Yazeed Al-Rajhi has achieved a new triumph in the FIA Baja World Cup after winning with enormous superiority in Baja Italia. The Saudi driver takes a new step towards the title in a test in which several priority drivers were left out of the fight at the first change. The duel within the T3 category was resolved in favor of Erik Van Loonpresent at this test with a Can-Am Maverick from the South Racing team. With a T4 vehicle from the same team, the Brazilian Cristiano Batista da Sousa managed to prevail in this categoryin addition to climbing to the absolute podium.
The truth is that the Saudi Yazeed Al-Rajhi has not had a rival during the weekend. With a fault-free performance, Al-Rajhi has achieved victory at the controls of his Toyota Hilux of the Overdrive team with a final time of 4 hours, 23 minutes and 1 second. Enough record to overcome Joao Ferreira with solvency for more than five minutes. Rivals like the Argentine driver Juan Cruz Yacopini and Benediktas Vanagas have finished in back positions. The first suffered a rollover in the last stage, while the Lithuanian sneaked his Hilux into an irrigation canal.
Within the ‘interclass’ duel between the T3 and T4 vehicles, the latter have been faster throughout all of Baja Italia, even if they are ‘Side by Side’ closer to the series models. In fact, Cristiano Batista de Sousa has finished in third absolute position with the first of the T4while Erik Van Loon was the best classified in the T3 category, finishing eighth overall, behind other T4s such as those piloted by Amerigo Ventura or Kees Koolen.
It is worth mentioning the good performance of the Spanish pilots. Santi Navarro together with Marc Sola finished the Baja Italia in second position in the T3 category with the FN Speed Can-Am. Just behind Navarro in the general classification has been Eduard Pons together with Oriol Mena, a result that has allowed them to climb to the last step of the podium within the T4 class. The young driver of 18 years can also celebrate having finished in the final ‘top 10’ of the test.
The good performance of the Spanish drivers and co-drivers serves as a perfect preview of the next round of the FIA Bajas Cross-Country World Cup, since the category will return to action between July 22 and 24 on the occasion of Baja Aragón. The Spanish round will have an extensive list of entries among which the exponents of the national motorsport within the T3 and T4 classes will repeat. Also, a wide representation is also expected both in motorcycles and in the premier car category.
Photos: Italian Baja