– Fifth place for the Baud family in the World Baja Cup
– De Mévius and Baumel make a statement with top time – rollover costs X-raid the win
– Schmidt impresses in just his second rally-raid outing
It was the second attempt at Baja España Aragón after the event had to be postponed in July due to an extreme risk of forest fires. The Baja forms part of both the FIA World Baja Cup and the FIA European Baja Cup. Lionel and Lucie Baud secured fifth place in the World Cup classification in their MINI JCW Rally 3.0d—even finishing fourth among the Ultimate vehicles. In the European Cup standings, two X-raid vehicles made it into the top 10: Maria Gameiro and Rosa Romero reached eighth place in the MINI JCW Rally 3.0d, ahead of their teammates Guillaume de Mévius and Mathieu Baumel in the MINI JCW Rally 3.0i. José Luis Garcia and Manuel Navarro narrowly missed the top 10 in 11th place driving their MINI JCW Rally 3.0i. Paul Schmidt and Jeannette Kvick took 11th place in the Challenger classification of the Baja España Aragón in the X-raid Fenic. For Schmidt, it was only his second rally-raid event ever.
The father-daughter duo of Lionel and Lucie Baud delivered another highly consistent drive, securing points for fifth place in the FIA World Baja Cup. Things didn’t go quite as smoothly for their teammates Maria Gameiro and Rosa Romero. On the second special stage, they had to cover 100 km in the dust of a competitor who hadn’t heard the Sentinel, making visibility too poor to overtake safely. Day two went much better, allowing them to finish the Baja in eighth place in the European Cup classification.
Guillaume de Mévius and Mathieu Baumel experienced genuine bad luck. The duo in the MINI JCW Rally 3.0i was well within contention for the overall victory. On the first stage while leading, the Belgian misjudged a slow corner, rolled the vehicle, and landed on the roof. Waiting for assistance and the subsequent repairs cost a significant amount of time. He proved what would have been possible without the accident on day two, celebrating the fastest time on stage three.
De Mévius seemed to pass some of his bad luck along: José Luis Garcia rolled over on the first stage in the very same corner as the Belgian. However, Garcia was also able to continue the Baja and ultimately only narrowly missed out on the top 10 in the European Cup standings.
Paul Schmidt and Jeannette Kvick left Spain feeling very satisfied. The duo completed all special stages without any issues, securing 11th place in the Challenger classification. The X-raid Fenic also impressed across the entire distance with high reliability, running without technical difficulties throughout the demanding stages. This allowed Schmidt and Kvick to focus fully on their driving, gain valuable mileage, and steadily build confidence in the vehicle. Following his participation in the Italian Baja, this was only Schmidt’s second event in the X-raid Fenic—and just his second rally-raid outing overall. This made the consistent performance and successful finish in Spain all the more rewarding.
The next event takes place next weekend, as X-raid travels onwards to Portugal for the Baja Sharish.
Statements
Lionel Baud (MINI JCW Rally 3.0d): « We are really glad that the race could finally take place after being postponed in July. A big thank you to the organizers who made it happen, and of course many thanks to the entire team for preparing our car so well. We had a lot of fun on the stages and throughout the entire weekend. Due to the regulations, we lacked a bit of power to grab the maximum points and further solidify our position in the fight for a World Cup podium spot. But there are still two races left—so everything is still to play for! »
Maria Gameiro (MINI JCW Rally 3.0d): « To be honest, I don’t really know what to say. The situation was that we had two difficult stages yesterday. We had issues on the first stage and lost a lot of time. In the afternoon, we had to start from way back, and our Sentinel wasn’t working. As a result, we had to drive around 100 kilometers in the dust. That was a really tough situation for us. On Sunday, we started from the back again, but things went much better. It was fun. The car ran well and the Sentinel worked. Of course, we faced the challenge of overtaking many vehicles. Apart from that, things went quite well. Overall, it’s a positive summary: we reached the finish line and collected some points for the European Baja Cup. The team, my car chief, and the mechanics—they are all great. They did a fantastic job. »
Guillaume de Mévius (MINI JCW Rally 3.0i): « In terms of the result, Baja Aragón certainly wasn’t the best event for us. I made a mistake on the first stage and we rolled the car. That wasn’t the best start, especially since we were leading at the time. We then had a puncture on the second stage. So it was great that we had a trouble-free day today. Overall, I really enjoyed it. It was my first rally together with Mathieu since the Dakar. Plus, we were able to prove that we are at a good level and that both we and the team did a great job. »
José Luis Garcia (MINI JCW Rally 3.0i): « I am very happy to have been at the start with X-raid. Right from the beginning, we felt like we were working with an extremely professional team. Unfortunately, we made a mistake in the prologue that affected our entire race, as it forced us to start far down the order. We had to contend with a lot of dust, take some additional risks, and push the brakes harder than we would have liked. Yesterday we were also unlucky and rolled over just one kilometer before the end of the stage.
« The X-raid team did a fantastic job getting the car back into perfect condition. Today, however, we faced the same challenge again: starting from way back in a fast car meant catching up to and overtaking a lot of competitors. That costs time and makes it very difficult to maintain our true pace.
« Nevertheless, we primarily came here to test the car, understand its potential, and find out what we can achieve with it. Today, whenever the track ahead was clear, we were able to set some very encouraging split times and showcase really good pace. That gives us a lot of confidence regarding what is possible with this car. A big thank you to everyone at X-raid for their professionalism, kindness, and above all, their constant drive to develop the car and help us deliver our best possible performance. We thoroughly enjoyed being part of the team. »
Paul Schmidt (X-raid Fenic): « After a two-month involuntary break from competition—due to the cancellations of the Bajas in Aragón and Hungary—we returned to the track at Baja Aragón. Despite minor errors, the prologue went promisingly with a top-10 result in the Challenger class. In the first two stages, we opted for a deliberately conservative approach, which, combined with some time penalties, left us near the back of the field. We finished stage three in 11th place—under demanding conditions with heavy traffic and limited visibility due to dust. The most important result of this weekend was the successful finish of our very first Baja. Jeannette and I are gaining more and more confidence in navigation and communication. At the same time, our trust in the X-raid Fenic is growing—and we brought it safely to the finish line. »
Overall standings
1. J. Ferreira / F. Palmeiro – Toyota – 6h 24m 18s
2. L. Portela / C. Mendes – Toyota – 6h 28m 12s
3. S. Variawa / C. Moore – Toyota – 6h 29m 49s
4. C. Gutierrez / M. Sola – Santana – 6h 30m 43s
5. F. Barreto / P. Fiuza – Toyota – 6h 33m 46s…
12. L. Baud / L. Baud – MINI JCW Rally 3.0d – 6h 40m 21s…
26. M. Gameiro / R. Romero – MINI JCW Rally 3.0d – 7h 06m 20s…
29. G. de Mévius / M. Baumel – MINI JCW Rally 3.0i – 7h 10m 00s…
32. J. Garcia / M. Navarro – MINI JCW Rally 3.0i – 7h 15m 45s…
36. P. Schmidt / J. Kvick – X-raid Fenic – 7h 28m 33s