The Portuguese crew of Tiago Reis and Paulo Fiuza dominated the Argos Orestiko-based 12th Baja Greece, which hosted the third rounds of both the FIA World and European Baja Cups.

The Taurus T3 Max crew won the Prologue and four of the five stages to card an emphatic win by the margin of 8min 53.6sec. That success also gave them maximum points in both their Challenger category and the FIA European Baja Cup.

The Dutch duo of Mitchel van den Brink and Bart van Heun were registered for the FIA World Baja Cup in their South Racing Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR and second place earned them maximum SSV points and first amongst the registered FIA World Baja Cup crews.

Rain made conditions in northern Greece muddy and slippery on day one and the tight nature of the winding forest trails was a disadvantage to the wider Ultimate cars. Czech Miroslav Zapletal and his Slovakian co-driver Marek Sykora rounded off the podium finishers in their Offroad Sport Ford F-150 Evo that was entered in the Ultimate class and registered for the FIA World Baja Cup.

The Italian duo of Amerigo Ventura and Erika Mingozzi guided their Quaddy Racing Yamaha YXZ 1000R to fourth overall and third place in the FIA World Baja Cup standings. Fifth-placed Mark Mustermann was not registered for either championship in his Toyota.

Argentina’s Diego Martinez was docked 10 minutes for a route violation and then an additional minute for a false start on day one but he recovered strongly with co-driver Sergio Lafuente to take sixth overall, fourth in the FIA World Baja Cup and picked up valuable SSV points after his time was amended late on Sunday evening.

Seventh-placed Murat Kapanoğlu and Alexsandar Trendafílov were the second crew home in the FIA European Baja Cup in a Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR and won the SSV section. They were closely followed by European rivals Balasz and Gabriella Molnar in their eighth-placed M1 Motorsport Can-Am.

Poland’s Magdalena Zając guided her Proxcars TME Rally Team Toyota Hilux to ninth overall, fourth in the FIA European Baja Cup rankings and first in the European Ultimate class. Spaniard Miguel Angel Valero rounded off the top 10 and was the fifth European entrant to reach the finish, hence boosting his quest for Challenger class honours this season.

Emirati Khalid Al-Jafla picked up valuable World Baja Cup Challenger points in 11th and Turkey’s Yağiz Birinci finished 12th and strengthened his European SSV title push.

Great Britain’s Paul Severn continues to lead the World Baja Cup’s SSV in his Polaris RXR Pro R Sport but finished 13th overall on this occasion.

Bartholmiej Wajzer and his navigator Ernest Gorecki started the event with a comfortable lead in the FIA European Baja Cup and erred on the side of caution to bring their Stock category-winning Toyota Land Cruiser to the finish in 15th to add more valuable points to their title challenge.

Reis finished the 6.08km Prologue stage 2.9 seconds faster than Zapletal to give him the opportunity of selecting a favourable starting position. Oman’s Hamed Al-Wahaibi was the quickest of the SSVs in third with Miguel Angel Valero the second fastest Challenger competitor in ninth.

The real meat of the action began on Saturday with two passes through a demanding stage of 166.49km between Leyki and NeosIkismos. There were 19 starters in the FIA section but Reis was the man to beat on the opener as well and the Portuguese topped the Challenger group. He beat nearest SSV rival Van den Brink by 4min 41.8sec to take the lead. Al-Wahaibi finished third and Ventura was fourth.

Neither Lorinc Meszaros nor Maha Al-Hamali were able to complete the special and incurred additional time penalties as a result.

The Portuguese was slightly slower on his second pass through the stage but was still 2min 09.1sec up on Van den Brink with Eugenio Amos taking third ahead of the Ultimate category front-runner Zapletal. The result gave Reis an overnight lead of 6min 20.9sec over his Dutch Can-Am rival. Amos, Zapletal and Ventura rounded off the top five after Al-Wahaibi lost almost 20 minutes on the second stage and also incurred a two and a half minute time penalty. Hungary’s Csucsu suffered technical problems and failed to finish the stage.

Zapletal’s co-driver Marek Sykora said: “The first part in the morning was very wet after the rain from the day before. There was a lot of water and mud and it was very slippery. In the forests, the tracks were narrow and that was not good for an Ultimate car. Greece has very twisty roads. It’s not about navigation here, it’s only about the driver. You need a strong heart to keep going in the corners.”

Sunday’s action consisted of two passes through a stage of 116.40km. Reis continued his excellent run of form to win the stage and increase his lead over Van den Brink to 7min 59.2sec. Al-Wahaibi was forced to retire his Can-Am with serious brake problems and Amos lost third place after major time delays.

After a repeat of the Prologue stage on the airfield that acted as stage four and was won by Zapletal, a second pass through the 116.40km stage drew the action to a close. Reis was quickest again from Van den Brink and Amos.

Action in both the FIA World and European Baja Cups resumes with the Pordenone-based Italian Baja on July 3rd-5th

12th Baja Greece – final result:

1. Tiago Reis (POR)/Paulo Fiuza (POR) Taurus T3 Max                                                                          8hr 17min 46.1sec+

2. Mitchel Van Den Brink (NED)/Bart Van Heun (NED) Can-Am Maverick XS Turbo RR                       8hr 26min 39.7sec*

3. Miroslav Zapletal (CZE)/Marek Sykora (SVK) Ford F-150 Evo                                                            8hr 42min 59.5sec*

4. Amerigo Ventura (ITA)/Erika Mingozzi (ITA) Yamaha YXZ 1000R                                                      8hr 46min 15.4sec*

5. Mark Mustermann (AUT)/Michael Zajc (AUT) Toyota Hilux                                                              8hr 56min 10.9sec

6. Diego Martinez (ARG)/Sergio Lafuente (URY) Can-Am Maverick XS Turbo RR                                 8hr 58min 41.2sec*

7. Murat Kapanoğlu (MKD)/Alexsandar Trendafílov (MKD) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR              9hr 08min 29.5sec+  

8. Balasz Molnar (HUN)/Gabriella Molnar (HUN) Can-Am Maverick R                                                  9hr 09min 43.8sec+

9. Magdalena Zając (POL)/Błażek Czekan (POL) Toyota Hilux                                                               9hr 17min 15.7sec+  

10. Miguel Angel Valero (ESP)/Carlos Moreno (ESP) VN Competition T34                                           9hr 17min 18.1sec+

11. Khalid Al-Jafla (UAE)/Andrei Rudnitskiy (LTU) Taurus T3 Max                                                        9hr 38min 16.8sec*

12. Yağiz Birinci (TUR)/Ugur Tepe (TUR) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR                                           9hr 38min 28.4sec+  

13. Paul Severn (GBR)/Max Delfino (FRA) Polaris RXR Pro R Sport                                                       10hr 10min 03.1sec*

14. Eugenio Amos (ITA)/Paolo Ceci (ITA) Can-Am Maverick XS Tubo RR                                              10hr 25min 15.8sec*

15. Barthomiej Wajzer (POL)/Ernest Górecki (POL) Toyota Land Cruiser KDJ                                       11hr 22min 12.0sec+

16. Csucsu (HUN)/Márk Mesterházi (HUN) Herrator Insane X3                                                            15hr 48min 33.9sec+

17. Lorinc Meszaros (HUN)/Albert Horn (HUN) G Rally Team OT3                                                        22hr 56min 47.0sec+

18. Maha Al-Hamali (KSA)/Michael Metge (FRA) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR                              24hr 48min 43.5sec*

*denotes registered for FIA World Baja Cup

+denotes registered for FIA European Baja Cup