2008 Baja Endurance Challenge Final Report

5-7 September, 2008
During the summer of 2008, HPI Europe encouraged all the countries in Europe to organize racing events centred around the Baja 5B desert racing buggy. At the end of the summer HPI would host an international race, with the best team from each country taking part in an epic 12-hour endurance race designed to test the Baja car and every team member to the limit!

The response to the series announcement was very enthusiastic, and we started getting race dates and reports from nearly every country in Europe.

Meanwhile, our Spanish distributor Ninco was organizing the Final race in the small town of Sant Fruitos del Bages, 60km from Barcelona. As the races across Europe finished up we started getting driver details from the teams that were going, and ended up with 16 teams in total, with teams from France, Finland, Germany, Slovenia, Estonia, Iceland, the United Kingdom, Italy, Malta, the Czech Republic, Poland, Greece, the Netherlands, and two teams from Spain (one extra because they were the host country).

We knew it would be a special weekend with this many teams from all these countries in attendance!

This was an extremely tough race, and every team had to overcome several problems during the race. These included constantly changing track conditions, lapped traffic, driver changes, changing light, driver exhaustion, refueling, tyre changes, engine changes, suspension swaps and much more - this 12-hour Baja Endurance Challenge Finals was definitely the toughest race weekend these teams had ever seen!

Read on to find out all about the weekend!

Each racer would pay just 99 Euros for the hotel, Friday night buffet, race entry, raffle prize ticket, race fuel and oil, tyre sets for the whole race and a cool commemorative T-shirt.

The hotel was the fantastic Hotel Mon, on the outskirts of Sant Fruitos del Bages and overlooking a fantastic working monastery. The rooms were amazing and well above the normal standard of RC race hotels, we're sure all the racers were very impressed! Every room had a balcony that overlooked a V-shaped garden courtyard with grass terraces leading to a view of the monastery.

On Friday the schedule was to meet at the track, have a driver meeting to explain how the weekend's racing would go, then a technical inspection of each car. After each car was checked and labeled, everyone would go to the town hall for a press conference and lunch buffet, then back to the track for a long practice session. Once the practice was finished, the drivers were invited to one of the hotel restaurants for a posh buffet dinner, after which everyone would head to their rooms to rest up!

The first impression of the track was simply 'wow' - the amount of work that had gone into the track, driver stand, pit area and logistics was very evident and quite impressive. Each driver had an identification badge on a neck lanyard, every team had a pit table with their country flag on it, plus AC power under the table. The driver stand was made from sturdy scaffolding materials and covered with HPI banners and even had a canopy overhead to protect the drivers from the sun and rain (which we didn't expect).

The track itself was very large, with enough room for a let the Baja buggies stretch their legs for several seconds each lap, but not so long that horsepower was going to play a huge part in the race. The jumps were just the right size for the Baja, with tabletops, a step-down and a jump at the end of the straight that a few drivers took some time to get used to. The width of the track was ideal for multiple 1/5 scale cars and some sections like the tabletop/hairpin/tabletop and a wicked off-camber sliding turn really caught some drivers by surprise.

But before the drivers could hit the track the teams had to get their cars inspected by HPI staff. Primarily we were looking for modifications that weren't specifically allowed, such as doubled-up shock tower braces, front bumpers and a few other things. A wide variety of endurance-enhancing modifications were allowed, such as taping the sides of the chassis to keep mud out, using windows to keep water off the air filter, adding washers to the shock mounts on the rear arms, etc., and most teams had little or no modifications to remove once they started.

After all the teams were checked in, everyone was herded out of the pit boxes and chauffered or directed to the town hall, where the major and news cameras were in attendance to welcome the drivers from all over Europe. It was really great to have a town official such as the distinguished mayor welcome all of us in person, and on the evening news as well! A nice meal on the roof terrace of the town hall followed, with cola drinks plus fresh bread and paella. This was a great way for the racers to really meet each other away from the track, and all of the teams mingled together to share tips and just greet each other.

Once the food was gone, it was back to the serious business of practicing for the weekend. There was just one session of practice that would be four hours long - enough time for all the drivers to get used to the track, but maybe not enough time to get the car perfectly dialled in...or was it? Time could only tell.

Lap times from practice wouldn't be able to tell us anything, because every team had different numbers of drivers at different ability levels. If you watched any team's car 15 minutes apart, you might see them sliding around uncontrollably or on their roof, but a few minutes later they could be ripping off great laps - driver changes were frequent and basically everyone was just learning the track.

After practice, the drivers were taken back to the hotel, not even a 10-minute drive away, where we had organized a nice buffet for everyone. With free cola drinks it was a nice way to rehydrate after nearly a whole day in the Spanish sun, and everyone started loosening up again to chat with drivers from other teams and sample fresh breads and cheese. Waiters brought out salads topped with famous Spanish chorizo ham, then small main course dishes and finally delicious bon-bon ice creams on toothpicks.

After this, it was back to the rooms or the bar to loosen up a bit more!

Saturday dawned bright and blue, with the weather we were expecting - sunny and dry! It was going to be a great day for racing.

The teams had already run all the practice they would have, so they just had to prepare their cars and minds for the 2-lap qualification run. The team managers drew random numbers from a hat to decide the order they would qualify in, then the teams gathered in the pit lane for their runs.

Each team had an out lap, then two 'hot' laps and an in lap to come back to the pits. As each car was halfway through its second hot lap, the next car was sent out.

This simple format allowed each team's best driver to put in some good times so they would start in the best position on the starting grid, plus it provided a little bit extra drama for the teams.

At the end of qualifying, Slovenia had the fastest time so they would be starting on pole. Just behind them was the Wilcar team from Spain, then France in third.

Qualifying Order
1. Slovenia
2. Wilcar (Spain)
3. France
4. Finland
5. Greece
6. Germany
7. Estonia
8. Malta
9. Iceland
10. Spain
11. Hungary
12. Italy
13. Czech Republic
14. Poland
15. Netherlands
16. United Kingdom

After the qualifying all the teams gathered with their cars and national flags for a great group picture!

The start of the race would be in the style of classic Le Mans endurance racing - the drivers would be on the stand with radios in hand, and the cars would be lined up in order on the grid. The mechanics for each team would be stationed across the pit straight. As the race director Xavi lifted the start flag, the mechanics would run across the track to start the car, and then the fate of each car would be in the hands of the drivers!

It's a great and dramatic way to start the race, in the classic tradition of full-size endurance racing.

Check out the start-line slideshow!

The first stages of the race were dry and dusty, and the track staff were periodically standing in the middle of the track watering the racing line down to keep the dust at bay. This meant that a little mud would gather on the cars from time to time, but this just got the teams prepared a bit for later in the race.

Several teams had trouble early on, most notably Team Estonia, who had to do a rapid engine change no more than half an hour into the race. This quickly dropped them to last position and once they completed repairs they had to drive hard to make up time. Also in early trouble was Greece with a broken shock shaft and after briefly jumping into fourth place, Malta had problems with a stuck throttle - these teams would be trying hard later in the race to come back! Germany changed engines because they thought they had a faulty engine, but with a 12-minute engine change they didn't lose too much time - later they would find out that the air filter simply had too much oil on it. The Spanish team had problems with their clutch early on and lost a bit of time and fell back to battle with France, who had to recover to the indoor pit area to solve some major problems.

Race order at 1 hr
1. Team Wilcar - up 1 position from qualifying
2. Finland - up 2
3. Hungary - up 8!
4. Poland - up 10!
5. Greece - no change
6. Slovenia - down 5
7. Iceland - up 2
8. Czech Republic - up 5!
9. Germany - down 3
10. Italy - up 2
11. Netherlands - up 4!
12. France - down 8
13. Malta - down 5
14. United Kingdom - up 2
15. Spain - down 5
16. Estonia - down 11

The teams quickly settled down as the drivers got used to the track again, and as drivers started changing on the rostrum the track staff began to water down the track. This had the effect of keeping the dust down so everyone could see what was happening, however this also started collecting mud on the cars, so drivers just starting their stints had to contend with changing traction in different areas of the track.

The main movers up the rankings in the second hour of the race were: Greece, who had replaced the shock and settled into 4th after dropping to 8th for some time; Iceland with a determined drive up to 5th from their starting point of 9th on the grid; Malta, who had dropped as low as 13th but had moved up to 7th; and the Netherlands rocketing up to 9th with some solid driving and great teamwork from their orange-clad mechanics. Team Estonia had also recovered from being in last position for over an hour, and had started moving up the order with some solid driving. Problems continued for France and Germany, and radio issued plagued Team UK for quite a while as well. Italy suffered from a loose brake screw, which put them in the pits for a very long time.

Race order at 2 hrs
1. Finland - up 1
2. Team Wilcar - down 1
3. Hungary - no change
4. Greece- up 1
5. Iceland - up 2
6. Poland - down 2
7. Malta - up 6!
8. Slovenia - down 2
9. Netherlands - up 2
10. Germany - down 1
11. Czech Republic - down 3
12. Italy - down 2
13. France - down 1
14. Estonia - up 2
15. United Kingdom - down 1
16. Spain - down 1

By the third hour of racing, it was becoming clear who were the calm and steady drivers: Hungary, Finland and Team Wilcar were steadily in the top three by this time, with improving drives from Iceland, Poland and Estonia moving them up in position. For a time, Iceland was even up in 3rd after the Team Finland had an unplanned pit stop for repairs! Estonia was really on the move, into 11th after running in 16th just 2 hours before. Spain, Malta, the Czech Republic and Slovenia were improving afte early troubles. The only team any real trouble was Germany, who had done the fast engine change in the first hour - with the second engine they had the same problems as with the original, and this is when they discovered the air filters were too heavily oiled. They'd dropped to their lowest position yet, down in 14th. Problems continued for Spain and Italy, however, both with servo problems.

Race order at 3 hrs
1. Team Wilcar - up 1
2. Hungary - up 1
3. Finland - down 2
4. Iceland - up 1
5. Poland - up 1
6. Malta - up 1
7. Greece - down 3
8. Czech Republic - up 3
9. Slovenia - down 1
10. Netherlands - down 1
11. Estonia - up 3
12. France - up 1
13. Germany - down 3
14. United Kingdom - up 1
15. Spain - up 1
16. Italy - down 4

In the third hour of racing, a light rain had started to fall, but we were assured that it would pass over without much effect. The best part about it was that it was still a warm day and a cooling rain was a welcome relief for everyone. The light raindrops also kept the dust down on the track and the organizers didn't have to worry about watering the track any further. With a consistently tacky surface the drivers could rely on steady traction conditions all around the circuit.

After about an hour of rain, however, it became clear that the clouds weren't going anywhere and the rain was starting to get heavier. Umbrellas started popping up from the local spectators around the track, and the wiser racers who had brought jackets and hats brought them out. The track quickly got very boggy in some sections and slick in others. The off-camber chicane in the middle of the lap became one of the busiest areas for the marshals and track staff started shoveling dirt that had been kicked off the line by the 16 Baja 5B buggies back into the holes and ruts they were creating.

While the track when dry was tearing the knobs off the rear tyres, forcing replacement tyres every hour or so, the muddy conditions kept the mechanics busy by forcing them to clean the sticky brown mess off bodyshells, windows, wheels and suspension parts - with an extra kilo or so of weight and the slippery conditions, the drivers had plenty to contend with! Some teams were clearly happy in the mud, or maybe just well-prepared, while other teams struggled with sticking engine-off switches, wet air filters and water getting into the electronics.

There were no major movers up or down the race order, although Hungary briefly held the lead at the 3hr 30 minute mark. The Czech Republic team moved up a couple of spots while Iceland suffered from a second electrical failure because of the rain. Slovenia also moved up a bit while Malta had another unscheduled stop to replace suspension parts and dropped a couple of places.

Race order at 4 hrs
1. Team Wilcar - no change
2. Hungary - no change
3. Finland - no change
4. Poland - up 1
5. Greece - up 2
6. Czech Republic - up 2
7. Slovenia - up 2
8. Iceland - down 4
9. Malta - down 3
10. Netherlands - no change
11. Estonia - no change
12. France - no change
13. Spain - up 3
14. Germany - down 2
15. United Kingdom - down 1
16. Italy - no change

The rain continued steadily for about an hour and a half and while many teams had trouble with their electronics, traction or other issues, it was a testament to how serious they were all taking the race that absolutely no one asked if we were going to pause or halt the race at any time. In fact, team managers came to us and told us they definitely wanted to keep going! So no serious discussions occurred about a rain delay, which was great.

As we approached the halfway point there were no huge changes in position, most teams battled back and forth with the teams just above or below them. The team on the move was Malta, with 4 jumps up the leader board - they were clearly happy in the mud! Estonia continued their drive up the chart and Iceland unfortunately continued their slide down the order with engine problems forcing them to swap out the rear end of the car.

Race order at 5 hrs
1. Team Wilcar - no change
2. Hungary - no change
3. Finland - no change
4. Poland - no change
5. Malta - up 4
6. Slovenia - down 2
7. Greece - down 2
8. Czech Republic - down 2
9. Estonia - up 2
10. Iceland - down 2
11. Netherlands - down 1
12. Germany - up 2
13. France - down 1
14. Spain - down 1
15. United Kingdom - down 1
16. Italy - up 1

There was still plenty of light at the halfway point of the race and the rain finally passed. We'd have at least two more hours of steady sunlight until the generators and lights had to come on so the racers got down to business on the drying track. With the dirt completely soaked with rain the track staff wouldn't have to water the track for the rest of the evening, which was fantastic news for them!

At the halfway mark of 6 hours of solid racing, every Baja 5B was still going strong. The teams were a bit muddier and soaked through, but the cars were all running, albeit with a few replaced parts, nothing out of the ordinary for running such a long time.

Hungary moved into the lead again at the 6-hour mark while the Wilcar team had troubles with their clutch. Taking advantage of this, Poland and Finland both moved up. The Czech Republic bounced back after an long unplanned pit stop and were starting to climb up the rankings again while Estonia was continuing to improve, clearly faster than most of the teams ahead of them. The Netherlands also improved a couple more positions but Greece, Iceland and France had more long-term problems. Team Hungary knew that any problem could drop them out of the lead, so they simply kept running and hoping!

Race order at 6 hrs - halfway there!
1. Hungary - up 1
2. Finland - up 1
3. Poland - up 1
4. Team Wilcar - down 3
5. Malta - no change
6. Slovenia - no change
7. Greece - no change
8. Czech Republic - no change
9. Estonia - no change
10. Iceland - no change
11. Netherlands - no change
12. France - up 1
13. Germany - down 1
14. Spain - down 1
15. Italy - up 1
16. United Kingdom - down 1

Now we're at the halfway point of the race, let's check out some pictures from around the track!

Now, back to the racing! As the track continued to dry out, Estonia continued to improve, going up another 2 spots in an hour. More problems for Greece, electrical this time instead of the engine, dropped them a few positions but they did their best to recover with only a 3-person team. Germany contined a steady improvement up the chart while more problems for the stricken French team dropped them a couple more positions. The Netherlands improved as well, jumping past Team Greece as well as Iceland.

The major drama at this point of the race occured when the race officials found out that one driver from Team Poland had been driving for the first six hours of the race - this was clearly against the rules, as team managers were responsible for maintaining an even distribution of driving time for all the team members, as the idea of the endurance race was that it is a team event and not an individual race. The offending driver was banished from the stand and told to not touch the radio again. As this was Team Poland's best driver, the team started to slide down the order.

Race order at 7 hrs
1. Hungary - up 1
2. Team Wilcar - up 2
3. Finland - up 1
4. Poland - down 2
5. Malta - no change
6. Slovenia - no change
7. Estonia - up 2
8. Czech Republic - no change
9. Netherlands - up 2
10. Greece - down 3
11. Germany - up 2
12. Iceland - down 2
13. Italy - up 2
14. United Kingdom - up 2
15. France - down 3
16. Spain - down 2

As the sun was starting to disappear behind the distant mountains, the track was continuing to dry out and the air was getting cooler. In less than an hour the sun would be well and truly set and the racers would be relying solely on the track lighting towers and possibly the lights installed on their Baja 5B buggies! And then it might get really interesting.

With no problems for Hungary since the 3:30 mark, they continued their run at the front, building up more of a cushion as the Wilcar team fell behind again with more clutch problems. Finland and Poland both moved up to take advantage. Unfortunately for Team Greece, they lost more time with an electrical fault while most of the midfield teams stayed in the same position. The Iceland drivers were doing well to make up ground and at the back of the order Italy and France had more and more trouble, allowing Spain and Team UK to move up slightly.

Race order at 8 hrs
1. Hungary - no change
2. Finland - up 1
3. Poland - up 1
4. Malta - up 1
5. Team Wilcar - down 3
6. Slovenia - no change
7. Estonia - no change
8. Czech Republic - no change
9. Netherlands - no change
10. Iceland - up 2
11. Germany - no change
12. Greece - down 2
13. United Kingdom - up 1
14. Spain - up 2
15. Italy - down 2
16. France - down 1

With the sun fully set and the light towers blazing, the air was cooler and the track settled down to a nice surface. All the loose topsoil had been kicked to the sides and what was left in some areas was a pothole-filled bombed-out hard surface. It was like sandpaper on the tyres and the rear tyres really showed how much of a beating they were taking. Most teams stayed with the same front tyres through all or most of the race, but a few changed front tyres just because they were available. With each team getting 10 pairs of rear tyres and 7 pairs of front tyres, it was easy to make the decision to change fronts. Most teams had extra rear tyres they brought with them, as well, so they were changing rears at least every 70-80 minutes, or every 2 refueling stops.

At the front of the field, the top 2 spots stayed the same, with Hungary enjoying a large lead of 30-40 laps and Finland churning out steady lap times. The Wilcar team could pull off the faster times but were still fighting back after dropping to fifth. Poland had started to slow after their top driver was banned from the rostrum, and taking their place was Malta, reaching 3rd, their highest position yet. Estonia was holding steady on their comeback so they hadn't moved up but Slovenia encountered more problems so they swapped places with the Czech Republic, who moved up a couple of spots. Iceland's comback was halted briefly as they dropped a position and the Spanish and UK teams were fighting it out towards the back of the order. So no huge movements on the leaderboard as darkness set in fully, but there were still 3 hours left and anything could happen!

Race order at 9 hrs
1. Hungary - no change
2. Finland - no change
3. Malta - up 1
4. Poland - down 1
5. Team Wilcar - no change
6. Czech Republic - up 2
7. Estonia - no change
8. Slovenia - down 2
9. Netherlands - no change
10. Greece - up 2
11. Iceland - down 1
12. Germany - down 1
13. Spain - up 1
14. United Kingdom - down 1
15. Italy - no change
16. France - no change

As the minutes ticked away and the night got darker still, the racers and spectators started wrapping up again, getting jackets and hats out - but this time for the mild chill in the air rather than the rain! The stars were out, but we couldn't see them because the light towers were so bright! All the teams kept going round and round, though, with the leaders lapping traffic several times on each lap. Ideally, we would have been able to blue-flag cars that were having the lead cars come up on them, however with language differences and the number of cars on the track we had to rely on the specific instructions the team managers had been given before the race began that cars that were obviously being lapped should yield position where they could. All the leading teams seemed to get around and deal with traffic the best they can, however, so even if other Baja buggies weren't moving over as quickly as they would have liked, anyone following them would have to deal with the same traffic.

There was no movement in the top two positions of Hungary and Finland, although it was becoming obvious that the Wilcar team were quickly gaining on them both! After a series of troubles and mishaps Wilcar were able to get the power down and rip off quick lap times that would bring them within striking distance of Finland about an hour and a half before the finish - even with Hungary having a massive lead of 40-50 laps, it would all come down to a nail-biter of a finish! While Poland continued to fall behind the leading teams, the Czech Republic was moving up just as fast, gaining 2 positions in an hour! Unfortunately for Malta, more problems came about and they dropped four positions in quick succession with yet another unplanned pit stop. Slovenia, the Netherlands and Greece all held position while Estonia continued to climb up the chart, however Iceland lost another position to Germany as the Germans were rebounding from their earlier engine problems. Spain and the UK continued their long-running battle, swapping places many times as both were on recovery runs from early issues that had forced both to last place at different times.

Race order at 10 hrs
1. Hungary - no change
2. Finland - no change
3. Team Wilcar - up 2
4. Czech Republic - up 2
5. Poland - down 1
6. Estonia - up 1
7. Malta - down 4
8. Slovenia - no change
9. Netherlands - no change
10. Greece - no change
11. Germany - up 1
12. Iceland - down 1
13. United Kingdom - up 1
14. Spain - down 1
15. Italy - no change
16. France - no change

With just an hour to go, things were getting tense in the fight for second place. Finland had been caught by Team Wilcar, while Hungary was letting them battle it out and holding position 40-50 laps ahead. For over an hour, the Finnish and Spanish teams were on the same lap, fighting for every meter of track! It was unbelievable that the battle would come down to something as close as this after 11 hours of racing! As the car in front would be fighting to get past lapped traffic yet again, the car behind would be motoring as fast as possible to catch up. Every now and then second place would flip over or get turned around, and get passed by third, only for the same thing to happen a few laps later! For most of the time the teams were on the same lap, the time between them never exceeded 10 seconds, which is amazing to think about in a race that had gone on so long!

While the race for second was the main battle on-track, a fight for fifth was also shaping up between the Estonian, Polish and Maltese teams. Several laps ahead them, the Czech Republic was enjoying the respite from battle but how things would shake up over the next hour would remain to be seen, and it was good to see Estonia recovering after their early disaster. The teams in the midfield continued their steady laps while at the back the battle between the Spanish and UK teams would turn out to go in the favour of the United Kingdom as the Spanish team fell out of the race at the 10:30 mark, the only team to quit the race.

Race order at 11 hrs
1. Hungary - no change
2. Team Wilcar - up 1
3. Finland - down 1
4. Czech Republic - up 2
5. Malta - up 2
6. Poland - up 1
7. Estonia - down 2
8. Slovenia - no change
9. Netherlands - no change
10. Greece - no change
11. Germany - no change
12. Iceland - no change
13. United Kingdom - no change
14. Spain - no change (retired)
15. Italy - no change
16. France - no change

The final hour of the race brought the much-anticipated final dramatics in the battle for second - after running neck and neck for nearly an hour and a half, something had to give and although Team Finland had to do an unplanned stop that left them running without their bodyshell and a bad clutch, it was Team Wilcar that had to do an emergency stop to change their receiver battery! After making up over 20 laps on the Finnish team, they had to settle for third, just two laps behind Finland, but still several dozen laps ahead of fourth position. Team Hungary let all this play out behind them as they came in for an extra-late pit stop to brush off the bodyshell and attach the Hungarian flag to the roll cage of their Baja 5B - you've never seen a bunch of racers more proud to be racing for their country!

In the battle for fifth, it extended into a battle for fourth as Estonia racked up the steady and quick lap times to overtake the Czech Republic by just two laps at the end! While the Czech Republic lost a place, Slovenia gained two spots in the final hour to overtake Poland and take 6th. Malta, unfortunately, had to settle for 8th, where they started, after problems with their clutch prevented them from braking for the turns.

The Netherlands enjoyed a steady run in 9th position from the 6:30 mark, holding that position for nearly as long as the Hungarians had held first, while Team Greece finished just behind them in 10th, Germany and 11th and Iceland in 12th.

After a long-running battle with Spain, the United Kingdom finished in lucky 13th - both of these teams had to deal with radio and engine problems, as well as broken suspension parts and each other! In the final half hour of running, France was able to get past Italy to take 15th, while the Italians were happy to cross the finish line with the car in one piece after a series of extra-long pit stops and problems.

The winners cross the finish line in style!

FINISHING ORDER AT 12 HRS
1. Hungary - 737 laps
2. Finland - 711 laps
3. Team Wilcar - 709 laps
4. Estonia - 665 laps
5. Czech Republic - 663 laps
6. Slovenia - 659 laps
7. Poland - 649 laps
8. Malta - 645 laps
9. Netherlands - 628 laps
10. Greece - 592 laps
11. Germany - 556 laps
12. Iceland - 542 laps
13. United Kingdom - 492 laps
14. Spain - 430 laps
15. France - 397 laps
16. Italy - 363 laps

As a way of following the race, and the progress of each team individually, we've got a really cool race graph to show you exactly where each team was positioned during the race! The times were taken every half hour and entered into a charting program so you can watch each team's rise or fall, and progress throughout the twelve hours they were racing. Fueling stops took less than a minute for most teams, so aren't reflected here, however stops where the team had to do a major repair are clearly shown. You can also see where teams were making up significant time on others, such as Malta, Estonia, Iceland, etc. Where teams were battling closely for a long time, such as Finland/Wilcar or UK/Spain, you can see where they were changing places frequently.

Click on the chart below to download a printable PDF document! You'll need a program such as Adobe Acrobat Reader or Foxit Reader to view the file.

At the prize presentation, just a few hundred yards away from the track at a small nightclub, the racers were treated to a free drink at the bar and sat down for a prize presentation and free raffle giveaway featuring HPI kits and Baja option parts.

The teams and their lap totals were read out, and when it came time for the top three teams, the trophies were handed out with the help of the Mayor of Sant Fruitos Del Bages and the Marketing Manager of HPI Europe. Even an attempt at Eurovision-style singing by one of the Team Finland guys wouldn't stop the smiles and laughter, and everyone gathered to take plenty of pictures! The top three teams each received custom-engraved Baja Endurance Challenge Finals trophy cups, with every individual team member receiving a cool, clear engraved acrylic trophy to each take home.

3rd place - Team Wilcar

2nd place - Team Finland

First Place - Team Hungary

Of course we couldn't have done this event without the help of the staff at Ninco, especially Arturo, Jordi and David, but we are especially grateful for the work and dedication of Xavi (pronounced 'chev-e') and all of his team, who built the track, arranged the lighting and rostrum, negotiated with the town for special dispensation on the noise levels and much more! These are the guys who arranged the fuel for the drivers, kept the schedule of drivers on the rostrum, watered and repaired the track, and much more!! What's even more amazing was that after the presentations, which took place around 1 AM, they were back at the track to get it ready for another large-scale race taking place early the next day!

The extremely hard-working track crew, with Xavi second from right