– Briton Alex McInnes takes the laurels in the motorcycle category
Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Saood Variawa and François Cazalet secured a debut victory in the Jordan Baja with the quickest time on the second 195.38km stage through the Wadi Rum desert on Saturday.
British rider Alex McInnes managed his pace after an early mistake in the final stage on his way to a second successive FIM Bajas World Cup victory on two wheels. The KTM rider finished 6min 25.6sec clear of Saudi Arabia’s stage-winning Abdulhalim Al-Mogheera after a polished performance. Five-time event winner Mohammed Al-Balooshi slipped to fourth behind Abdullah Al-Shatti after incurring a two-minute penalty.
Variawa began the final day in fourth position in his Toyota Hilux IMT Evo, 2min 54.4sec behind the leading French duo of Lionel and Lucie Baud. But the South African attacked from the outset, managed to win the stage by 4min 26.7sec and confirmed overall victory by 3min 51.8sec.
Variawa became the seventh different winner of the car event since 2018. He said: « Quite good on our side. We caught Dania (Akeel) in the first 60km and we carried on pushing to the end of the stage. The last bit was really tricky in the rocky sections but we did a good job. It was a tricky rally and a lot to learn. The terrain was a lot different to what I am used to. It ended up quite nicely. »
Dania Akeel and her navigator Sébastien Delaunay delivered a strong final stage performance to card the second quickest time and secure the runner-up spot in their Overdrive Racing Toyota Hilux Evo. Last year’s FIA Middle East Baja Cup winner is chasing World Baja Cup points this season.
Akeel said: “I am super happy with how it went. It really was a challenging and tough rally that had so many different types of terrain.”
Baud opened the road after his stage one win but was unable to fend off his rivals over the closing kilometres after sustaining a puncture. The Frenchman was rewarded with the final place on the podium in his diesel-engined X-Raid Mini JCW Rally Plus.
He said: « We are very happy because we won the stage yesterday and we were position three today. We had a puncture so we lost a little time. We finished on the podium and that is a fantastic result for us. We opened today and Lucie did a perfect job with the navigation. When your daughter tells you to push, you are obliged to listen. I am very proud of her. She started three years ago and now we can see this weekend that her level is very high. »
Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and his French navigator Max Delfino narrowly missed out on the podium and finished fourth in their MD Optimus Buggy but the Qatari extended his lead in the FIA Middle East Baja Cup.
Al-Attiyah said: « Disappointed today because we have a problem with the fuel pump and we couldn’t really fix it. We know we lost the time but we had to finish the stage to get some good points and we finished fourth. This is the race. We will come next year. It’s good for Saood. He did a good job. It was a good battle with him and Dania and Lionel. »
Yasir Seaidan continued his strong start to the season with fifth place and victory in the Challenger category with navigator Xavier Flick in a Taurus Evo Max. The Saudi finished 41 seconds clear of the sixth-placed Czech privateer Miroslav Zapletal in his Ford F-150 Evo.
Hamed Al-Wahaibi’s 10-minute penalty from the Prologue was eventually removed but he was handed yet another 10-minute penalty for a similar missing wheel offence at the service park. A retaining strap had been damaged by heat from the nearby exhaust system. He delivered a strong stage performance, however, to finish seventh and second in the Challenger class with Maciej Giemza.
Hedda Hosås ceded the SSV stage win to a resurgent Erik van Loon – who returned to action after first day turbo problems – but the 24-year-old’s performance was rewarded with SSV class success in her Can-Am with navigator Pol Tibau. The Norwegian finished 1min 22.2sec in front of Qatar’s ninth-placed Mohammed Al-Marri, who was second in the SSV class.
Fernando Alvarez made the long journey from Argentina worthwhile with a top 10 finish and valuable SSV points to add to the maximum score he obtained at round one in Saudi Arabia.
Defending champion Majed Al-Thunayyan continued the strong defence of his Stock title by sealing the category win in his Nissan Patrol. Al-Mashna Al-Shammeri was second and Abdullah Al-Shegawi finished third in a Toyota Prado.
Farah Zakaria became the first Jordanian ever to complete the FIA event. She was 28th in the unofficial results with navigator Jennifer Lerch in a Can-Am Maverick. « Quite happy we finished knowing everyone had some problems. I enjoyed Driving and Jennifer did an amazing job navigating. We had a puncture, a broken (suspension) arm and we lost some power but we made it! »
McInnes said: « It’s cool to finish again at the front. I opened all day and made a silly mistake in the beginning and threw away the stage win. Abdulhalim caught me and followed me all day. The trail was really cool but the last 20km were in the rocks. It was really nice. I won in Ha’il and I won here and I go to Portugal in April to continue the World Championship. Step-by-step and we will see what happens. »
Behind Mogheera, Al-Shatti (Kawasaki) and MX Ride Dubai’s Al-Balooshi, the determined Jordanian GasGas rider Zaid Jaber climbed to fifth ahead of Rafic Eid (KTM).
Al-Balooshi said: « I am happy to finish. It was a much better ride today. Because of the Stella, I lost a lot of time yesterday. I didn’t have the cap but I made what I could. My plan backfired on me on the Prologue and it got worse and worse. I enjoyed the fast track today. It was amazing. »
McInnes opened the road in his defence of a reduced advantage of 8min 01.3sec after Mogheera had been handed back 5min 27sec by FIM officials at the night halt. Neither Sultan Al-Balooshi nor Sultan Al-Shanqiti started the final day.
Mogheera had caught McInnes by the first checkpoint after 36.08km but the canny Briton retained a six-minute cushion in the virtual standings with the Saudi now within his sights. Mogheera and McInnes continued to ride together as the stage ran along frontier territory with neighbouring Saudi Arabia, despite the Saudi taking a brief tumble after around 100km. The Briton’s tactical race was rewarded with a second successive victory in the FIM Bajas World Cup.
Philip Horlemann and Abdullah Abu Aisheh stopped the clocks in seventh and eighth overall. Thomas Childs and Marcin Talaga rounded off the top 10.
Hani Al-Noumesi got the better of fellow Saudi riders Abdulaziz Al-Atawi and Ahmad Al-Jaber to secure an second successive victory in the quad category on his Yamaha Raptor.
Masoud and Amran Taha secured a comfortable victory in the Jordan National Baja for the second time in three years in their Can-Am Maverick R.
2026 Jordan Baja – Positions after SS2 (unofficial @ 16.37hrs):
Cars
1. Saood Variawa (RSA)/François Cazalet (FRA) Toyota Hilux IMT Evo, 4hr 41min 37.3sec*
2. Dania Akeel (KSA)/Sébastian Delaunay (FRA) Toyota Hilux Evo, 4hr 45min 29.1sec*
3. Lionel Baud (FRA)/Lucie Baud (FRA) X-Raid Mini JCW Rally Plus 3.0d, 4hr 46min 16.1sec*
4. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Max Delfino (FRA) MD Optimus Rallye, 4hr 47min 16.1sec+
5. Yasir Seaidan (KSA)/Xavier Flick (FRA) Taurus Evo Max, 5hr 04min 54.9sec+
6. Miroslav Zapletal (CZE)/Michal Goleniewski (POL) Ford F-150, 5hr 05min 35.9sec+
7. Hamed Al-Wahaibi (OMA)/Maciej Giemza (POL) Can-Am Maverick R, 5hr 10min 34.4sec*
8. Hedda Hosås (NOR)/Pol Tibau (ESP) Can-Am Maverick R, 5hr 11min 02.6sec*
9. Mohammed Al-Marri (QAT)/Szymon Gospodarczyk (POL) Can-Am Maverick R, 5hr 12min 24.8sec+
10. Fernando Alvarez (ARG)/Xavier Panseri (FRA) Can-Am Maverick R, 5hr 21min 20.4sec*
11. Abdullah Al-Fahad (KSA)/Leander Pienaar (RSA) Taurus T3 Max, 5hr 26min 30.7sec+
12. Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari (QAT)/Stéphane Duplé (FRA) Taurus T3 Max, 5hr 27min 05.0sec*
13. David Mabbs (UAE)/David McBride (UAE) Can-Am Maverick X3, 5hr 28min 52.9sec+
14. Tomasz Bialkowski (POL)/Dariusz Baśkiewicz (POL) Polaris RZR Pro R Sport, 5hr 29min 50.8sec*
15. Maha Al-Hamali (KSA)/Nuno Morais (POR) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR, 5hr 37min 22.6sec+
16. Hamad Al-Harbi (KSA)/Faisal Al-Suwayh (KSA) Can-Am Maverick R, 5hr 38min 28.1sec+
17. Ahmed Al-Kuwari (QAT)/Augusto Sanz (ARG) Yamaha YXZ 100R Sport Shift, 5hr 40min 30.5sec+
18. Mohammed Al-Atteya (QAT)/Aleksei Kuzmich (UAE) Can-Am Maverick R, 5hr 47min 55.3sec+
19. Dhari Al-Dhafeeri (KUW)/Fahad Al-Amr (KSA) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR, 5hr 52min 44.0sec+
20. Ahmed Al-Shamy (KSA)/Ali Hassan Obaid (UAE) Century CR6, 5hr 53min 02.9sec+
21. Mansour Al-Helai (UAE)/Khalid Al-Kendi (UAE) Can-Am Maverick R, 6hr 06min 56.7sec*
22. Moaz Hariri (KSA)/Kirill Shubin (KGZ) Can-Am Maverick R, 6hr 18min 14.1sec*
23. Majed Al-Thunayyan (KSA)/Omar Al-Lahim (KSA) Nissan Patrol, 7hr 10min 58.9sec*
24. Al-Mashna Al-Shammeri (KSA)/Abdullah Al-Shammeri (KSA) Nissan Patrol, 7hr 19min 46.4sec*
25. Camelia Liparoti (SMR)/Erika Mingozzi (ITA) Yamaha YXZ 100R Sport Shift, 7hr 22min 40.4sec+
26. Abdullah Al-Shegawi (KSA)/Ali Mirza (UAE) Toyota Prado, 7hr 35min 29.6sec*
27. Abdullah Al-Rabban (QAT)/Ali Al-Ajmi (UAE) Nissan Patrol, 8hr 06min 04.3sec*
28. Farah Zakaria (JOR)/Jennifer Lerch (GER) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR, 8hr 06min 23.3sec
29. Ahmad Al-Muhannadi (QAT)/Alexey Mun (KAZ) Nissan Patrol, 8hr 38min 37.6sec
30. Erik van Loon (NED)/Wouter Rosegaar (NED) Can-Am Maverick R, 11hr 35min 01.6sec*
Nouef Al-Sowaidi (QAT)/Aisvydas Paliukenas (LTU) Taurus T3 Max, RETIRED – SS2+
Nora Al-Jassasi (UAE)/Baptiste Cerrato (QAT) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR, RETIRED – SS2+
*denotes registered for FIA World Cup
+ denotes registered for FIA Middle East Cup
Bikes
1. Alex McInnes (GBR) KTM 450 SXF, 6hr 54min 17.7sec
2. Abdulhalim Al-Mogheera (KSA) KTM 450, 7hr 00min 43.3sec
3. Abdullah Al-Shatti (KUW) Kawasaki KX 450, 7hr 17min 36.0sec
4. Mohammed Al-Balooshi (UAE) KTM 450, 7hr 18min 00.0sec
5. Zaid Jaber (JOR) GasGas RX 450 Rally Replica, 7hr 25min 52.3sec
6. Rafic Eid (LEB) KTM 450 Rally Replica, 7hr 27min 17.9sec
7. Philip Horlemann (GER) KTM 450 Rally Replica, 7hr 34min 10.8sec
8. Abdullah Abu Aisheh (JOR) Yamaha WR 450F, 7hr 40min 23.8sec
9. Thomas Childs (GBR) KTM 450 Rally, 7hr 42min 05.9sec
10. Marcin Talaga (POL) GasGas RX 450, 7hr 45min 51.2sec
11. Mohammed Al-Kubaisi (QAT) KTM 350 EXC-F, 7hr 56min 40.9sec
12. Tomasz Niedzwiedzki (POL) GasGas RX 450 Rally Replica, 7hr 59min 21.3sec
13. Joanna Modrzewska (POL) Triumph TF 450 E, 7hr 57min 06.6sec
14. Brett Hunt GBR) Husky FE 450, 7hr 56min 34.5sec
15. Tony Schattat (GER) KTM 450 Rally Replica, 8hr 22min 51.8sec
16. Patrick Emmert (USA) KTM 500 EXC-F, 8hr 34min 50.8sec
17. Eyad Salmirza (JOR) Yamaha YZ 450F, 10hr 56min 56.6sec
Darko Marasovic (CRO) KTM 450 Rally Replica, RETIRED – SS2
Tla’at Al-Shishane (JOR) Yamaha WR 450F, RETIRED – SS2
Sultan Al-Shanqiti (UAE) KTM 450 Rally Replica, RETIRED – after SS1
Sultan Al-Balooshi (UAE) Kove 450 EX Rally, RETIRED – after SS1
Quads
1. Hani Al-Noumesi (KSA) Yamaha YFM 700R, 7hr 58min 05.0sec
2. Abdulaziz Al-Atawi (KSA) Yamaha Raptor 700R 8hr 19min 21.0sec
3. Ahmad Al-Jaber (KSA) Yamaha Raptor 700 R, 8hr 27min 45.5sec
Neil Perkins,