Mohammed Al-Balooshi steals FIM Bajas World Cup in Dubai finale

The FIM Bajas World Cup was turned upside down at the season-ending Dubai International Baja as the points leader in nearly every class, including the premier 450cc category, left the finale without the championship.

David Megre entered Dubai with a six-point lead in the 450cc standings over Mohammed Al-Balooshi, and needed to finish fourth to be guaranteed the title regardless of Al-Balooshi’s performance. Although Megre won the Prologue, he struggled over the next two days and finished just one spot short in fifth, with Makis Rees-Stavros edging him out for fourth by less than four minutes.

Despite a bizarre final day in which he received a penalty that was subsequently rescinded, Al-Balooshi scored the win in his home Baja and overtook Megre by just two points.

“This is the seventh round for me and doing it on the last day in my country is icing on the cake,” said Al-Balooshi. “I’m really happy for that.”

The Quad class was a three-way battle between Kevin Giroud, Haitham Al-Tuwayjiri, and Hani Al-Noumesi, the former two being tied for the points lead going into the finale while Al-Noumesi was eight points back. However, after claiming the Prologue, Al-Tuwayjiri’s title hopes were dashed by a mechanical failure in SS2 that forced him to retire. Al-Noumesi received a speeding penalty the same day that knocked him out of contention.

Giroud finished second behind Abdulaziz Ahli, who won the World Rally-Raid Championship’s Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge in March, to ice the title. The win completes a top year for the Giroud family as his brother Alexandre claimed both the Dakar Rally and W2RC season-ending Rallye du Maroc.

Veterans Trophy leader Andrew Houlihan was forced to surrender his championship hopes due to leg surgery for a ruptured tendon that prevented him from taking part. With Houlihan out, Pedro Bianchi Prata simply placed second behind Richard Brewer to leapfrog Houlihan for the win; he had entered Dubai trailing Houlihan by six points.

While Houlihan fell short, his friend Jonathan Finn walked away with the Junior Trophy ahead by finishing third among riders under the age of 25. Jean-Loup Lepan, who recently finished third in the W2RC’s Rally2 standings, won the race.

Esther Merino Garica and Sarah Khuraibet were the lone female riders at Dubai, the two separated by just four points for the 2023 Women’s Trophy. While Khuraibet hoped to seal the title on her home turf, Merino beat her in all three stages and won with over an hour.

Besides the FIM, the FIA’s World and Middle East Cups for Cross-Country Bajas also concluded their seasons in Dubai, which became the last round for all three series after the Jordan Baja was cancelled due to the war in Gaza. Consequently, the 2023 FIM Bajas calendar was only seven races long with the top six results counting towards a rider’s final championship total.

Overall winners

Class	Number	Competitor	Team	Time
T1	200	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Nasser Racing	5:22:52.3
T2	220	Ibrahim Nasser Almuhna	Ibrahim Nasser Almuhna	23:09:30.5
T3	301	Otávio Sousa Leite	South Racing Can-Am	6:04:05.5
T4	400	João Ferreira	South Racing Can-Am	5:48:48.1
450cc	2	Mohammed Al-Balooshi	MX Ride Dubai	5:42:25.3
Quad	105	Abdulaziz Ahli	Abdulaziz Ahli	6:34:23.1
FIM Junior	76	Jean-Loup Lepan	DUUST Diverse Racing	5:53:53
FIM Veteran	50	Richard Brewer	Richard Brewer	6:23:38.5
FIM Woman	20	Esther Merino	Esther Merino	9:03:52.5

Final FIM Bajas World Cup standings

450cc

Rank	Rider	Points	Margin
1	Mohammed Al-Balooshi	90	Leader
2	David Megre	88	– 2
3	Pedro Bianchi Prata	63	– 27
4	Abdullah Alshatti	58	– 32
5	Jonathan Finn	49	– 41
6	Andrew Houlihan	43	– 47
T-7	Mirjam Pol	29	– 61
T-7	Sara Garcia Alvarez	29	– 61
T-9	Štefan Svitko	25	– 65
T-9	Tosha Schareina	25	– 65
T-9	Konrad Dąbrowski	25	– 65
T-9	Alex McInnes	25	– 65
T-13	Paulo Cardoso	21	– 69
T-13	Adao Rafael Teixeira Marques	21	– 69
T-15	Jan Brabec	20	– 70
T-15	Lorenzo Santolino	20	– 70
T-15	Robert Wallace	20	– 70
T-15	Martin Chalmers	20	– 70
T-15	Mishal Alghuneim	20	– 70
20	Esther Merino Garcia	19	– 71
21	Hamdan Al-Ali	18	– 72
T-22	Jean-Loup Lepan	16	– 74
T-22	Rui Gonçalves	16	– 74
24	Sultan Al-Balooshi	15	– 75
25	Brett Hunt	14	– 76
T-26	Maki Rees-Stavros	13	– 77
T-26	Neels Theric	13	– 77
T-28	Marwan Al-Rahmani	12	– 78
T-28	Richárd Hodola	12	– 78
T-28	Sarah Khuraibet	12	– 78
T-31	Oran O’Kelly	11	– 79
T-31	Alona Ben Natan	11	– 79
T-33	Nicolas Horeaux	10	– 80
T-33	Abdallah Abuaisheh	10	– 80
35	Joanna Modrzewska	9	– 81
T-36	Cesare Zacchetti	8	– 82
T-36	Abdulla Lanjawi	8	– 82
T-38	Badr Al-Hamdan	7	– 83
T-38	Rui Ferreira	7	– 83
T-38	Philippe Gendron	7	– 83
41	Richard Brewer	6	– 84
T-42	Ola Fløene	5	– 85
T-42	Ehab Al-Hakeem	5	– 85
T-42	Mohamed Al-Kaabi	5	– 85
45	Thomas Childs	4	– 86
T-46	Simon Marčič	2	– 88
T-46	Barry Howe	2	– 88
T-47	Yaghoob Youssef Azadi	1	– 89
T-47	Sarath Mohan	1	– 89
T-47	Abdulrahman Al-Sheeb	1	– 89
T-47	Jaco Anderson	1	– 89
T-47	Rafic Eid	1	– 89
T-47	Ottavio Missoni Jr.	1	– 89
T-47	Chris Hamer	1	– 89
T-47	Mahanna Rashid Al-Naimi	1	– 89
T-47	Francesco Catanese	1	– 89
T-47	Alberto Bertoldi	1	– 89
T-47	Mohamed Al-Thani	1	– 89
T-47	Salman Mohamed	1	– 89
T-47	Andrew Seaton	1	– 89
T-47	Vanessa Ruck	1	– 89
T-47	Edward Lines	1	– 89
T-47	Elio Aglioni	1	– 89
T-47	Michael Stokes	1	– 89
T-47	Luca Passone	1	– 89
T-47	Hamdan Ahmed Aljahoushi	1	– 89

Quad

Rank	Rider	Points	Margin
1	Kevin Giroud	110	Leader
T-2	Haitham Al-Tuwayjiri	90	– 20
T-2	Hani Al-Noumesi	90	– 20
4	Juraj Varga	50	– 60
5	Abdulaziz Ahli	45	– 65
6	Toni Vingut	32	– 78
7	Arnoud Dom	25	– 85
8	Mansoor Al-Suwaidi	20	– 90
9	Daniel Vila Vaques	13	– 97
T-10	Kristýna Vaňková	11	– 99
T-10	Antoine Sanchez	11	– 99
12	Nicolas Martinez	10	– 100

Junior Trophy

Rank	Rider	Points	Margin
1	Jonathan Finn	120	Leader
2	Kevin Giroud	113	– 7
3	Alex McInnes	61	– 59
T-4	Jean-Loup Lepan	25	– 95
T-4	Konrad Dąbrowski	25	– 95
6	Kristýna Vaňková	16	– 104

Veterans Trophy

Rank	Rider	Points	Margin
1	Pedro Bianchi Prata	115	Leader
2	Andrew Houlihan	101	– 14
3	Esther Merino Garcia	61	– 54
4	Toni Vingut	41	– 74
T-5	Paulo Cardoso	33	– 82
T-5	Mohamed Al-Kaabi	33	– 82
7	Adao Rafael Teixeira Marques	29	– 86
8	Richard Brewer	25	– 90
T-9	Cesare Zacchetti	20	– 95
T-9	Barry Howe	20	– 95
T-11	Rafic Eid	16	– 99
T-11	Philippe Gendron	16	– 99
T-11	Ola Fløene	16	– 99
T-14	Rui Ferreira	13	– 102
T-14	Jaco Anderson	13	– 102
T-14	Mahanna Rashid Al-Naimi	13	– 102
17	Francesco Catanese	11	– 104
18	Alberto Bertoldi	10	– 105
19	Mohamed Al-Thani	9	– 106
20	Mansoor Al-Suwaidi	8	– 107
21	Elio Aglioni	6	– 109

Women’s Trophy

Rank	Rider	Points	Margin
1	Esther Merino Garcia	101	Leader
2	Sarah Khuraibet	100	– 1
3	Sara Garcia Alvarez	75	– 26
T-4	Joanna Modrzewska	45	– 56
T-4	Mirjam Pol	45	– 56
T-4	Alona Ben Natan	45	– 56
7	Kristýna Vaňková	16	– 85
8	Vanessa Ruck	13	– 88