00:02The serene setting of Jordan's spectacular Wadi Rum has hosted an explosive opening day
00:09of the second round of the FIA World Bajas Cup. French father and daughter duo Lionel and Lucy
00:17Baud delivered the best performance of their careers to hold a slender lead after a punishing
00:25226km special stage at the Jordan Baja on Friday. The pair overcame demanding navigation
00:33and rocky mountainous terrain to open up a 1.8 second advantage from preface favourite
00:39Nasser Alatiyah in their X-Ray midi.
00:42Yes, we make a very good result today. I had my daughter Lucy make very, very beautiful
00:50navigations and so I feel comfortable with the car and I try to go as fast as possible. So it's
00:59nice.
01:02Alatiyah is competing in the Jordan Baja for the first time with French navigator Max Delfino
01:08and the six-time DAKA winner will be breathing down the necks of the French duo
01:12right from the start of tomorrow's 195km final stage.
01:16Yes, yes, it's not easy but okay, there is time for us here and with the rear wheel drive
01:22it was really difficult in the climb but okay, we are happy.
01:29Defending FIA Middle East Baja champion Dania Akil and her navigator Sebastian Delaney
01:36led through the opening checkpoints and eventually finished in third in an overdrive racing Toyota Hilux EV.
01:43We found it honestly a very challenging stage, very technical, extremely tricky in terms of navigation
01:50but also terrain so in my books that's a good stage. Definitely I kept my mind more on the conservative
01:57side,
01:58a lot of caution in my own psychology, you know, I didn't rely too much on the dangers in the
02:03road book
02:04because it's really, really tricky terrain here but honestly very challenging in a good way.
02:11Fourth place belongs to Toyota Gazoo racing Saoul Variaba of South Africa
02:17and co-driver François Cazalet in another Hilux and they are well within touching distance after a thrilling day in
02:24the dunes.
02:26To be honest, like I said, it's my first time in this country, first time racing here.
02:32I enjoyed the terrain but some places was really tricky and really dangerous for me, especially opening the road.
02:43You know, it's first time here, first time in the area and I'm just, you know, getting the nerves of
02:48opening the road out the way.
02:49We lost some time in the dust and then Nasser caught us, passed us and then we sat with him
02:57and then we passed him about 15k from the finish.
03:01So, yeah, I'm happy, good points for the championship and we'll see how tomorrow goes.
03:08Yassir Swaydan was given road opening duties but the Saudi maintained control of the challenger category
03:14after Hamid Al-Wahibi's 10-minute time penalty on Thursday.
03:18Swaydan is in fifth in his Taurus Ego Max.
03:23It was very difficult. We opened the stage and the first part was crazy, hard navigation, mountain, rocky.
03:32It's like Dakar. I thought Jordan Baha will be easy but it was really, really hard.
03:37After the 70 kilos, Saoud overtook us and the train was a little bit better open.
03:50So, after 150 kilos, Nasser also overtook us. It became much easier on navigation.
03:57We pushed more after that and then we finished without any problem.
04:03We made small mistakes but not a big one but in the end we are here without any problem.
04:13Meanwhile, the second round of the FIM Baha's World Cup witnessed a dominating performance from Jordan Baha debutant Alex McKins.
04:22The KTM British rider takes a whopping 13-minute, 28-second lead over Saudi Arabia's Abdul Halim Al-Maghira into
04:32the Night Halt.
04:33It was the most unique rally I've ever done in my career so far.
04:37In the beginning there was some super technical like enduro type stuff.
04:41Like I had a small trip over in the rocks but I'm okay.
04:46Yeah, it was good. It was good. I caught Belushi and we rode together from kilometer 100 all the way
04:52to the end.
04:53Just taking turns opening and yeah, it was quite smooth.
04:57Al-Baghira was happy with his performance in second on another KTM while Kawasaki rider Abdullah Al-Shatti finished in
05:06third and five-time defending champion Mohamed Al-Balushi was fourth.
05:11But it was a family affair that stole the day with the Bouds setting the scene for a battle royale
05:19when the teams returned to the spectacular Wadi Rum on Saturday.
05:23Thank you very much.
05:24Thank you very much.
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