The Portuguese crew of João Ferreira and Filipe Palmeiro began the defence of their FIA European Baja Cup titles by securing victory in the Badajoz-based Baja TT Dehesa Extremadura that was organised by Villafranca Motor Club (MCV Motorsport).

João Dias and Nuno Morais looked to have stunned their close rivals to snatch a last gasp victory, only to run out of fuel on the final road section. Ferreira was later handed back time that he had lost opening a gate on the stage in the morning and the Portuguese was crowned the winner late on Saturday evening. He had an overall winning margin of 2min 28.8sec and also claimed victory in the Ultimate category. The X-Raid Mini JCW Team also takes an early advantage in the Teams’ Championship.

Ferreira finished second on the Prologue and won the first and second specials in his X-Raid Mini JCW Rally 3.0i but looked to have fallen short after technical issues on the final stage. He had taken a lead of over four minutes into the last special but Dias hit back strongly in his Santag Racing Polaris RXR Pro R, beat Ferreira by 5min 26.6sec and that looked enough to snatch a 2.9-second lead before the fuel woes on the road section forced him out.

Ferreira said: “We won our first race with the Mini petrol. Thanks to X-raid for this opportunity and I hope I can give my knowledge to try to develop the car with them. Day one was slippery, muddy and very tricky navigation. We did a very strong performance and Filipe was amazing on the navigation side because everyone got lost in the military camp and he was the only one who found the right way.

Unfortunately, Dias had a problem on the road section and didn’t win and we were also trying to get our time back after stopping to open a gate in the morning. We had a little issue in the last stage and we drove slowly and managed to finish. Now it’s time to rest and recharge the batteries for South Africa.”

Heavy rain and thick mud made for horrendously slippery conditions on the first stage on Friday afternoon and several of the top seeds hit trouble. That paved the way for Tiago Reis and Paulo Fiuza to take full advantage in their Taurus T3 Max. They were second quickest on the final stage, finished second overall and claimed the win in the Challenger section.

Portugal’s Gonçalo Guerreiro teamed up with Spaniard Pablo Moreno to finish third and take the SSV class win in a second Polaris after Dias retired. Guerreiro also claimed the final stage win.

The Swedish crew of Mattias Ekström and Emil Bergkvist topped the times on the Prologue and gave Ferreira a run for his money in the first stage before slipping back to finish fourth and second in the Challenger section in their Can-Am XRS.

This year’s Baja TT Dehesa Extremadura attracted 40 starters in the FIA category. The list consisted of 11 vehicles in the Ultimate section, 17 in Challenger, 11 in SSV and one in the Stock category. But only 16 crews finished.

The Austrian duo of Mark Mustermann and Michael Zajc were Ferreira’s closest challengers in the Ultimate section in their Toyota Hilux. They finished fifth overall.

Spain’s Federico Mogni and David Nieto were sixth, Great Britain’s Charles Tuthill and Italian team-mate Paulo Ceci guided their Oryx +3 Evo2 to seventh (third Challenger) and Portugal’s Jorge Cardoso and André Barras finished eighth and third in the Ultimate section with their Ford Ranger.

Seventeen-year-old Afonso Oliveira was ninth, the leading Junior driver on his first international race and earned Polaris a 1-2-3 finish in the overall classification of the SSV section. Spain’s Fidel Castillo rounded off the top 10, while Miguel Angel Valero finished 11th and was classified as the leading Master driver.

Poland’s Bartlomiej Wajzer and Ernest Górecki finished 15th in their Toyota Land Cruiser KDJ 155 and claimed victory in the Stock section for series production cross-country vehicles.

Friday morning’s 5.92km Prologue was used to determine the starting order for the afternoon’s opening stage of 147.39km. Ekström topped the times with a run of 3min 46sec in his Can-Am XRS entered in the Challenger section. The Swede beat Ferreira by just one second with Félix Macías (Toyota), Reis and Dias rounding off the top five.

Heavy rain fell during the special and crews had to prepare for wet and muddy conditions in the afternoon. Jose Rogeira was awarded a one-hour time penalty for failing to fit an FIA datalogging system and that was added to his time after SS1.

The opening stage developed into a tussle between Ferreira and Ekström and the Portuguese overcame the appallingly muddy and wet conditions to clock the quickest time and move into a 2min 39sec advantage over Challenger leader Reis. Dias topped the SSV standings in third with Ekström slipping to fourth but staying ahead of Guerreiro.

Ferreira said: “It was not about competition. It was about surviving. So much mud, I’ve never seen anything like that, even in Portalegre. This was super slippery, a lot of water, just surviving and not making mistakes. I was super surprised to win the stage because I thought the side-by-sides would be faster.”

Numerous leading drivers failed to finish the stage and incurred additional time penalties. They included Wlodzimierz Grajek (Toyota), Jose Rogeira (Ford), Luis Recuenco (Toyota), Pim Klaassen (Taurus) and Juan Gasso (OT3).

Grajek said: “On Friday, the mud flooded our windows and dragged us into a ditch. Unfortunately, none of the competitors pulled us so that we could return to the track. With this fight in the mud, we ran out of clutch...”

Ferreira beat Dias to the fastest time on the first of two special stages on Saturday. The first timed test was shortened from 124.80km to 89.12km because of the adverse weather conditions. The Portuguese was 31.6 seconds quicker than his rival with Ekström, Reis and Guerreiro following close behind. Dutch girl Puck Klaassen was one of a number of drivers struggling to complete the special.

The result enabled Ferreira to take a lead of 4min 13.1sec over Reis into the final stage of 177.89km on Saturday afternoon. Co-driver Palmeiro said: “The organisers cut the last part of the stage just before the military camp. It was a tricky stage with a lot of navigation. We stopped once to open a gate and we left it open for the others.”

Dias left his best performance for the final stage and guided his nimble Polaris to the stage win, only to run out of fuel on the road section and undo all his weekend’s hard work. Ferreira and Guerriero gave Portugal a clean sweep of the podium places.

The Spanish Toyota crew of Félix Macías and José Luis Conde joined the list of retirements after a strong start to the event and fellow countryman Eduardo Pons also missed out on a top finish after late technical issues.

The FIA European Baja Cup resumes with Baja Troia Turkey on May 15th-18th.  

2025 Baja TT Dehesa Extremadura  – final result:

1. João Ferreira (POR)/Filipe Palmeiro (POR) Mini JCW Rally 3.0i                                            8hr 05min 22.6sec

2. Tiago Reis (POR)/Paulo Fiuza (POR) Taurus T3 Max                                                                8hr 07min 51.4sec

3. Gonçalo Guerreiro (POR)/Pablo Moreno (ESP) Polaris RZR Pro R                                        8hr 13min 48.4sec

4. Mattias Ekström (SWE)/Emil Bergkvist (SWE) Can-Am XRS                                                  8hr 15min 20.1sec

5. Mark Mustermann (AUT)/Michael Zajc (AUT) Toyota Hilux                                                 9hr 01min 21.9sec

6. Federico Mogni (ESP)/David Nieto (ESP) Polaris RZR Pro R                                                   9hr 03min 38.3sec

7. Charles Tuthill (GBR)/Paolo Ceci (ITA) Oryx +3 Evo 2                                                             9hr 10min 41.7sec

8. Jorge Cardoso (POR)/André Barras (POR) Ford Ranger                                                         9hr 26min 26.9sec

9. Afonso Oliveira (POR)/Fabio Belo (POR) Polaris RZR Pro R                                                   9hr 43min 53.0sec

10. Fidel Castillo (ESP)/Eduardo Iglesias (ESP) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR                   9hr 48min 00.1sec

11. Miguel Angel Valero (ESP)/Carlos Ruiz (ESP) VM Competicion T34                                                    9hr 52min 03.9sec

12. José Maria Naranjo (ESP)/Julián Angel Villarubia (ESP) JMP JMPR-T3                              12hr 14min 17.1sec

13. Alex Toril (ESP)/Jorge Fernandez (ESP) JMP JMPR-T3                                                          12hr 42min 43.4sec

14. Wlodzimierz Grajek (POL)/Michal Goleniewski (POL) Toyota Hilux                                                    13hr 24min 32.0sec

15. Bartlomiej Wajzer (POL)/Ernest Górecki (POL) Toyota Land Cruiser KDJ 155                                  13hr 35min 33.0sec

16. Magdalena Zajac (POL)/Blazej Czekan (POL) Toyota Hilux                                                  14hr 11min 42.9sec