France's Lionel Baud emerged as the fastest driver in the opening prologue of Baja Greece 2026, setting a benchmark time of 3m53.9s aboard his X-Raid Team MINI JCW Rally 3.0d on the 6.17-kilometre curtain-raiser based around Argos Orestiko.
The Frenchman enjoyed a narrow advantage over Oman's Hamed Al Wahaibi, who placed his Daklapack RallySport Taurus EVO Max second overall, just 3.6 seconds adrift of the leading time.
Third position went to Lithuanian Dakar Rally veteran Benediktas Vanagas and co-driver Aisvydas Paliukėnas. The Gurtam Toyota Gazoo Racing Baltics crew stopped the clocks at 3m59.0s, only 5.1 seconds behind Baud despite suffering an engine stall in the opening metres of the stage.
The top five was completed by Czech duo Karel Trnka and Václav Pritzl in their Ford F-150 EVO+, followed closely by Abdulaziz Al Kuwari and Max Delfino in another Taurus EVO Max.
Among the leading contenders for the FIA World Baja Cup honours, Dania Akeel and Sébastien Delaunay opened their campaign with sixth place overall in the Overdrive Racing Toyota Hilux EVO, while Mitchel van den Brink and Bart van Heun were seventh in their South Racing Can-Am Maverick R.
The prologue, while not counting towards the overall rally classification, determined the starting order for the demanding stages that follow. Competitors now face the true challenge of Baja Greece, with more than 550 kilometres of timed action awaiting them across the mountainous terrain of northern Greece.
With margins already measured in seconds rather than minutes, the battle for Baja Greece 2026 promises to be one of the closest contests of the FIA Baja season.
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