00:01South Africa's Saoud Varyawa and his French co-pilot François Cazalet pulled off a stunning victory in the second round
00:09of the FIA World Baja Cup held in the breathtaking Wadi Rum deserts of southern Jordan.
00:17The rising star of the off-road scene built on his overnight fourth place to claw back a near three
00:25-minute deficit and end up with a winning margin of three minutes and 52 seconds.
00:30It was a sensational piece of desert driving that saw him reel in the day one leader Lionel Baud, Saudi
00:39Arabia's Dania Akil and the great Nasser Al-Ateer before winning in style in his Toyota Hilux IMT.
00:47We pushed, we got Dania in the first 60Ks, carried on pushing all the way to the end of the
00:52stage.
00:53This last foot was really tricky in the rocky sections, but yeah, we did a good job.
00:59We were on the notes all the time, so I think it's a decent job on our side.
01:06Akil and French navigator Sebastian Delaney delivered a strong final stage to card the second quickest time
01:13and secure the runners-up spot in another overdrive racing Toyota Hilux.
01:18What a fantastic race. I actually just got a message from Yazeed congratulating me, so we thank him for that.
01:24And, you know, last year my goal was to be on the podium here and we had an issue on
01:29the first stage.
01:30So I have to admit that I was very careful, very conservative yesterday just to kind of like get through
01:37that memory, rewrite the memory.
01:40We had a good stage, the navigation was very difficult, very challenging.
01:43Sebastian did a great job, thank him for that.
01:47And, you know, these races here in Jordan are of a high level, so that tells me that the country
01:52has a lot of experience in rally.
01:55And it's good to drive here because it makes you better.
01:58It was a family affair for Frenchman Baud, who was joined in his X-Raid Mini by daughter Lucy,
02:04with the pair pipping Al-Ateer to third place.
02:07Yeah, yeah, we are very happy because yesterday we won the stage, today we finished three.
02:13We had a puncture today, so we lost a little time, but we finished on the podium.
02:18And so it's for us a very, very good result.
02:21And I would like to thank all our team, X-Raid, because they did a very amazing work.
02:29And, of course, Lucy, because the navigation, especially today, we opened, the navigation was perfect today.
02:37Mechanical troubles hampered six-time Dakar winner Al-Ateer's title charge,
02:41and he had to settle for fourth in his first Jordan Baja.
02:46Disappointed today because we have a problem with the fuel pump, and we couldn't really fix it.
02:52And we know we lose the time, but just we need to finish the stage at least to have a
02:58good point, you know.
02:59And finally, we finished four.
03:02Yeah, but OK.
03:03This is the race, and yeah, I am really happy about the performance, about the race.
03:10And yeah, we'll come next year.
03:12Yassir Sweydan continued his strong start to the season with fifth overall and victory in the challenger group.
03:19Defending champion Majid Althaneen took the stock title in his Nissan Patrol,
03:24while Norway's Hedda Hossas drove a steady Baja to take the SSV class in her Can-Am with navigator Paul
03:32Tibai.
03:33They finished eighth overall.
03:37Elsewhere, the national Baja, which attracted a healthy field of local drivers,
03:42was won for the second time by Massoud and Amran Taha.
03:50Meanwhile, Great Britain's Alex McInnes cruised a victory in the second round of the FIM Baja's World Cup in Jordan.
03:58The Dubai-based KTM rider held on to his comfortable overnight lead to ease to a six-minute winning margin
04:05from Saudi Arabia's Abdul Halim Al-Maghira.
04:08Oh, it's cool.
04:09Really, it's a finish.
04:10Again, in the front, I opened all day.
04:12I made a silly mistake in the beginning and threw away the stage win, I think.
04:16So Halim just caught me and just followed me all day.
04:19So I opened the whole time, which was really fun.
04:21The train was really cool.
04:22The last, like, 20 kilometers were a full motocross in the rocks, which was really nice.
04:26I loved that.
04:27A little bit different from the other kilometers of the day, but it was really cool.
04:32Al-Maghira rode well all weekend in Jordan to secure second,
04:36with five-time Jordan Baja winner Mohamed Al-Balushi pipped to third spot by Kuwait's Abdullah Al-Shati.
04:45The keenly contested quad category was won by Saudi Arabia's Hani Al-Namaisi on his Yamaha Raptor.
04:54So the FIA and FIM championships move on to Europe next.
04:59And after a thrilling weekend of world-class action,
05:02life can return to normal in the Red Sea resort city of Aqaba,
05:06which has once again proved to be a formidable host city.
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