Italian Baja

July 3rd-5th, 2025 

2025 FIA World Baja Cup, round 4

OVERDRIVE RACING’S YACOPINI AND KACZMARSKI EARN SUPERB 1-2 FINISH IN PUNISHING ITALIAN BAJA

PORDENONE (ITALY) – Saturday, July 5: Overdrive Racing’s Juan Cruz Yacopini and Martin Kaczmarski earned an impressive 1-2 finish in the demanding Pordenone-based Italian Baja, the fourth round of the 2025 FIA World Baja Cup.

Yacopini, from Argentina, and his Spanish navigator Dani Oliveras won the Prologue and all five special stages on their way to a 6min 10.4sec victory.

Poland’s Kaczmarski teamed up with Spaniard Armand Monleón once again in the second of the Overdrive Racing Toyotas. After starting the opening stage on Friday near the rear of the field, the Pole recovered strongly as the event progressed and was able to secure second place.

Yacopini said: “It was a perfect race for us. We really enjoyed it since we arrived here. We make P1 since the Prologue. Today was a little bit difficult in the morning when we had a puncture in the first special. But I am proud that we could still win the stage and win all the stages. Let’s see what happens at the next round in Spain.”

The Prologue was shortened to 10.99km but that failed to prevent an impressive Yacopini from taking the laurels with a time of 8min 14.6sec. That gave the Argentine an 11.4-second cushion over Portugal’s Tiago Reis and enabled him to pick a favourable starting position. Kaczmarski did not finish the stage.

Yacopini’s co-driver Oliveras said: “We made a nice Prologue. We had a good feeling. We try to push now for the next two days to try and win the race.”

Yacopini started second on the road for the first of two passes through a revised Rivignano stage of 35.33km between Castions and Muzzana. He beat his nearest rival by 6.2 seconds on the first pass to move into the lead, while Kaczmarski bounced back strongly to set the fourth quickest time from a lowly starting position.

Yacopini safely negotiated the second pass over 38 seconds quicker than his first run and headed to the overnight halt with a lead of 27.6 seconds over Barreto. Kaczmarski settled into third but Yacopini was later hit with a two-minute speeding penalty and dropped back to fourth with Kaczmarski climbing to third, despite clouting a driveshaft on a rock that was hidden in the grass.

A demanding final day was split into three stages of 120.05km apiece and those specials consisted of two revised sections of 84.10km and 35.95km. Yacopini regained the overall lead with the fastest time on the opener and his team-mate was second and moved up to second overall, 55.2 seconds behind the Argentine.

Yacopini was quickest again from his team-mate on the second pass and headed for the final run with a lead of 1min 39.9sec. That was before his Pole team-mate incurred a two-minute speeding penalty.

The Argentine said: “It was more difficult than the first one but we made a better time. There were some rocks and stones coming out. We made a good job and pushed as hard as we could on the stage.”

It had actually begun to rain during the second stage of the day and that made the conditions slightly trickier for the final stage. But Yacopini held firm to secure the win and Kaczmarski overcame the speeding penalty to finish the final stage behind his team-mate to wrap up another memorable weekend for Overdrive Racing.

The 2025 FIA World Baja Cup continues with Baja Spain Aragón on July 24th-27th.

2025 Italian Baja – result (provisional):

  1. Juan Cruz Yacopini (ARG)/Daniel Oliveras (ESP) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 5hr 40min 40.2sec*
  2. Martin Kaczmarski (POL)/Armand Monleón (ESP) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 5hr 46min 50.6sec
  3. Benediktas Vanagas (LTU)/Aisvydas Paliukenas (LTU) Toyota Hilux               5hr 47min 56.7sec+
  4. Francisco Barreto (POR)/Carlos Silva (POR) Toyota Hilux               5hr 53min 51.1sec*
  5. Miroslav Zapletal (CZE)/Marek Sykora (SVK) Ford F-150 Evo 5hr 59min 12.2sec*
  6. Wlodzimierz Grajek (POL)/Michal Goleniewski (POL) Toyota Hilux 6hr 02min 17.9sec+
  7. Sean Haran (GBR)/Martin Hales (GBR) Polaris RXR Pro R               6hr 14min 11.9sec+
  8. Hamed Al-Wahaibi (OMA)/Khaled Al-Kendi (UAE) Can-Am Maverick R 6hr 16min 51.1sec*
  9. Luis Recuenco (ESP)/Daniel Camara (ESP) Toyota Hilux               6hr 18min 29.5sec
  10. Miklós Trebitsch (HUN)/Sandor Trebitsch (HUN) Bedu Pro X3 6hr 19min 09.2sec

*denotes registered for FIA World Cup

+ denotes registered for FIA Middle East Cup

Ends

For further information:

Jean-Marc Fortin (E-mail: jmf@overdriveracing.be), Overdrive S.A., rue de L’Enterprise 1, 4530 Villers-le-Bouillet, Belgium, Tel: + 32 475 762 391. www.overdriveracing.be, Facebook: Overdrive Racing, Twitter: @OverdriveToyota

 

 

 

Published On: 5 July 2025