The 38th edition of the Baja España Aragón Trofeo AVATEL came to an end on Sunday with a 159 km long special stage between Bañón and Teruel. Nasser Al-Attiyah in the car category and Tosha Schareina among bikes showed their pace once again and secured victory.
In the car category, the Qatari driver scored his fifth victory in the Baja España after finishing third in the last special stage, which was won by Yazeed Al-Rajhi. Al-Attiyah, for whom it was the maiden race with his brand new Toyota Hilux, built for the next Dakar Rally, dominated the rally from start to finish, achieving the best time in the two of the three special stages of the weekend. In the final overall classification, he beat Yazeed AlRajhi by 3’02 and Brazilian Lucas Moraes by 5’25.
Nasser Al-Attiyah, winner in the car category : « It was a great weekend for us. It wasn’t easy but we didn’t have too many problems and we were able to enjoy the rally. My next race will be Baja Poland, to continue the preparation for the next Dakar Rally. »
The best Spaniard in the overall standings was Daniel Alonso (Ford Ranger), who finished fourth and won the Spanish Cross-Country Rally Championship. The Asturian driver, a newcomer to Baja España, finished 3’09 ahead of Luis Recuenco (Mini) and has become the new leader in the national championship in the T1 category.
In SSV, Joao Días won the category after an intense battle with Dani Sordo. The WRC star started the last stage as leader, but after losing more than three minutes in the stage he finished second in his first Baja España Aragón-Trofeo AVATEL. Cristina Gutiérrez was the winner of the Spanish Trophy for female drivers.
First victory for Shareina
It was a perfect weekend for Tosha Schareina, who has secured his first victory in Baja España Aragón, winning all special stages of the race. The Gas Gas rider started Sunday’s last stage as leader, with a gap of 4’10 », and once again clocked the best time in his category. Schareina won the last special stage 51 » ahead of Lorenzo Santolino and 3’44 ahead of Portugal’s Rui Gonçalves.
In the final overall classification, Tosha Shareina won the Baja España Aragón with a 5’01 lead over Lorenzo Santolino and 15’25 » over Rui Gonçalves, second and third respectively in the FIM Bajas World Cup classification.
Tosha Schareina – Winner in bikes : « In my third Baja I was able to win. Yesterday we had a four-minute lead and I wanted to take advantage of it today. Yesterday I struggled to get into the rhythm because I was in the dust behind Rui, but once I was able to overtake him, I found a good pace and in the afternoon stage I was able to ride very comfortably and build an important advantage before today’s stage. »
In the Open Baja Aragón for bikes, the winner was Sergi Sangrà, KTM rider, who beat Héctor Asensio by 3’31, while Albert Martín finished third. In the female classification, victory went to Indian rider Aishwayra Madhusudhan.
In the FIM Bajas World Cup for Quads, Alexandre Giroud won again after 2021, with a lead of 9’47 over Dani Vilà. The Spanish rider was unable to match the pace of the Frenchman, who led the category from start to finish. After Slovakian Juraj Varga, who had been in second place in the overall standings until Sunday, dropped out of the race, Jeremy Jacomelli snatched the last podium position.
In the Open Baja Aragón quad race, Alejandro García won with a 5’33 lead over David Gómez. Suzuki rider Javier Serrano finished third in this category.