The Dutch crew of Mitchel van den Brink and Bart Heun took full advantage of the third-stage retirement of the Lithuanian pairing of Benediktas Vanagas and Aisvydas Paliukenas to earn a comfortable victory in the 13th Baja Greece on Sunday.

The South Racing Can-Am Maverick R duo won the third stage and had built up a winning margin of 22min 09.3sec by the finish in the western Macedonian town of Argos Orestiko. They also topped the Challenger standings and won the third round of the FIA World Baja Cup.

Van den Brink had finished second at the event last year and won the SSV section on that occasion. He said: “We are very happy with this result and the points for the World Cup. This was our first World Cup Baja this season. I was very impressed with the car. It survived all the stages.”

The Emirati Team Liwa pairing of Mansour Al-Helai and Khalid Al-Kendi finished second overall in an R-X Sport Can-Am Maverick R and added valuable points to their push for SSV class honours in the FIA World Baja Cup.

Al-Helai said: “A beautiful result for Team Liwa. I enjoyed the European-style driving. We pushed harder and harder. Not a single mistake for us, just 10km from the finish we had a puncture. My pace was good. It’s great to put the UAE flag on the podium.”

Norwegian youngster Hedda Hosås teamed up with Spaniard Pol Tibau to finish third and take second in the SSV section in her R-X Sport Can-Am. She said: “We kept it clean and kept our position, P3 overall. I am super happy with the result. It was a very challenging event with many different surfaces. We stayed focused and learned a lot.”

The twisty and narrow nature of the mountainous stages in northern Greece didn’t favour the heavier and wider Ultimate cars but the Czech pairing of Karel Trněný and Václav Pritzl were able to finish fourth, top the Ultimate class standings and win the second round of the FIA European Baja Cup in a Ford F-150 Evo.

Murat Kapanoğlu and Aleksandr Trendafilov guided their ASC BMW Motorsport Bulgaria-entered Can-Am to fifth place and were the only classified SSV crew in the FIA European Baja Cup.

Lionel and Lucie Baud recovered strongly from first-day power steering issues to round off the top six and pick up valuable FIA World Baja Cup points in their diesel-engined X-Raid Mini JCW Rally. Navigator Lucie Baud said: “It was pretty tough and quite a challenge with the power steering issue on Saturday. But we finished first in the T1+ category of the World Cup and fourth overall in the World Cup. That’s plenty of points towards our end-of-year goal.”

Seventh overall for the Polish duo of Magdalena Zając and Błażej Czekan enabled them to finish second in the European Ultimate category in a Proxcars TME Rally Team Toyota. Romania’s Costel Căşuneanu (Mini R60CC) and Sergiu Itu finished eighth and third of the Ultimate crews in the FIA European Baja Cup.

Turkey’s ninth-placed Yağiz Birinci and Uğur Tepe (Can-Am) were not registered for either Baja Cup, as Emirati Khalid Al-Jafla (Toyota) and navigator Andrei Rudnitski rounded off the top 10.

FIA World Baja Cup SSV pace-setter Fernando Alvarez and his navigator Xavier Panseri finished 11th in a second South Racing Can-Am. Portugal’s Fernando Barreiros (Isuzu) and José Sa Pires earned Stock category success and finished 12th.

Hamed Al-Wahaibi and Maciej Giemza lost out on a potential third place with a broken gearbox on the final stage. The Omani still leads the Challenger category in the FIA World Baja Cup from Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari. The Qatari and his first-time navigator Max Delfino also hit trouble on the last special of the day and missed out on a potential top five finish when an engine oil pipe was damaged and the QMMF driver lost the oil and decided to stop. The two crews were classified in finished 13th and 14th.

Al-Wahaibi said: “Twenty kilometres into the last stage the new gearbox failed. Abdulaziz stopped 200 metres away from me. Very disappointing.”

Maria Gameiro and Rosa Romero maintained their challenge for Ultimate honours in the FIA European Baja Cup with 15th overall in the second of the X-Raid Minis. They lost a lot of time stuck in a muddy hole on the second stage and overcame brake issues on the final day.

An accident on the first day proved expensive for FIA World Baja Cup leader Dania Akeel and her co-driver Sébastien Delaunay. The Overdrive Racing Toyota driver incurred time penalties for missing the subsequent stage and eventually finished 17th overall behind Vanagas.

Saudi Arabia’s Al-Mashna and Abdullah Al-Shammeri rounded off the finishers in 18th and were second in the Stock category in a Nissan Patrol.

Baja Greece attracted a 19-car field with a dozen crews registered for the FIA World Baja Cup and six competing for FIA European Baja Cup points. A short 6.17km Prologue on Friday afternoon determined the starting order for the first of two 162.95km stages through the mountainous Vitsi region on Saturday.

Baud continued the impressive form he had shown in Jordan and carded the fastest time of 3min 53.9sec. That put the Frenchman 3.6 seconds quicker than the Challenger-leading Al-Wahaibi with Vanagas slotting into third. Al-Helai was the leading SSV driver in eighth.

Baud opted to start the gruelling first mountainous Vitsi stage from first on the road, but Vanagas dominated the opener in the Ultimate category from a returning Costel Căşuneanu, who hadn’t competed since the 2018 Africa Eco Race. There were serious delays for both Baud and Akeel, the Frenchman losing 40 minutes with power steering woes. Akeel faired worse and was unable to finish the stage after sliding off the track on a slippery corner.

Vanagas said: “It was quite slippery in places. It’s really strange because it feels like a good Greek summer but out in the mountains it’s like autumn and very slippery and dark.”

Van den Brink topped the Challenger times on the opening stage and moved into second overall, the Dutchman beating Al-Wahaibi by over three and a half minutes on a test where Al-Kuwari ceded 14 minutes to the winner.

“It was like a nightmare for me,” insisted Al-Kuwari. “A lot of water splashes, at least half the stage was with water splashes because it was raining two days ago. Every time we hit a water splash the visor was full of mud. We tried to clean with small towels but they were totally brown. I couldn’t see the road and was stopping a lot to clean.”

Tomasz Bialkowski drew first blood in the SSVs and moved into a 20.4-second advantage over Al-Helai with Hosås in third. Alvarez lost time with overheating issues and a puncture. In the Stock category, Barreiros made a safe passage through the opener but Al-Mashna Al-Shammeri failed to finish.

Vanagas was quickest again on the second pass and headed into the night halt with a 3min 26.6sec advantage over Van den Brink.

Al-Wahaibi retained third and second in Challenger, despite overheating issues and a broken drive shaft. The third quickest time lifted Baud to 13th overall, as Al-Helai moved into the SSV lead heading into the night halt. Alvarez ceded further time in two-wheel drive and also had problems with the windscreen washer system.

Two runs through the Kranionas stage of 108.98km drew a curtain on the competitive action on Sunday before the finish in Argos Orestikos. Van Den Brink took full advantage of Vanagas’s retirement after around 50km of the stage to snatch the fastest time and an outright lead of 16min 11.8sec over Al-Helai. Vanagas broke a front left brake disc hub and had just three wheels on his Toyota.

Van den Brink said: “It was a very nice stage, windy tracks through the forest. We pushed and we overtook Vanagas. He was on the side. For the rest, we opened the stage and had no issues.”

A disappointed Vanagas said: “Even 10 metres can change everything. We started hearing strange noises. We thought we could push on but it was impossible. You cannot reach the finish line on three wheels. Externally, the car was undamaged: it was just missing a wheel.”

Bialkowski rolled his Polaris RXR Pro R out of sixth overall after slipping off an embankment into some trees and that paved the way for Hosås to tighten her grip on second amongst the SSVs in fourth place. The narrow, twisty tracks favoured the nimbler side-by-sides and Trněný was the leading Ultimate driver in sixth. Baud was second quickest and climbed to 10th place. Akeel returned to action with the fifth quickest time.

Van den Brink confirmed victory with the second quickest time on stage four behind Baud. Akeel was third fastest, as Al-Helai and Hosås secured the remaining two podium places after Al-Wahaibi and Al-Kuwari hit trouble.

The FIA World and European Baja Cups continue with the Pordenone-based Italian Baja on June 25th-28th. 

13th Baja Greece – result:

1. Mitchel van den Brink (NED)/Bart Heun (NED) Can-Am Maverick R                                                   8hr 01min 51.9sec*

2. Mansour Al-Helai (UAE)/Khalid Al-Kendi (UAE) Can-Am Maverick R                                                   8hr 24min 01.2sec*

3. Hedda Hosås (NOR)/Pol Tibau (ESP) Can-Am Maverick R                                                                    8hr 32min 07.3sec*

4. Karel Trněný (CZE)/Václav Pritzl (CZE) Ford F-150 Evo                                                                         8hr 34min 43.2sec+

5. Murat Kapanoğlu (BGR)/Aleksandr Trendafilov (BGR) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR                    8hr 41min 38.2sec+

6. Lionel Baud (FRA)/Lucie Baud (FRA) X-Raid Mini JCW 3.0d                                                                 8hr 42min 14.4sec*

7. Magdalena Zając (POL)/Błażej Czekan (POL) Toyota Hilux                                                                   8hr 44min 13.2sec+

8. Costel Căşuneanu (ROU)/Sergiu Itu (ROU) Mini R60 CC                                                                      8hr 49min 41.1sec+

9. Yağiz Birinci (TUR)/Uğur Tepe (TUR) Can-Am Maverick R                                                                    8hr 54min 01.5sec     

10. Khalid Al-Jafla (UAE)/Andrei Rudnitskiy (LTU) Toyota Hilux Evo                                                        9hr 02min 40.3sec*

11. Fernando Alvarez (ARG)/Xavier Panseri (FRA) Can-Am Maverick R                                                  9hr 10min 16.6sec*

12. Fernando Barreiros (POR)/José Sa Pires (POR) Isuzu D-Max                                                             10hr 27min 23.3sec*

13. Hamed Al-Wahaibi (OMA)/Maciej Giemza (POL) Taurus Evo Max                                                    11hr 05min 36.4sec*

14. Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari (QAT)/Max Delfino (FRA) Taurus Evo Max                                                        11hr 11min 12.7sec*

15. Maria Gameiro (POR)/Rosa Romero (ESP) Mini JCW Rally 3.0d                                                        11hr 31min 01.9sec+

16. Benediktas Vanagas (LTU)/Aisvydas Paliukenas (LTU) Toyota Hilux                                                  14hr 58min 15.7sec+

17. Dania Akeel (KSA)/Sébastian Delaunay (FRA) Toyota Hilux Evo                                                        15hr 34min 24.4sec*

18. Al-Mashna Al-Shammeri (KSA)/Abdullah Al-Shammeri (KSA) Nissan Patrol                                     19hr 10min 42.0sec*

Tomasz Bialkowski (POL)/Dariusz Baskiewicz (POL) Polaris RXR Pro R                                                    RETIRED – SS3*

*denotes registered for FIA World Baja Cup

+denotes registered for FIA European Baja Cup