Baja Aragón Teruel
July 20-22, 2018
For immediate release
Sunday, July 22nd, 2018
SOUTH RACING’S CAN-AM TRIO OF AL-ZUBAIR, GIAMPAOLI AND JONES MASTER THE CHALLENGE OF SPAIN’S BAJA ARAGÓN TERUEL
TERUEL (SPAIN): South Racing brought all three of its Can-Am Maverick X3s to the finish of the three-day Baja Aragón Teruel, the team’s first competitive challenge since the impressive victory at Morocco’s Merzouga Rally in April.
Oman’s Abdullah Al-Zubair and navigator Faisal Raisi got to grips with their first ever event over European terrain and the Middle Eastern duo reached the finish in Teruel in 16th overall and seventh in the Open category after clocking the fastest time in their class of the National Aragón Trophy category on the final stage.
The all-female crew of Christine Giampaoli and Luy Galán, driving under the Dynamic Racing banner, delivered a classy performance to finish 19th in the National Aragón Trophy category and eighth in the Open class.
American driver Austin Jones and his Mexican navigator René Hernandez recovered from a time loss on Saturday and were classified third of the South Racing Can-Ams in 39th in the overall standings and 14th in the Open class.
Spaniards Dani Solà and Miguel Lázaro were running their Can-Am Mavierick X3 under FN Speed, a South Racing satellite team, and they finished second overall on the last stage and confirmed outright victory in Baja’s Spain National Aragón Trophy category. Fellow Spaniard Gerard Farrés won the last stage in his Can-Am Maverick X3.
South Racing’s managing director Scott Abraham said: “We had a young international team racing here and that is very exciting for the category as a whole. It shows that the side-by-side category is one for the future and will bring fresh people into the sport. We had some difficulties on Saturday with everyone adjusting to the racing and a technical issue on Austin’s car, but the teams fought back yesterday afternoon and showed their pace again today.
“We can take a lot of positives away and look forward to the next races with the team, the Sertões Rally, Baja Inka, Morocco and Portalegre, where we will see some of these drivers returning to action.”
The super special stage at Alfambra was shortened slightly, but still offered a challenge to competitors with the dust and heat of a Spanish summer evening. Abdullah Al-Zubair carded a time of 10min 30.4sec and also incurred a one-minute road penalty that pushed him down from 17th to 34th in the Aragón Trophy category.
Giampaoli was classified 31st overall in the second of the Maverick X3s and Jones finished the stage in 28th place before 90 seconds of time penalties knocked the American down to 52nd.
The National category crews followed the FIA event into the longest special of the event – a dusty 215.62km section between Alfambra and Cella on Saturday morning. Giampaoli moved up to 18th overall, Al-Zubair was classified in 26th and Jones reached the stage finish in 47th.
Al-Zubair climbed three places to 23rd, Giampaoli slipped to 26th and Jones reached the night halt in 47th after the second of the day’s timed sections – a timed test of 147.30km between Villarquemado and Teruel.
Action concluded with a stage of 127.45km between Barrachina and Teruel on Sunday morning. Al-Zubair delivered an impressive stage time of 1hr 47min 37sec to top the Open category and confirm a finish in 16th overall, despite muddy conditions and standing water after a storm.
Both Giampaoli and Jones battled through the final stage that had been rutted and damaged by the rest of the field to reach the finish in Teruel with the three cars finishing first, second and fourth in the Open category and Can-Ams taking the top four positions on the last stage.
Ends
For further information: contact Scott Abraham, South Racing, Email: Scott.Abraham@southracing.com, Tel: + 49 172 6662880.
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