its spectacular pink rock formations and eerie moonscapes for the opening day’s motion on November 15. The day’s stage might be cut up into two sections of 200.60km and 133.53km earlier than a return to Aqaba for the evening halt. 

The second day’s motion centres round one stage of 185.30km earlier than the rostrum, prize giving and post-event press convention take centre stage on the Arab Revolt Plaza in Aqaba. In a compact route of 749.30km, 522.43km might be timed in opposition to the clock.