The sole Turkish pairing of Yağiz Birinci and Ugur Tepe claimed a comfortable victory in the Baja Troia Turkey, round three of the 2025 FIA European Baja Cup. They also won the SSV class in their Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR.

Disappointingly, the second Baja Troia Turkey to be included in the FIA European Baja Cup attracted just five starters, although there was one entrant in each of the Ultimate, Challenger and Stock categories and two competing against each other in SSV.

Poland’s Barthomiej Wajzer and Ernest Górecki had the Stock category for series production cross-country machines all to themselves in their Toyota Land Cruiser KDJ. They had won the category at the Baja TT Dehesa Extremadura in Spain and began the event in fourth overall in the Drivers’ and Navigators’ Championship. When their rivals hit trouble on Saturday, the Poles stood firm to finish second and boost their FIA European Baja Cup title aspirations.

The second Polish duo of Magdalena Zając and Błażek Czekan led the way in the Ultimate category in their Proxcars TME Rally Team Toyota Hilux, despite struggling on Saturday. They finished third.

Hungary’s Csucsu and Márk Mesterházi were the sole crew entered in the Challenger section with their Speedy Motorsport Can-Am Maverick X3. They finished fourth overall.

Murat Kapanoğlu teamed up with Alexsandar Trendafílov and ran their Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR under North Macedonian competition licences. The duo retired after incurring hefty time penalties on day one.

The event was organised by the Istanbul Offroad Sports Club (OFF) and based in the northwestern seaport city of Çanakkale in the Marmara region on the Dandanelles Strait, around 300km southwest of Istanbul.

Action got underway with a five-kilometre Prologue stage on Friday afternoon (May 16th) and this preceded the Dardanelles stage of 93.70km between Kirazli and the village of Denízgöründü, on Saturday morning. Teams then tackled a five-kilometre Terzioğlu Vakfi spectator stage around midday before a second pass through the 93.70km special.

Sunday’s action centred around two passes through a stage of 110.05km in the Ida mountain range between Kirazki and Denízgöründü, split by a third pass through the five-kilometre Terzioğlu Vakfi spectator stage. The longer stage ran between the provinces of Çanakkale and Balikesir, southeast of the ancient city of Troy, on the Gulf of Edremit.

Kapanoğlu topped the times under overcast skies and slippery conditions on the Prologue with a time of 3min 38.7sec from Birinci, Zając, Csucsu and Wajzer.

Birinci won the slippery opening stage by just over two minutes from SSV rival Kapanoğlu with Zając in third place and Wajzer finishing just ahead of Csucsu. The Turk also won the short spectator stage but only he, Zając and Wajzer survived to tackle the afternoon repeat of the longer stage.

Birinci was again quickest on the second pass and reached the night halt in Çanakkale 1hr 06min 36sec ahead of Wajzer after Zając hit trouble.

Zając bounced back on Sunday morning in drier conditions to win the opening 110.05km stage but Birinci came home in third and maintained a comfortable cushion over Wajzer. Kapanoğlu did not start the stage.

Birinci then pipped Zając to the fastest time in the third pass through the five-kilometre Troia stage and went on to win the longer final stage as well in his Can-Am to secure the win.

Action in the 2025 FIA European Baja Cup resumes with Baja Greece on May 29th-June 1st. The event is also the third round of the FIA World Baja Cup.

Baja Troia Turkey – final result:                                 

1. Yağiz Birinci (TUR)/Ugur Tepe (TUR) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR                          7hr 08min 18.3sec

2. Barthomiej Wajzer (POL)/Ernest Górecki (POL) Toyota Land Cruiser KDJ                    8hr 47min 46.3sec

3. Magdalena Zając (POL)/Błażek Czekan (POL) Toyota Hilux                                9hr 33min 45.3sec

4. Csucsu (HUN)/Márk Mesterházi (HUN) Can-Am Maverick X3                                         18hr 16min 07.7sec

Murat Kapanoğlu (MKD)/Alexsandar Trendafílov (MKD) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR                      RETIRED

Ends