FIA aligns 2023 Cross-Country Bajas calendars with FIM

The FIM Bajas World Cup‘s revisions to its 2023 calendar in February meant the FIA would inevitably do the same to its World and Middle East Cups for Cross-Country Bajas to ensure they take place at the same time. Indeed, roughly a fortnight after the FIM’s changes, the FIA’s Cross-Country Rally Commission followed suit during a meeting of the World Motor Sport Council in Bahrain.

While the World Cup’s calendar remains at eight rounds, the final two rounds in Jordan and Dubai trade places. The Jordan Baja, originally 2–4 November, is now the finale on 23–25 November. Conversely, the Dubai International Baja moves from 1–3 December to 9–11 November.

Both rounds are also on the Middle East Cup schedule. However, the Middle Eastern championship’s Baja Kuwait originally planned for 23–25 November does not have a new date as of this article’s publishing.

The Baja Troia Türkiye was originally included on the Middle East Cup slate but was subsequently dropped, though it is still part of the European Cup for Cross-Country Bajas as the final round on 20–22 October.

The World and Middle East Cups began their seasons at the Saudi Baja in early February, which was won by Dakar Rally victor Nasser Al-Attiyah. Al-Attiyah, who is also competing for the World Rally-Raid Championship, leads the Bajas World Cup entering this weekend’s next round in Qatar while Yasir Seaidan is the Middle East Cup points leader but is not entered for Qatar.

Although both are cross-country rallies, the Cross-Country Bajas Cups differ from the W2RC in that a Baja lasts four days at most with two days of racing and a total Special Stages length of at least 350 kilometres, while rally raids typically run up to a week with at least 1,200 km in SS. The Dakar Rally is a cross-country marathon as it spans two weeks and over 2,500 km.

Revised FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Bajas schedule

Revised FIA Middle East Cup for Cross-Country Bajas schedule