The Toyota Gazoo Racing duo began the day in fourth place and launched a fierce challenge over the closing 195.38km stage to set the quickest time by 4min 26.7sec and confirm overall victory by 3min 51.8sec.

The South African became the seventh different winner since the inaugural event in 2018 and the points gained have put him in a strong position after two rounds of the 2026 FIA World Baja Cup.

He said: “It was quite good on our side. We caught Dania (Akeel) in the first 60km and we carried on pushing to the end of the stage. The last bit was really tricky in the rocky sections but we did a good job. It was a difficult rally and we had a lot to learn. The terrain was a lot different to what I am used to but it ended up quite nicely.”

Dania Akeel and Sébastien Delaunay were second quickest through the final stage and managed to secure the runner-up spot and valuable FIA World Baja Cup points.

“I am super happy with how it went,” said Akeel. “It really was a challenging and tough rally that had so many different types of terrain. Last year, my goal was to be on the podium and we had an issue on the first stage. I was very conservative yesterday to rewrite the memory and we had a good stage today. The races in Jordan are on a high level and it makes you drive better. Sébastien did a great job with the navigation.”

The father and daughter duo of Lionel and Lucie Baud had won the first stage in their diesel-engined X-Raid Mini JCW Rally Plus and opened the road on the final day hoping to defend a lead of just 1.8 seconds over Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah. Baud suffered a flat tyre but managed to finish on the bottom step on the podium and third in the FIA World Baja Cup standings.

The Frenchman said: “We are very happy because we won the first stage and finished in position three. We had a puncture so we lost a little time. We opened on the second stage and Lucie did a perfect job with the navigation. When your daughter tells you to push, you are obliged to listen. I am very proud of her. She started three years ago and now we can see this weekend that her level is very high.”

Al-Attiyah and Max Delfino made a determined push to try and win their second successive event in an MD Sport Optimus Evo 5 Buggy. But fuel pump issues cost them a lot of time and the FIA Middle East Baja Cup leaders had to settle for fourth overall.

“Disappointed,” said Al-Attiyah. “We had a problem with the fuel pump and we couldn’t really fix it. We know we lost the time but we had to finish the stage to get sone good points and we finished fourth. This is the race.”

Czech privateer Miroslav Zapletal teamed up with Michal Goleniewski to finish sixth in a Ford F-150 Evo and picked up points for second in the Ultimate section in the regional Baja Cup behind Al-Attiyah.

The final start list featured 32 entries with six crews registered in each of the Ultimate and Challenger categories, five in Stock and 15 taking part in SSV. Sixteen were registered for the FIA World Baja Cup points and 15 entered in the FIA Middle East Baja Cup.

A desert Prologue stage of 12.78km, near the village of Rahmeh to the north of Aqaba, preceded the ceremonial start at the Ayla resort. Al-Attiyah was the class of the field and he beat Variawa by 36 seconds on a tricky and rocky stage where several of his rivals got lost near the start.

Seaidan and Flick finish fifth and win Challenger category

Yasir Seaidan continued his strong start to the season with fifth place and victory in the Challenger category with navigator Xavier Flick in a Nasser Racing Team Taurus Evo Max. He also picked up points for second place in the FIA Middle East Baja Cup and maintains pressure on Al-Attiyah in the Drivers’ Championship.

Seaidan opened the road for the longer first stage that started and finished in the ancient Nabataean trading town of Humaymeh. He overcame the difficult navigation with aplomb to lead the regional Challenger category at the night halt.

Oman’s Hamed Al-Wahaibi won the opening stage but incurred a 10-minute time penalty for not having a spare wheel in situ on his Can-Am Maverick R. The veteran and his Polish navigator Maciej Giemza reached the finish in seventh overall and picked up maximum Challenger points in the FIA World Baja Cup for the second time in three weeks.

A triumphant Saeidan said: “I thought the last day would be easier but it was the same. It was hard navigation and a good fight between us and Hamed (Al-Wahaibi). He punctured and we overtook him, then we got lost and he overtook us. We pushed, overtook him again and then we punctured and he overtook us.”

Third place in Challenger went to Abdullah Al-Fahad and Leander Pienaar after the fellow Taurus T3 crew of Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari and his French navigator Stéphane Duplé lost valuable time on the second stage and slipped to fourth.

The UAE-based British duo of David Mabbs and Dave McBride were fifth in a Can-Am Maverick and third in the regional standings behind Al-Fahad and Pienaar. Qatar’s Nouef Al-Sowaidi (Taurus) was a non-finisher.

Young Norwegian Hedda Hosås earns her first SSV success

Norway’s Hedda Hosås teamed up with Spaniard Pol Tibau to earn her first ever victory in the SSV category in an R-X Sport Can-Am Maverick R.

The 24-year-old also earned her first stage win with the fastest SSV time on the first of the Wadi Rum specials and the third quickest time on stage two sealed her maiden FIA World Baja Cup victory.

Hosås said: “We took it a bit careful in the beginning to save the podium and then pushed in the end. P1 is insane. It’s a lot of hard work behind the scenes to be able to race. It’s really nice to get P1, for sure.”

Qatari youngster Mohammed Al-Marri teamed up with Szymon Gospodarczyk to finish 1min 22.2sec behind and picked up maximum SSV points in the FIA Middle East Baja Cup.

The South Racing Can-Am Team’s Fernando Alvarez travelled all the way from Argentina to finish third in the category and 10th overall with French navigator Xavier Panseri. He picked up points for second in the FIA World Baja Cup to add to his win at round one in Saudi Arabia. A puncture on the Prologue had given him a poor starting position for day one.

Alvarez said: “We had problems with the power and the turbo system on both days. I am happy and also a bit disappointed but we have to be positive. We go to Europe leading the championship with good points.”

The Polish duo of Tomasz Bialkowski and Dariusz Baśkiewicz were fourth in a Polaris RXR Pro R Sport and Maha Al-Hameli rounded off the top five with her navigator Nuno Morais.

The Emirati pairing of Mansour Al-Helai and Khalid Al-Kendi lost a lot of time on day one and were quickest on the second stage. But the Team Liwa Can-Am Maverick jammed in gear and a luckless Al-Helai needed outside assistance from a Stock entrant to tow him back to Aqaba. He joined Kuwait’s Dhari Al-Dhafeeri and Emirati Nora Al-Jassasi on the list of retirements.

Dutchman Erik van Loon was not able to finish the opening stage in his Can-Am after turbo-related issues. He restarted with a 9hr 15min stage penalty and was back into a fast pace on stage two with Wouter Rosegaar but finished at the rear of the field.

Majed Al-Thunayyan wins the Stock category

Al-Mashna Al-Shammeri held off Majed Al-Thunayyan and Abdullah Al-Rabban to win the opening stage in the Stock class but Al-Thunayyan bounced back strongly to set the second quickest time on the last special to secure the win and took another step towards retaining his world title.

The Torq Racing Nissan Patrol driver teamed up with Omar Al-Lahim to finish 21st overall. He was 8min 47.5sec in front of Al-Mashna and Abdullah Al-Shammeri, who lost  a lot of time on the second stage.

Abdullah Al-Shegawi and Ali Mirza were third in a Toyota Prado and Qatar’s Abdullah Al-Rabban (Nissan) had to settle for fourth with navigator Ali Al-Ajmi.The FIA World Baja Cup resumes with Baja Greece on June 4th-7th. The event will also be the second round of the FIA European Baja Cup.

2026 Jordan Baja – result:

1. Saood Variawa (RSA)/François Cazalet (FRA) Toyota Hilux IMT Evo                                      4hr 41min 37.3sec*

2. Dania Akeel (KSA)/Sébastian Delaunay (FRA) Toyota Hilux Evo                                             4hr 45min 29.1sec*

3. Lionel Baud (FRA)/Lucie Baud (FRA) X-Raid Mini JCW Rally Plus 3.0d                                   4hr 46min 16.1sec*

4. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Max Delfino (FRA) MD Optimus Rallye                                4hr 47min 16.1sec+

5. Yasir Seaidan (KSA)/Xavier Flick (FRA) Taurus Evo Max                                                            5hr 04min 54.9sec+

6. Miroslav Zapletal (CZE)/Michal Goleniewski (POL) Ford F-150                                               5hr 05min 35.9sec+

7. Hamed Al-Wahaibi (OMA)/Maciej Giemza (POL) Can-Am Maverick R                                  5hr 10min 34.4sec*

8. Hedda Hosås (NOR)/Pol Tibau (ESP) Can-Am Maverick R                                                        5hr 11min 02.6sec*

9. Mohammed Al-Marri (QAT)/Szymon Gospodarczyk (POL) Can-Am Maverick R                 5hr 12min 24.8sec+

10. Fernando Alvarez (ARG)/Xavier Panseri (FRA) Can-Am Maverick R                                    5hr 21min 20.4sec*

11. Abdullah Al-Fahad (KSA)/Leander Pienaar (RSA) Taurus T3 Max                                         5hr 26min 30.7sec+

12. Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari (QAT)/Stéphane Duplé (FRA) Taurus T3 Max                                      5hr 27min 05.0sec*

13. David Mabbs (UAE)/David McBride (UAE) Can-Am Maverick X3                                         5hr 28min 52.9sec+

14. Tomasz Bialkowski (POL)/Dariusz Baśkiewicz (POL) Polaris RZR Pro R Sport                     5hr 29min 50.8sec*

15. Maha Al-Hamali (KSA)/Nuno Morais (POR) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR                   5hr 37min 22.6sec+

16. Hamad Al-Harbi (KSA)/Faisal Al-Suwayh (KSA) Can-Am Maverick R                                    5hr 38min 28.1sec+

17. Ahmed Al-Kuwari (QAT)/Augusto Sanz (ARG) Yamaha YXZ 100R Sport Shift                    5hr 40min 30.5sec+

18. Mohammed Al-Atteya (QAT)/Aleksei Kuzmich (UAE) Can-Am Maverick R                        5hr 47min 55.3sec+

19. Ahmed Al-Shamy (KSA)/Ali Hassan Obaid (UAE) Century CR6                                              5hr 53min 02.9sec+

20. Moaz Hariri (KSA)/Kirill Shubin (KGZ) Can-Am Maverick R                                                    6hr 18min 14.1sec*

21. Majed Al-Thunayyan (KSA)/Omar Al-Lahim (KSA) Nissan Patrol                                          7hr 10min 58.9sec*

22. Al-Mashna Al-Shammeri (KSA)/Abdullah Al-Shammeri (KSA) Nissan Patrol                      7hr 19min 46.4sec*

23. Camelia Liparoti (SMR)/Erika Mingozzi (ITA) Yamaha YXZ 100R Sport Shift                      7hr 22min 40.4sec+

24. Abdullah Al-Shegawi (KSA)/Ali Mirza (UAE) Toyota Prado                                                    7hr 35min 29.6sec*

25. Abdullah Al-Rabban (QAT)/Ali Al-Ajmi (UAE) Nissan Patrol                                                  8hr 06min 04.3sec*

26. Farah Zakaria (JOR)/Jennifer Lerch (GER) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR                      8hr 06min 23.3sec

27. Ahmad Al-Muhannadi (QAT)/Alexey Mun (KAZ) Nissan Patrol                                            8hr 38min 37.6sec*

28. Erik van Loon (NED)/Wouter Rosegaar (NED) Can-Am Maverick R                                     11hr 35min 01.6sec*

Mansour Al-Helai (UAE)/Khalid Al-Kendi (UAE) Can-Am Maverick R                                         RETIRED – SS2*

Dhari Al-Dhafeeri (KUW)/Fahad Al-Amr (KSA) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR                     RETIRED – SS2+       

Nouef Al-Sowaidi (QAT)/Aisvydas Paliukenas (LTU) Taurus T3 Max                                          RETIRED – SS2+

Nora Al-Jassasi (UAE)/Baptiste Cerrato (QAT) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR                     RETIRED – SS2+

*denotes registered for FIA World Cup

+ denotes registered for FIA Middle East Cup

Ends