Punishing heat, an unprecedented dry spell in the Aragón region and a serious risk of wildfires forced the local government and race officials to postpone the original event in mid-July. The replacement Baja is now the fifth round of both the 2026 FIA World and European Baja Cups and takes place over three days across remote rural terrain in northeastern Spain.

The date change has detracted from the most popular round of both championships with 34 less crews set to tackle the new event.

Twenty-six teams are entered in the Ultimate category, 18 running in the Challenger section, 10 entered in SSV and four in the Stock class for series-production cross-country vehicles. Of those, 13 are chasing points in the FIA World Baja Cup and 16 are registered for the FIA European Baja Cup.

Overdrive Racing’s Yazeed Al-Rajhi remains as the top seed in an Overdrive Racing Toyota Hilux and will be aiming to give the Japanese manufacturer a sixth successive victory on the event. The Saudi had entered the original July Baja with regular navigator Timo Gottschalk but the German suffered a nasty fall during a motorbike accident in August and has been replaced by fellow countryman Dennis Zenz while he recovers from rib injuries.

A freak accident has also prevented Oman’s Hamed Al-Wahaibi from entering. He and Polish navigator Maciej Giemza currently lead the overall Drivers’ and Navigators’ Championships by 24 points from Dania Akeel and Sébastien Delaunay, although Al-Wahaibi is hopeful of being fit for the last two rounds of the series in Qatar and Dubai.

His absence has opened the door for Akeel to try and take the category lead and extend her advantage in the Ultimate category. The Overdrive Toyota driver has a 15-point cushion over Toyota Gazoo Racing SA’s Saood Variawa and a 27-point advantage over Frenchman Lionel Baud in his diesel-engined X-Raid Mini.

All three drivers are present in Spain, with Francisco Barreto (SVR Toyota), Khalid Al-Jafla (SRG Toyota) and Al-Rajhi also hunting for Ultimate points. Baud will also be looking to close the gap on Al-Wahaibi in the Master Driver series. He trails by 51 points but has scored from one less event so far.

Belgium’s Guillaume de Mévius won the Spanish event with Andorra-based Mathieu Baumel in a Toyota in 2024 and teams up with X-Raid in a petrol-engined Mini. Baumel is a six-time winner, having also taken five victories with Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah.

Portugal’s João Ferreira and Filipe Palmeiro are the defending Baja Spain Aragón champions and will attempt to defend their title in a Toyota Gazoo Racing Hilux Evo.

Hedda Hosås and navigator Pol Tibau lead the SSV category by 15 points after four rounds of the FIA World Baja Cup and are third in the overall Drivers’ and Navigators’ championships. They are not making the trip to Spain and that has opened the door for SSV top seed Mansour Al-Helai and his navigator Khalid Al-Kendi to overhaul them in an R-X Sport Can-Am.

The South Racing Can-Am Team’s Fernando Alvarez and Xavier Panseri will also be hoping to move up from third place in the points’ standings. R-X Sport currently leads the FIA World Baja Cup Teams’ series by 200 points from the South Racing Can-Am operation.

In the absence of Al-Wahaibi and his closest SSV rival Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari, the South Racing Can-Am Team’s Mitchel van den Brink and Bart van Heun have the ideal opportunity to hit the front in the FIA World Baja Cup’s Challenger standings. They are the only Challenger crew registered for the FIA World Baja Cup in Spain. The Dutchman trails Al-Wahaibi by 49 points but has won both his events so far in Greece and Italy.

Saudi Arabia’s Al-Mashna and Abdullah Al-Shammeri have built up a 27-point cushion over their fellow countrymen Majed Al-Thunayyan and Omar Al-Lahim in the FIA World Baja Cup’s Stock category.

Portugal’s Fernando Barreiros (Isuzu D-Max) missed the first two events in the Middle East, claimed a class win in Greece and finished third in Italy. He trails Al-Shammeri by 73 points but has two events in hand over his Saudi rival. All three drivers are present in Spain.

Vanagas and Rodrigues set for FIA European Baja Cup duel

The recent Polish round of the FIA European Baja Cup has seen the Lithuanian Gurtam Toyota Gazoo Racing Baltics pairing of Benediktas Vanagas and Aisvydas Paliukenas move into a slender eight-point cushion over Rio Seco Racing’s Paulo Rodrigues and Fausto Mota in the Drivers’ and Navigators’ Championships. Both crews also top the points’ standings in their respective Ultimate and SSV categories and are present in Spain.

The Lithuanians lead Czech rival Karel Trněný and his navigator Václav Pritzl by 52 points in the Ultimate class, while Rodrigues and Mota have a 65-point cushion over Murat Kapanoğlu and Aleksandr Trendafilov in the SSV section. Trněný also leads the Master Driver category by 47 points from Magdalena Zając. Zając will be looking to close the gap in the Czech’s absence from the Spanish entry.

Portugal’s Maria Gameiro (X-Raid Mini), Poland’s Maríusz Wiatr (Ford), Portugal’s José Rogeira (Ford), Dutch driver Pim Klaassen (Red-Lined DKR) and Spaniard José Luis Garcia (X-Raid Mini) are also chasing Ultimate points in the FIA European Baja Cup.

The leading Junior driver in the FIA European Baja Cup is Portugal’s Dinis Rogeira. He and navigator Nelson Ramos also have a 43-point advantage over Poland’s Marek Kubiczek and Dominik Ragiel in the Challenger category. Hungary’s Lőrinc Mészáros and Albert Horn are a distant third. Both Rogeira and Kubiczek are present in Spain.

Rodrigues faces competition for European Baja points from Rio Seco Racing team-mates Filipe Lopes and Ruben Rodrigues, Poland’s Ernest Kuś (Can-Am) and Portugal’s Herlander Araújo (Polaris). Rio Seco Racing has a massive 170-point advantage over the 767/PRK Sport Rally Team in the FIA European Baja Teams’ Championship.

There is a solitary Stock entry in the European series for Andrei Halabarodzka and his navigator Aleksei Ignatov in a Toyota Land Cruiser.

Competitors will tackle 488.68 competitive kilometres in a revised route of 810.11km laid on by Motor Club Baja – Octagon.

A short Prologue of 6.48km will determine starting positions on Friday (September 11th) afternoon from 17.15hrs, before competitors tackle two stages of 151.07km and 180.08km on Saturday (September 12th).  

Action concludes on Sunday (September 13th) with a single stage of 151.07km before the podium and prize giving ceremony in Teruel in the evening.  

2026 Baja Spain Aragón – entry list:

Ultimate

200. Yazeed Al-Rajhi (KSA)/Dennis Zenz (GER)                                                             Toyota Hilux Overdrive*

201. Saood Variawa (RSA)/Charan Moore (RSA)                                                          Toyota Hilux Evo*

203. Guillaume de Mévius (BEL)/Mathieu Baumel (AND)                                          X-Raid Mini JCW 3.0i+

204. Dania Akeel (KSA)/Sébastien Delaunay (FRA)                                                                        Toyota Hilux Evo*

205. Lionel Baud (FRA)/Lucie Baud (FRA)                                                                       X-Raid Mini JCW 3.0d*

206. Francisco Barreto (POR)/Paulo Fiuza (POR)                                                          Toyota Hilux Evo*

207. Benediktas Vanagas (LTU)/Aisvydas Paliukenas (LTU)                                       Toyota Hilux+

208. Magdalena Zając (POL)/Błażej Czekan (POL)                                                        Toyota Hilux+                            

209. Maria Gameiro (POR)/Rosa Romero (ESP)                                                            X-Raid Mini JCW Rally 3.0d+

210. Cristian Baumgart (BRA)/Luis Felipe Eckel (BRA)                                                 Toyota Hilux Evo

211. José Rogeira (POR)/Paulo Marques (POR)                                                            Ford Ranger T1+

212. Maríusz Wiatr (POL)/Łukasz Łaskawiec (POL)                                                      Ford F-150 Evo+

213. José Luis Garcia (ESP)/Manuel Navarro (ESP)                                                      X-Raid Mini JCW 3.0i+

214. João Ferreira (POR)/Filipe Palmeiro (POR)                                                            Toyota Hilux Evo*

215. Edu Blanco (ESP)/Marc Sola (ESP)                                                                          Santana Zahara T1

216. Santiago Carnicer (ESP)/Sergio Peinado (ESP)                                                     Toyota Hilux

217. Luis Portela (POR)/Carlos Jorge Mendes (POR)                                                   Toyota Hilux Evo

221. Alejandro Martins (POR)/Nuno Morais (POR)                                                      X-Raid Mini JCW 3.0d

222. Khalid Al-Jafla (UAE)/Andrei Rudnitskiy (LTU)                                                      Toyota Hilux Evo*

226. Jourdan Serderidis (BEL)/Lucas Cruz (ESP)                                                            Ford Raptor

227. Włodzimierz Grajek (POL)/Szymon Marciniak (POL)                                          Toyota Hilux GR

228. Pim Klaassen (NED)/Leander Pienaar (RSA)                                                         Red-Lined DKR Evo GTR+

231. Steven Rotsaert (BEL)/Laure Rotsaert (BEL)                                                         Red-Lined Revo T1

233. Rients Hofstra (NED)/Wouter de Graaff (NED)                                                    Red-Lined Revo GTR

234. Richard Timmerman (NED)/Kala Senders (NED)                                                  Toyota Hilux

235. Pieter de Backere (POR)/Anthony de Backere (POR)                                         Toyota Hilux

Challenger

301. Mitchel van den Brink (NED)/Bart van Heun (NED)                                            Can-Am Maverick R*

302. Dinís Rogeira (POR)/Nelson Ramos (POR)                                                            Can-Am Maverick X3+

304. Marek Kubicek (POL)/Artur Kordala (POL)                                                            Taurus Evo Max+

306. Eduardo Pons (ESP)/Candido Carrera (ESP)                                                          Taurus Evo Max

307. Roberto Rodrigues (ESP)/Herman Rodrigues (ESP)                                            Herrator Inzane 901

308. Sander Derikx (NED)/Michael Schuttel (NED)                                                                        Taurus Evo Max

310. Henk Klaassen (NED)/Sasha Siripanyavuthi (THA)                                               Taurus T3 Max

311. Romauld Lasne (FRA)/Delphine Delfino (FRA)                                                     Can-Am Maverick X3

312. Paul Schmidt (GER)/Jeannete Kvick (DEN)                                                            X-Raid Fenic

313. Gonçalo Guerreiro (POR)/Joel Lutas (POR)                                                           Taurus Evo Max

321. Raphael Astier (FRA)/Loïc Minaudier (FRA)                                                          Taurus Evo Max

323. Jérôme Naquert (FRA)/Paul Durame (FRA)                                                          Can-Am Maverick R

324. Johan Senders (NED)/Yvet Senders (NED)                                                            Taurus T3 Max

325. Luis Caneiro (POR)/Hugo Magalhães (POR)                                                          MMP T3 Rally-Raid

326. Luis Climent (ESP)/Ricardo Ranero (ESP)                                                              Can-Am Maverick X3

330. Laura Bonillo (ESP)/Miguel García (ESP)                                                                Can-Am GPR24

332. Alexis Romero (ESP)/Álvaro Valduérteles (ESP)                                                   Herrator Inzane 901

333. Raul Delgado (ESP)/José Luis Rosa (ESP)                                                               Herrator Inzane 901

SSV

400. Mansour Al-Helai (UAE)/Khalid Al-Kendi (UAE)                                                   Can-Am Maverick R*

401. Fernando Alvarez (ARG)/Xavier Panseri (FRA)                                                     Can-Am Maverick R*

403. Paulo Rodrigues (POR)/Fausto Mota (POR)                                                          Can-Am Maverick R +

404. Filipe Lopes (POR)/Gonçalo Reis (POR)                                                                 Can-Am Maverick R+

405. Rúben Rodrigues (POL)/Rui Moreira (POR)                                                          Can-Am Maverick R +               

406. Ernest Kuś (POL)/Grzegorz Szymanski (POL)                                                        Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR+

408. Afonso Oliveira (POR)/Daniel Jordao (POR)                                                          Can-Am Maverick R                  

411. Herlander Araújo (POR)/Tiago Magalhães (POR)                                                Polaris RXR Pro R+

412. Giovanni Manfrinato (ITA)/Michele Manfrinato (ITA)                                        Can-Am Maverick R

415. David Asensio (ESP)/Pablo Izcue (ESP)                                                                   Can-Am Maverick R

Stock

500. Al-Mashna Al-Shammeri (KSA)/Abdullah Al-Shammeri (KSA)                           Nissan Patrol*

501. Majed Al-Thunayyan (KSA)/Omar Al-Lahim (KSA)                                               Nissan Patrol*                           

502. Fernando Barreiros (POR)/José Sá Pires (POR)                                                    Isuzu D-Max*          

503. Andrei Halabarodzka (BLR)/Aleksei Ignatov (ESP)                                               Toyota Land Cruiser+

*denotes registered for FIA World Baja Cup

+denotes registered for FIA European Baja Cup

Timetable of events

Wednesday, September 9

Administration checks, Rally HQ, Teruel                            15.00-19.00hrs

Thursday, September 10

Administration checks, Rally HQ, Teruel                            08.00-13.00hrs and 14.00-20.30hrs

Scrutineering checks, Rally HQ, Teruel                               08.30-12.30hrs and 14.30-21.00hrs

Friday, September 11

Pre-event press conference, Assembly Hall, Teruel      11.00hrs

Prologue (6.48km)                                                                       First car – 17.15hrs

Saturday, September 12

SS1 (151.07km)                                                                             First car – 08.16hrs

SS2 (180.08km)                                                                             First car – 13.23hrs

Sunday, September 13

SS3 (151.07km)                                                                             First car – 11.16hrs

Podium ceremony, Teruel                                                        15.00hrs

Post-event press conference, Assembly Hall, Teruel    15.30hrs

Prize giving, Rally HQ, Assembly Hall, Teruel                    19.00hrs