The fourth round of the FIA World Cup for Cross Country Bajas: All three competing MINI John Cooper Works Rally finished the event around the Spanish town of Teruel on the podium! Orlando ‘Orly’ Terranova and Bernardo ‘Ronnie’ Graue (both ARG) claimed a dominant victory. Joan ‘Nani’ Roma and Alex Haro (both ESP) secured second place, followed by Jakub ‘Kuba’ Przygonski (POL) and Timo Gottschalk (GER).
Terranova and Graue delivered an extremely strong performance in Spain, winning three of the four special stages. By the end of the race, the two Argentinian drivers were more than three-and-a-half minutes ahead of the competition. This win sees Terranova move up to second place in the overall FIA standings – just four points behind leader Vladimir Vasilyev.
A battle for the remaining podium positions raged behind the Argentinian drivers. Przygonski and Roma had lost valuable time due to flats on the first stages, but they refused to give up and went on the attack in the final special stage. Their efforts were rewarded: Roma recorded the fastest time ahead of Przygonski and they both managed to reach the podium. Przygonski retains third place in the overall FIA standings.
“Second win in a row and valuable championship points,” said a delighted Terranova after crossing the line. “It was a lovely race – a new format with good battles. We tried to drive a clean race and made it through with just one flat tyre. Let us see what’s possible in Hungary.”
“Second place is not what I was aiming for, of course, but I am still very happy with that result,” explains Roma. “Unfortunately, we had a few problems, but I was able to deal with them. Orly did a great job, as well as Kuba. It is brilliant that we all made it to the podium.”
“We are delighted that we were able to get third place and reach the podium,” explains Przygonski. “We had a few problems but we still managed it. We had a great battle with Nani and Prokop on the final stage. Now we are looking forward to the next Baja in Hungary.”
The next event in the FIA World Cup for Cross Country Bajas is the Hungarian Baja in two weeks’ time
Baja Aragón – Overall result
1. Orlando Terranova (ARG) / Bernardo Graue (ARG) MINI John Cooper Works Rally – 6h 21m 40s
2. Nani Roma (ESP) / Alex Haro (ESP) MINI John Cooper Works Rally – 6h 25m 16s
3. Kuba Przygonski (POL) / Timo Gottschalk (GER) MINI John Cooper Works Rally – 6h 25m 52s
4. Martin Prokop (CZE) / Jan Tomanek (CZE) Ford – 6h 27m 13s
5. Vladimir Vasilyev (RUS) / Konstantin Zhiltsov (RUS) Toyota – 6h 33m 57s
