Dubai International Baja –November 20th-23rd, 2025   

FIA World Baja Cup, round 8

FIA Middle East Baja Cup, round 4

OVERDRIVE RACING’S DANIA AKEEL CONFIRMS FIA MIDDLE EAST BAJA CUP TITLE WITH SIXTH PLACE IN DUBAI INTERNATIONAL BAJA  

  • Seth Quintero and Toby Price guide their Toyota Hiluxes to podium finishes
  • Overdrive Racing’s Ronan Chabot and Gilles Pillot finish 19th overall

DUBAI (UAE) – Sunday, November 23: Overdrive Racing’s Dania Akeel clinched the 2025 FIA Middle East Baja Cup title by finishing sixth overall at the Dubai International Baja, the final round of both the FIA World and Middle East Baja Cups.

Akeel teamed up with Frenchman Sébastien Delaunay to dominate the category over two demanding stages across rolling dunes and sandy terrain in the Al-Qudra desert. Her closest rivals for the title all hit trouble over the course of the weekend and she was able to reach the finish at Dubai Festival City to enjoy a memorable victory and a second successive regional title.

Shortly before the start of the event, Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC launched the new GR Hilux that they will campaign at the Dakar Rally in January. The team announced a three-car challenge for honours and two of those drivers took part in the Dubai event in Hiluxes to fine-tune their driving skills before the event in Saudi Arabia.

American Seth Quintero teamed up with Andrew Short and finished second overall, a five-minute speeding penalty costing the youngster a potential outright victory. Australia’s Toby Price won the Dakar on two occasions on two wheels and he teamed up with Spaniard Armand Monleón to bring the second car home in third place.

South Africa’s Henk Lategan will crew the third official car with Brett Cummings in Saudi Arabia and was also in the UAE to test his driving skills in the SSV category on this occasion. He finished seventh in a Can-Am Maverick R.

Frenchman Ronan Chabot teamed up with co-driver Gilles Pillot to crew the second of the Overdrive Racing Toyotas. They finished 19th.

Action got underway with a Prologue to determine the starting order for the opening stage through the Al-Qudra desert. The Prologue ran for 5.60km in the Hatta region of the Hajar mountains, south of Dubai, and preceded the traditional start proceedings at Dubai Festival City.

Quintero clocked a time of 4min 32.1sec to win the Prologue by 2.2 seconds. It was a strong stage for the Toyota crews with Price coming home in fifth and Akeel and Chabot clocking the eighth and 16th fastest times.

The opening Al-Faqa’a stage took crews through the rolling dunes and desert trails of the Al-Qudra where motion sickness has affected numerous competitors in the past. The opening section ran for 193.90km and Quintero topped the times with a run of just over three hours to move into a lead of 3min 47.9sec. Price came home in third, Akeel was seventh and Chabot was classified in 29th. But the American was then handed his five-minute time penalty and slipped to second place.

“Overall, it was a really good day,” said Quintero. “The car was amazing, and we got through without any serious issues. The only issue I had was I cracked a fender. That was about it. If that’s our bad day, I’ll take it.”

Stage two ran for 191.58km and Price took the fastest time to confirm third in the general classification. Quintero set the second quickest time to confirm the runner-up spot behind   Juan Cruz Yacopini. Akeel was untroubled with the seventh quickest time on her way to a second regional title.

Overdrive Racing now switches its attention to Jeddah Rally Toyota, the final round of the Saudi Rally Championship on December 4th-6th.

2025 Dubai International Baja – result:

  1. Juan Cruz Yacopini (ARG)/Dani Oliveras (ESP) Toyota Hilux IMT Evo 6hr 04min 32.5sec*
  2. Seth Quintero (USA)/Andrew Short (USA) Toyota GR Hilux 6hr 05min 38.4sec
  3. Toby Price (AUS)/Armand Monleón (ESP) Toyota Hilux Evo 6hr 07min 32.6sec
  4. Martin Prokop (CZE)/Viktor Chytka (CZE) Ford Raptor 6hr 14min 46.0sec
  5. Mitchel van den Brink (NED)/Bart van Heun (NED) Can-Am Maverick R 6hr 27min 59.2sec*
  6. Dania Akeel (SAU)/Sébastien Delaunay (FRA) Toyota Hilux Evo 6hr 31min 24.2sec+
  7. Henk Lategan (RSA)/Brett Cummings (RSA) Can-Am Maverick R 6hr 34min 17.7sec
  8. Mansour Al-Helai (UAE)/Mohamed Hamri (UAE) Can-Am Maverick R 6hr 34min 47.4sec*
  9. Erik van Loon (NED)/Wouter Rosegaar (NED) Can-Am Maverick R 6hr 38min 44.4sec*
  10. David Mabbs (UAE)/David McBride (UAE) Can-Am Maverick X3 XRS 6hr 47min 57.5sec
  11. Ronan Chabot (FRA)/Gilles Pillot (FRA) Toyota Hilux Evo 7hr 56min 35.4sec

*denotes registered for the FIA World Baja Cup

+ denotes registered for the FIA Middle East Baja 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: 23 November 2025