Argentina’s Juan Cruz Yacopini sealed the FIA World Baja Cup title with outright victory in the Dubai International Baja.

Yacopini teamed up with Spanish navigator Dani Oliveras in an SVR-run Toyota Hilux IMT Evo and moved ahead of Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC’s Seth Quintero and Andrew Short after the first stage when the American incurred a five-minute time penalty for speeding. The winning margin was 1min 05.9sec.

A fifth maximum points score from sixth starts earned Yacopini the Drivers’ Championship crown. Oliveras was also the champion navigator for 2025.

“This was a really tough race for us,” said Yacopini. “We kept it super tidy. On day one, we tried to push as much as we could but we had one car ahead of us. He (Quintero) then had a time penalty and we had to open the road today. It was really difficult without lines in the sand. It was not an easy job but we pushed from the very beginning. We knew the cars behind would be faster. Navigation was not very complicated but we had to take care to get the win.”

Neither Quintero nor third-placed Toyota team-mate Toby Price were registered for either of the FIA Baja Cups and used the event to put the Toyota Hilux through its paces in a desert environment before the Dakar Rally in January.

The Czech duo of Martin Prokop and Viktor Chytka were fourth in a Ford Raptor but points for second place in the FIA World Baja Cup went to the South African pairing of Mitchel van den Brink and Bart van Heun in a Can-Am Maverick R. They finished fifth and confirmed second position in the overall FIA World Baja Cup standings to add to the SSV titles they had earned in Qatar earlier this month.

Van den Brink said: “It was a very nice season and a consistent season for us. We scored the maximum points in our category and to finish with this win (SSV) is very special.”

Dania Akeel and Sébastien Delaunay finished sixth in their Overdrive Racing Toyota and picked up maximum points in the FIA Middle East Baja Cup. That enabled the Saudi to confirm the overall Drivers’ Championship title for the second year to add to her success in the Ultimate class. Delaunay finished third behind Stéphane Duplé and Bruno Jacomy in the unofficial regional navigators’ standings.

The start list for the ninth edition of the event featured 40 cars with 11 registered in the Ultimate category, eight in Challenger, 16 in SSV and five in the Stock class.

Changes to the original entry saw Armand Monleón team up with Toby Price in a Toyota Gazoo Racing Hilux and TGR’s Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings replace Eugenio Amos and Paulo Ceci in a South Racing Can-Am. After finishing behind Sergei Remennik in the FIA World Baja Cup’s Challenger category, Khalid Al-Jafla switched to an SVR Toyota Hilux at the last minute and did not register for points.

Twelve crews were registered for the FIA World Baja Cup and there were six in the FIA Middle East Baja Cup.

Quintero was 2.2 seconds faster than Prokop on the Prologue at Hatta and third-placed Yacopini was the quickest of the drivers registered for the FIA World Baja Cup. Akeel was eighth and headed the FIA Middle East Baja Cup runners.

Competitors then attended the ceremonial start at Dubai Festival City in the presence of visiting dignitaries. They included FIA President Mohammed ben Sulayem, H.E. Minister Omar Sultan Al-Ulama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications and H.E. Khalfan Juma Belhoul, Vice Chairman of the Dubai Sports Council.

The opening Al-Faqa’a stage passed through the rolling dunes of the Al-Qudra desert for 193.90km. Lategan was getting some pre-Dakar practice in with a Can-Am before reverting to his new Toyota Hilux for the opening round of the 2026 FIA World Rally-Raid Championship. He was given road opening duties.

Toyotas dominated the opening stage with Quintero taking the win by 3min 47.9sec from Yacopini and Price passing the finish line just over seven minutes in arrears. Yacopini then inherited the overnight lead when Quintero was issued with his time penalty.

Accidents cost Maria Gameiro (Mini) and Sergei Remennik (Taurus) valuable time in the dunes, the latter losing out on a potential second place in the FIA World Baja Cup as a result but still managing to take third in the unofficial points standings.

Remennik said: “This is my first season of rally-raids. I made a mistake on the first day and that affected our second day. But I learn from mistakes and, hopefully, that will be a good lesson for me.”

The Qatari trio of Khalifa Saleh Al-Attiyah, Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari and Abdullah Al-Rabban also picked up hefty penalties for failing to finish the stage, along with Paul Severn. Hamed Al-Wahaibi, a returning Fernando Alvarez and Nasser Al-Ajmi were also sidelined.

Price topped the times on the second stage to beat Quintero by just 6.7 seconds but the overall win went to Yacopini.

Behind seventh-placed Lategan, the Emirati duo of Mansour Al-Helai and Mohamed Hamri were eighth and picked up points for third in the FIA World Baja Cup and second in the SSV category in an R-X Sport Can-Am. Dutchman Erik van Loon was ninth and fourth of the FIA World Cup drivers in his Can-Am Maverick R.

The Dubai-based British duo of David Mabbs and David McBride took a break from competing on two wheels to round off the top 10 in a Can-Am and also clinched top spot in the Challenger category. They were not registered for either of the FIA cups.

The QMMF Team’s Khalifa Saleh Al-Attiyah did enough to finish as runner-up to Akeel in the FIA Middle East Baja Cup after recovering from first day problems to finish 26th with the fastest Challenger time on the last stage. His Argentine co-pilot Bruno Jacomy prevailed in the Challenger category.

The Saudi duo of Majed Al-Thunayyan and Fahad Al-Sufyani secured overall success in the FIA World Baja Cup’s Stock category by taking maximum points in Dubai.  They finished clear of Portugal’s Fernando Barreiros and José Sa Pirés who were penalised after missing waypoints on day one. Qatar’s Abdullah Al-Rabban had already won the Stock category in the FIA Middle East Baja Cup.

The event marked the international debut of the new Defender Dakar D7x-R that will challenge for honours in the Stock category in 2026. Two cars in the hands of Stéphane Peterhansel and Rokas Baciuška were entered in an Experimental (EXP) category pending official homologation of the cars before the start of the 2026 Dakar Rally.

Both drivers finished the competitive testing exercise strongly and would have made the classification just outside the overall top 10.  Peterhansel was quickest on both stages and finished over two hours in front of the leading Nissan in the Stock category.

Peterhansel said: “It was a really good weekend. Two days of racing with the new Defender. We had no technical problems at all and the result was good, maybe better than we expected.”

Organised by the Emirates Motorsport Organisation (EMSO), the Baja was held under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum. Crown Prince of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defence and Chairman of The Executive Council of Dubai.

It was supported by the collaboration of the Dubai Government and its entities, including the Dubai Police, Dubai Sports Council, Road and Transport Authority and Dubai Municipality as well as Al-Futtaim Toyota.

2025 Dubai International Baja  - final result:

1. Juan Cruz Yacopini (ARG)/Dani Oliveras (ESP) Toyota Hilux IMT Evo                                    6hr 04min 32.5sec*

2. Seth Quintero (USA)/Andrew Short (USA) Toyota GR Hilux                                                    6hr 05min 38.4sec

3. Toby Price (AUS)/Armand Monleón (ESP) Toyota Hilux Evo                                                   6hr 07min 32.6sec

4. Martin Prokop (CZE)/Viktor Chytka (CZE) Ford Raptor                                                             6hr 14min 46.0sec

5. Mitchel van den Brink (NED)/Bart van Heun (NED) Can-Am Maverick R                              6hr 29min 59.2sec*

6. Dania Akeel (SAU)/Sébastien Delaunay (FRA) Toyota Hilux Evo                                             6hr 31min 24.2sec+

7. Henk Lategan (RSA)/Brett Cummings (RSA) Can-Am Maverick R                                           6hr 34min 17.7sec

8. Mansour Al-Helai (UAE)/Mohamed Hamri (UAE) Can-Am Maverick R                                 6hr 34min 47.4sec*

9. Erik van Loon (NED)/Wouter Rosegaar (NED) Can-Am Maverick R                                        6hr 38min 44.4sec*

10. David Mabbs (UAE)/David McBride (UAE) Can-Am Maverick X3 XRS                                 6hr 47min 57.5sec

11. Mohammed Al-Marri (QAT)/Aisvydas Paliukenas (LTU) Can-Am Maverick R                    6hr 53min 13.2sec

12. Aleksander Szustkowski (POL)/Robin Szustkowski (POL) Can-Am Maverick X3                6hr 58min 47.6sec

13. Khalid Al-Jafla (UAE)/Andrei Rudnitski (LTU) Toyota Hilux Evo                                            7hr 00min 05.4sec

14. Ahmed El-Shami (UAE)/Ali Hassan Obaid (UAE) Century CR6                                               7hr 06min 55.4sec+

15. Atif Al-Zarouni (UAE)/Patrick McMurren (UAE) Yamaha YXZ 1000 R                                  7hr 21min 36.4sec

16. Hassan Jameel (KSA)/Maciej Giemza (POL) Can-Am Maverick R                                          7hr 25min 48.3sec

17. Anya van Loon (NED)/Floor Matten (NED) Can-Am Maverick R                                           7hr 48min 53.7sec

18. Stefano Marrini (ITA)/Stefano Tiraboschi (ITA) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR             7hr 51min 52.2sec

19. Ronan Chabot (FRA)/Gilles Pillot (FRA) Toyota Hilux Evo                                                      7hr 56min 35.4sec

20. Maha Al-Hamali (KSA)/Xavier Flick (FRA) Can-Am Maverick R                                             8hr 11min 43.1sec*

21. Nora Al-Jassasi (UAE)/Mohamed Al-Mazrui (OMA) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR     8hr 23min 35.9sec

22. Hangting Guo (CHI)/Zhang Ziming (CHI) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR                         8hr 25min 14.0sec

23. Robert Knight (AUS)/Chris Western (AUS) Can-Am Maverick R                                           8hr 37min 14.9sec

24. Sergei Remennik (UAE)/Aleksei Ignatov (KGZ) Taurus T3 Max                                             8hr 43min 42.1sec*

25. Majed Al-Thunayyan (KSA)/Fahad Al-Sufyani (KSA) Nissan Patrol Y61                               8hr 55min 46.9sec*

26. Khalifa Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Bruno Jacomy (ARG) Taurus T3 Max                                  10hr 39min 10.7sec+

27. Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari (QAT)/Stéphane Duplé (FRA) Taurus T3 Max                                      10hr 52min 03.9sec+

28. Jonathan Hart (UAE)/Ali Mirza (UAE) Can-Am Maverick X3 XRS                                          11hr 03min 21.5sec

29. Hamed Al-Wahaibi (OMA)/Ilka Minor (AUT) Can-Am Maverick R                                       11hr 19min 27.2sec*

30. Paul Severn (GBR)/Max Delfino (FRA) Polaris RZR Pro R Sport                                             13hr 34min 29.0sec*

Abdullah Al-Haydan (KSA)/Bader Al-Ajmi (KUW) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR                RETIRED – SS2*

Abdullah Al-Rabban (QAT)/Ali Ajami (UAE) Nissan Patrol                                                            RETIRED - SS2+

Fernando Barreiros (POR)/Jose Sá Pies (POR) Nissan Patrol                                                        RETIRED – SS2*

Rashid Al-Muhannadi (QAT)/Szymon Gospodarczyk (POL) Taurus T3 Max                              RETIRED – SS2

Sheikh Khalid Al-Qassimi (UAE)/Khalid Al-Kendi (UAE) Toyota Hilux IMT Evo                         RETIRED – SS2

Nasser Al-Ajmi (KUW)/Arunas Gelazninkas (LTU) Nissan Safari                                                  RETIRED – SS1+

Fernando Alvarez (ARG)/Xavier Panseri (FRA) Can-Am Maverick R                                           RETIRED – SS1*

Maria Gameiro (POR)/Rosa Romero (ESP) Mini John Cooper Works Rally 3.0D                     RETIRED – SS1

*denotes registered for the FIA World Baja Cup

+ denotes registered for the FIA Middle East Baja Cup

(EXP category)

1. Stéphane Peterhansel (FRA)/Michael Metge (FRA) Defender Dakar D7x-R                         6hr 54min 05.9sec

2. Rokas Baciuška (LTU)/Oriol Vidal (ESP) Defender Dakar D7x-R                                              6hr 57min 11.1sec