After winning the Super Special stage on Friday morning, Joan Barreda (Honda) took the start of the opening 180km selective section between Bañón and Cuevas Labradas in the afternoon and moved into the lead of Baja Spain Aragôn, ahead of Lorenzo Santolino (Sherco) and Tosha Schareina (Husqvarna).
With the advantage of opening the track in hot and dusty conditions, Barreda, not surprisingly, won the opening stage. On Saturday, riders ran two specials of 208 km and 113 km on slippery, relatively rough and dusty terrain, despite a blowing wind. Again, Joan Barreda won to confirm a fifth victory in a race he dominated from start-to-finish.
“It was not so easy to keep your opponents at a safe distance,” said the Spaniard at the finish. "It was one of the toughest Baja Aragon that I have raced. The terrain is more and more complicated and broken but it was a great race! During the last special, my knee twisted and I felt a crack. I had to stay calm and focused to finish the race."
Tosha Schareina finished second, 4min 43sec behind the winner, beating Lorenzo Santolino by just eight seconds. Joan Pedrero (Rieju) sealed fourth place from Rui Gonçalves (Sherco), while Mathieu Doveze (KTM) finished sixth ahead of Jeremy Miroir (KTM).
Neels Theric (KTM) topped the Junior category, ahead of Jean-Loup Lepan (KTM) and Konrad Dabrowski (KTM).
There was another victory for Sara García (Yamaha) in the Women's section: she confirmed the success in the third round of the FIM Bajas World Cup with a 14min 28sec margin over Mirjam Pol (Husqvarna).
Gendron (KTM) was the first of the Veterans, ahead of Bianchi Prata (Honda) and Ferreira (Honda).
In the quad category, Alexandre Giroud (KTM), Jérôme Connart (Yamaha) and Toni Vingut (Yamaha) fought over the two days to finish in that order. Unfortunately, Mario Cajon (KTM) broke the engine on his quad (No. 100) and Faisal Al-Suwayh also retired in the last selective section alongside Jorge Lafarja (Yamaha).
Great return to the races for Nicola Dutto (KTM), after a year and a half stop: the Italian rider registered in the row of the Open race reached the finish line in 14. position.