TERRANOVA AND METGE TRIUMPH IN BAJA ARAGON
Once again, the final ranking of the 36th edition of Baja Espana Aragon was only decided in the last specials stage in both cars and bikes. The fight to reach the podium resulted in an exciting endgame among the favorites.
In cars, the Argentine Orlando Terranova confirmed his dominance on Saturday again. At the helm of the Mini John Cooper, he achieved the best time in the southern track, run in the morning and was second in the last and decisive passage through the northern track in the afternoon.
Terranova achieved the best time in the southern section with 50” advantage over the Belgian Bernhard Ten Brinke. The third best time in the special was clocked by Martin Prokop with Ford. The best of the Spanish was Nani Roma, being fourth, a result that at that time allowed him to climb up to third place in the overall classification.
In the northern section, the longest of the rally, Nani Roma set the best time with a 21” advantage over Jakub Przygonski and 1’18” over Martin Prokop, second and third respectively. In this special, the Czech driver was given a 1 minute penalty and this added to the time lost in the special made him just missing out on the podium.
Terranova (6:21:40) thus scored his first victory in the Baja Espana Aragon. “We kept calm, we managed the car and the brakes, we had only one puncture, so it was a clean race. We arrived with a good result from Italy and now I hope the streak continues in Hungary,” he explained.
The second position went to Spaniard Nani Roma who on his return to Baja Aragon made a great comeback from the fourth position, in which he started the day, to finally finish second, 3’36” behind the winner. “It’s not what I would have liked but after all that happened to us we are happy. It was not easy after seven months without race to compete here and return to the rhythm against people who are doing the whole World Cup. We are happy with this Baja that was very intense,” said Roma.
The third position went to Jakub Przygonski who finally took the last step of the podium from Martin Prokop. Both approached the top of the World Cup classification due to the bad luck of Vladimir Vasilyev who finished in fifth position only.
In the Spanish Cross-Country Championship, Nani Roma took the victory ahead of Luis J. Recuenco, finishing second, while third place went to Fernando Alvarez.
Luis J. Recuenco, also managed to grab the victory in Road to Dakar, which allows him to take part in the next edition of the Dakar Rally that is held for the first time in Saudi Arabia.
Who suffered on this last day was the adventurer Jesus Calleja who stopped in the final part of the southern track (86km) after breaking one of the front brake discs that caused the transmission of the Toyota Hilux to break. He finally finished the rally in 32nd position.
In the Spanish Championship for buggies, Marc Duran triumphed, followed by Carlos Checa who returned to racing to achieve a great result in the second stage of Baja Aragon. Among women, Cristina Gutierrez finished 20th and as the best in the car category.
Metge won again
In bikes, Michael Metge won for the second consecutive year in Baja Espana Aragon, after the French rider managed to maintain his advantage in the overall classification also on the second day.
Tosha Schareina achieved the best time in SS4, on the northern section (164.7 km) with only 2” advantage over Lorenzo Santolino. The third position in this special went to the leader, Frenchman Michael Metge, 21” from the winner. In the southern section, Michael Metge left no questions, clocking the best time in the special with nine seconds ahead of Tosha Schareina and 2’08” ahead of Joan Pedrero.
Thus, Metge finishes Baja Aragon as overall winner (6:30:21), joined on the podium by two Spaniards, Tosha Schareina and Joan Pedrero. “It has been a difficult Baja in which I had to push a lot. It was complicated because yesterday I suffered a fall and I damaged my hand and leg but I wanted to continue and push to win the race.”
In the Spanish Cup, the victory on second day of competition went to Tosha Schareina followed by Joan Pedrero. With his result, the Catalan rider has also become champion of the Spanish Cup.
Dani Vila scored the victory in the category of quads with the Yamaha Raptor, for the second consecutive time. The second position went to Mario Gajon, followed by Toni Vingut.
In the Women’s Cup, Rosa Romero won Baja Aragon ahead of Rita Vieira and Sara García.
As for the category of trucks, Czech Martin Macik repeated his victory in the Baja Aragon, followed by Alex Aguirregaviria and Javier Mariezcurrena.
After the podium ceremony for the top three in each category of Baja Aragon, at 8.30 pm the prizegiving ceremony will take place in the Auditorium of the Palace of Exhibitions and Congresses of Teruel.