Seal 2026 FIA Middle East Baja Cup titles
Second place and crucial FIA World Cup success for Barreto and Fiúza
An emphatic victory in the Qatar International Baja was enough for Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and his French navigator Max Delfino to confirm FIA Middle East Baja Cup title success with one round to spare.
The Qatari has tackled this year’s regional Baja series as a privateer in an Optimus MD Rallye and followed up maximum points in Saudi Arabia and Jordan with an outright win on his home event.
He managed his pace to conserve the rear tyres on the two-wheel drive machine and, when the FIA World Baja Cup title-chasing Francisco Barreto and his navigator Paulo Fiúza lost around 18 minutes towards the end of the second stage with navigational issues in the Sealine dune area, Al-Attiyah coasted to the finish to record victory by the margin of 29min 08.7sec.
The Qatari said: “A lucky number for today (Halloween), 13. This year it was completely different. We had the longest stages on a Baja. It looked like a Dakar cross-country stage yesterday and we had 200km today over completely different terrain. We had to manage the rear tyres today, so as not to destroy them. We did a good job and we won the race. Two (FIA) Middle East championships this year.”
Barreto was still able to finish second in his SVR Toyota Hilux IMT Evo and leads the FIA World Baja Cup Drivers’ Championship. He finished well clear of the third-placed local driver Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari and his navigator Oriol Mena. They topped the standings in the Challenger category.
Barreto said: “First in the FIA World Baja Cup was most important for us. Today’s stage, for me, was the most difficult of the weekend because the navigation was too hard. The last 70km in the dunes was very difficult. Paulo did a good job, but we got lost a few times and lost a few minutes. But we stayed in second position.”
Al-Kuwari said: “It’s my first time winning at this Baja in my third or fourth time competing. Every time before I had some problems. The job was done in the first two days. The Prologue was good for us and we did a good job on the long stage. We took it easy on the last one.”
Frenchman Lionel Baud teamed up with his daughter Lucie and set the fourth quickest time on the second stage in their petrol-engined X-Raid Mini JCW Rally to earn fifth overall. More importantly, that gave him points for third in the FIA World Baja Cup and second in the Ultimate category.
Emirati Khalid Al-Jafla survived a collision with a Qatari rival on the final day that resulted in a 30-minute penalty and recovered strongly from overnight time penalties to collect valuable FIA World Baja Cup championship points for finishing 10th overall with his Toyota Hilux. He weas classified fifth in the FIA World Baja Cup.
Eighth overall and first in the SSV category meant that Argentina-based Fernando Alvarez and Xavier Panseri maintained their push for SSV title success in a South Racing Can-Am Maverick R. They will take a slender lead to the final round.
Alvarez said: “It was very hot inside the car and, in the dunes, we had problems with the engine temperature. We had to switch to normal mode and it was difficult to climb the dunes. But we finished, won and we are leading the World Cup (SSV). That was the objective, to get a lot of points. We are really happy but exhausted.”
South Africa’s Saood Variawa and Charan Moore recovered from overnight time penalties on their Toyota Gazoo Racing SA Hilux to finish 12th and sixth in the FIA World Baja Cup.
The Stewards awarded a 15-minute time penalty to Variawa after it was discovered that he had used a tyre that had been marked for use by Al-Jafla. This came as a result of the South African suffering three flat tyres in stage one. Al-Jafla was also penalised 15 minutes for carrying the aforementioned punctured tyre in his car.
Omani Hamed Al-Wahaibi’s chance of catching Mitchel van den Brink in the Challenger title race derailed when a front axle support bracket failed on the final stage after he rolled over a crest. The Dutchman duly marched ever closer to the title and is still in contention for a top finish in the Drivers’ Championship. He suffered punctures and electrical issues on day one but recovered on the last day to finish 17th overall.
Saudi Arabia’s Majed Al-Thunayyan is the newly-crowned Stock world champion and celebrated his success in Qatar. But he was no match for Qatar’s Abdulla Al-Rabban in the tussle for series-production cross-country machines in Qatar. The local man prevailed in a Nissan Patrol for the third successive year.
Qatar’s Ahmed Al-Muhannadi and Emirati navigator Ali Hassan Obaid scored FIA World Baja Cup points and rounded off the top 20.
Khalifa Saleh Al-Attiyah follows in his brother’s Middle East Baja Cup footsteps
Behind the triumphant Al-Attiyah, his brother Khalifa Saleh Al-Attiyah delivered a strong performance on the second stage with navigator Stéphane Duplé and that catapulted him into fourth overall in the second of the QMMF Challenger cars. He also finished second in the regional Baja series and topped the Middle East Challenger standings.
Ahmed El-Shamy remains on course to finish as runner-up to Al-Attiyah in the Middle East Baja Cup’s Ultimate class and he came home in seventh (third Middle East) with Leonard Cremer in a Century CR6.
The QMMF’s Nouef Al-Sowaidi teamed up with Aisvydas Paliukenas of Lithuania in a QMMF-backed Taurus T3 Max and finished ninth in the general classification, picking up valuable regional Challenger points in the process.
Mohammed Al-Atteya and Akelsei Kuzmich were classified in 13th and fifth of the regional Baja crews. They finished ahead of Saudi Arabia’s Hamad Al-Harbi and Maha Al-Hamali and their respective navigators, Faisal Al-Suwayh and Xavier Flick. They were classified in 15th and 16th in a pair of Can-Ams.
There was a late retirement for Qatari Abdullah Al-Khelaifi (Yamaha) with mechanical issues and Ahmed Al-Kuwari was forced to withdraw after damaged sustained when he was hit from behind by Al-Jafla after 18.88km. Mohammed Al-Marri lost chunks of time in his Can-Am with mechanical issues but continued to finish 26th. Al-Harbi and Al-Hameli duly closed the gap on him in the SSV title race.
David Mabbs’s regional title challenge suffered a setback when he stopped with gearbox issues after 58.69km of stage one. Kuwait’s Dhari Al-Dhafeeri and Emirati Nora Al-Jassasi were also sidelined before the restart but were classified in the final results. Al-Jassasi suffered a suspension ball joint breakage before the start of stage two.
Abdullah Al-Shegawi and Ali Mirza were the only crew chasing Stock category honours in the FIA Middle East Baja Cup with a Toyota Prado. They retired on stage two and were classified in 28th overall.
