Spain’s Baja TT Dehesa Extramadura will kickstart a revised five-round FIA European Cup for Cross-Country Bajas that will also visit Greece for the first time at the end of May and further rounds in Italy, Hungary and Poland in July, August and September.
Run through the south-west of the province of Badajoz and organised by the Motor Club Villafranca, Baja Dehesa Extramadura takes its place in the international FIA calendar for the first time and has attracted 37 entrants in the various FIA categories.
Spanish and Portuguese drivers dominate the entry list for the European series opener, with Escudería Team Repauto’s Felix Dieguez and his co-driver José Luis Lamela topping the entry in a Toyota Hilux Overdrive.
Sixteen crews will compete for T1 category honours and Dieguez faces a fierce challenge from X-raid-built Mini JCW Rally machines in the hands of Portugal’s Alejandro Martins and João Ferreira, Poland’s Michal Malusznynski and Spain’s Luis Recuenco.
Other T1 drivers likely to feature on the upper reaches of the leader board include NAC Rally Team’s Pawel Molgo (Ford F-150) and three PKR Sport Rally Team cars entered for Pedro Da Silva, Edgar Consenso and Daniel Villaron.
The Spanish duo of Fernando Barreiros and Sergio Cerveira are the sole T2 entrants in their Isuzu D-Max, but 14 crews will take part in the T3 section for lightweight prototype machines, with an additional six in the T4 category for side-by-side vehicles.
The FN Speed Team is running a trio of Can-Am Mavericks for FIA Baja regular Santiago Navarro, Sebastian Guayasamin and Jordi Vidiella, while C.A. Herrador Competicion has entered three T3 Herrator Inzane X3s for Jesus Fuster, Eduardo Sanchez and Oscar Lopez. Additional T3 rivals include Felipe Nascimiento, Bernd Hoffmann and Victor Royo.
The T4 tussle will be fought out between two Polaris RZR Pro XPs, a pair of BRP Can-Ams and two Yamaha YXZ 1000 Rs. Spaniard Miguel Valero heads the field and lines up against fellow countryman Miguel Martinez, Poland’s Tomasz Bialkowski and Piotr Otko, Germany’s Lina van de Mars and Italy’s Amerigo Ventura.
Timed action gets underway with a 5.87km super special stage near Badajoz on Friday, April 29, before two selective sections of 176.8km and 113.5km run through rural land in the nearby municipalities of Alconchel, Higuera de Vargas, Zahínos, Valencia de Monbuey and Villaneuva del Fresno on Saturday.
The topography changes for the final 130.1km selective section that passes through La Albuera, Entrín Bajo, La Corte, Solana and Santa Marta on Sunday.
Source: FIA
Photo: Rally-Raid Network / Imagensdesportivas.com
