Columna Medica Baja Poland (August 23-25) - FIA World Baja Cup, round 4/8
Overdrive Racing’s Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk head a 27-car entry for Columna Medica Baja Poland, which takes place on August 23rd-25th.
The FIA section of the entry list for the fourth round of the FIA World Baja Cup featured 27 cars with 11 in the Ultimate category, nine running in the Challenger section for lightweight prototype cross-country machines and seven entered in the SSV class.
While Ultimate category cars dominate the upper reaches of the entry for the three-day Szczecin-based Baja in northern Poland, the South Racing Can-Am Challenger crew of Fernando Alvarez and Xavier Panseri will start the event with a lead of 17 points in the Drivers’ and Co-drivers’ Championships after the opening three rounds in Saudi Arabia, Greece and Spain.
Overdrive Racing and the South Racing Can-Am Team are currently tied on 196 points apiece in the Teams’ Championship.
The demanding terrain of the military proving ranges at Drawsko Pomorskie normally favours the more powerful Ultimate category cars unless there are extreme weather conditions. Al-Rajhi holds second place in the Drivers’ Championship and is currently 23 points ahead of Portugal’s João Ferreira in the Ultimate standings. Ferreira is the second seed and teams up with regular co-driver Filipe Palmeiro in the first of two X-Raid Mini JCW Rally Plus machines.
The 2023 winner Krzysztof Holowczyc is again partnered by Lukasz Kurzeja to tackle the event in his own FosfoPower-backed BMW X3, while last year’s runner-up Michal Maluszyński and Julita Maluszyńska crew the second of the Minis. Holowczyc has now won the event on a staggering nine occasions with three manufacturers since 2010.
Overdrive Racing fields another Toyota Hilux for local driver Martin Kaczmarski and Spanish navigator Armand Monleón and there are additional Toyotas for the Polish trio of Wlodzimierz Grajek, Magdalena Zajac and Tomasz Baranowski.
Czech veteran Miroslav Zapletal drives his self-built Ford F-1250 Evo+ and fellow countryman Frantisek Brutovsky wheels out a similar Ford F-150 but is not registered for the FIA World Baja Cup. Belgian Vincent Vroninks (Red-Lined Nissan) completes the Ultimate field.
Leader Martinez tops Challenger category
Four of the nine Challenger entrants are registered for the FIA World Baja Cup. Argentina’s Diego Martinez and his Uruguayan co-driver Sergio Lafuente currently have a comfortable lead in the Challenger category and Martinez is also fourth in the overall Drivers’ Championship in his South Racing Can-Am Maverick.
His nearest challenger João Dias is not present in Poland but Spaniard Edouard Pons and Belgian Ghislain de Mévius are tied for third in the rankings and will be pushing hard for points in their respective Past Racing Taurus T3 Max and G Rally Team OT3. They currently trail Martinez by 19 points in the title race.
Emirati Khalid Al-Jafla is also registered for the FIA World Baja Cup and wheels out his Taurus T3 Max.
Austrians Vic Flip and Mark Mustermann are not registered for points in their Can-Ams, nor are Portugal’s Alexandre Pinto (Can-Am) and the Arcane T3 duo of Briton Richard Aczel and Dutchman Hans Weijs.
FIA World Baja Cup leader Alvarez tops SSV category
Not only does Fernando Alvarez lead the overall Drivers’ Championship in his Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR, but the Spaniard has a 26-point cushion over Miguel Toril in the battle for SSV honours.
Six of the seven SSV entrants are registered for championship points and Toril and his brother Alex wheel out a pair of Escuderia JMP Racing Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RRs with their respective co-drivers Rosa Romero and Pedro Lopez. Alex Toril is third in the points’ standings.
French veteran Claude Fournier is a distant fourth in the title race and teams up with Serge Gounon in his Can-Am, while Italian Amerigo Ventura (Yamaha) and Saudi Arabian driver Ibrahim Al-Muhanna (Can-Am) are also registered for points. Pole Tomasz Bialkowski has entered the event but is not registered for the championship.
A Prologue of 6.77km gets the competitive action underway on Friday (August 23) and that will determine the starting positions for the first of two special stages through the nearby military proving ranges at Drawsko Pomorskie on Saturday. The two specials start at Konotop and run for 151km apiece in the morning and afternoon.
The competitive action is completed by a pair of 26.27km stages on Sunday. The specials start in Slawoszewo and finish at Szczecin Zawadzkiego and are split into two sections of 16.05km and 10.22km. The first section ends in Wolczkowo and the second one starts in the same place after a neutralisation. In total, crews will tackle 354.54 competitive kilometres.
2024 Columna Medica Baja Poland – entry list:
Ultimate
200. Yazeed Al-Rajhi (SAU)/Timo Gottschalk (DEU) Toyota Hilux Overdrive
201. João Ferreira (PRT)/Filipe Palmeiro (PRT) Mini JCW Rally Plus
202. Krzysztof Holowczyc (POL)/Lukasz Kurzeja (POL) BMW X3
203. Wlodzimierz Grajek (POL)/Michal Goleniewski (POL) Toyota Hilux*
204. Michal Maluszyński (POL)/Julita Maluszyńska (POL) Mini JCW Rally Plus*
205. Martin Kaczmarski (POL)/Armand Monleón (ESP) Toyota Hilux Overdrive
206. Miroslav Zapletal (CZE)/Marek Sykora (SVK) Ford F-150 Evo+
208. Frantisek Brutovsky (CZE)/Josef Radina (CZE) Ford F-150 Evo
209. Tomasz Baranovski (POL)/Konrad Dudziński (POL) Toyota Hilux
210. Vincent Vroninks (BEL)/Dave Berghmans (BEL) Red-Lined Nissan Navara VK56*
211. Magdalena Zajac (POL)/Blażej Czekan (POL) Toyota Hilux
Challenger
300. Ghislain de Mévius (BEL)/Johan Jalet (BEL) G Rally Team OT3
301. Diego Martinez ARG)/Sergio Lafuente (URY) Can-Am Maverick
302. Eduardo Pons (ESP)/Jaume Betriu (ESP) Taurus T3 Max
303. Khalid Al-Jafla (ARE)/Andrei Rudnitski (LTU) Taurus T3 Max
304. Alexandre Pinto (PRT)/Bernando Oliveira (PRT) Can-Am Maverick X3*
305. Hans Weijs (NLD)/Dennis Murphy (ZAF) Arcane T3*
306. Vic Flip (AUT)/Gerhard Schmiedberger (AUT) Can-Am Maverick X3*
307. Mark Mustermann (AUT)/Michael Zajc (AUT) Can-Am Maverick X3*
308. Richard Aczel (GBR)/Wouter Rosegaar (NLD) Arcane T3*
SSV
400. Fernando Alvarez (ARG)/Xavier Panseri (FRA) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR
401. Miguel Toril (ESP)/Rosa Romero (ESP) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR
402. Alex Toril (ESP)/Pedro Lopez (ESP) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR
403. Claude Fournier (FRA)/Serge Gounon (FRA) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR
404. Amerigo Ventura (ITA)/Erika Mingozzi (ITA) Yamaha YXZ 1000 R
405. Tomasz Bialkowski (POL)/Dariusz Baśkiewicz (POL) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR*
406. Ibrahim Al-Muhanna (SAU)/Hassan Ali Obaid (ARE) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR
*denotes not registered for FIA World Baja Cup
Timetable of events
Thursday, August 22
Administration checks, Rally HQ, Szczecin Arena 14.00-20.00
Scrutineering checks, Szczecin Automotive School Complex 15.00-22.00
Friday, August 23
Administration checks, Rally HQ, Szczecin Arena 07.00-09.00
Scrutineering checks, Szczecin Automotive School Complex 08.00-10.00
Shakedown, Dobra-Wolczkowo 09.00-13.00
Prologue – Szczecin (6.77km) 16.00hrs onwards
Press conference, Szczecin - Waly Chrobrego 19.30hrs
Ceremonial start, Szczecin - Waly Chrobrego 19.30hrs onwards
Saturday, August 24
SS1 – Konotop-Drawsko Pomorskie (151.00km) First car – 09.00hrs
SS2 – Konotop-Drawsko Pomorskie (151.00km) First car – 13.45hrs
Sunday, August 25
SS3 – Slawoszewo-Szczecin Zawadzkiego (26.27km) First car – 09.40hrs
SS4 – Slawoszewo-Szczecin Zawadzkiego (26.27km) First car – 12.40hrs
Post-event press conference, Szczecin - Waly Chrobrego 14.30hrs
Podium ceremony, Szczecin - Waly Chrobrego 14.30hrs
