Akira Miura seems to be comfortable in a Toyota Hilux already. Although he entered the Baja Greece with the goal of getting used to his new ride, he ended up winning the premier Ultimate class altogether.
After driving a Toyota Land Cruiser for a decade and winning four Dakar Rallies in the Stock category, Miura joined Overdrive Racing for a two-round FIA World Baja Cup schedule in the Hilux starting at Greece. Overdrive team-mate Yazeed Al-Rajhi was the early favourite as he beat Miura by fourteen seconds in the Prologue, but his brakes failed shortly after starting the first Selective Section; forced to race conservatively, Al-Rajhi ended up being the last finisher in the class. Miura beat Miroslav Zapletal for the Stage #1 win.
Al-Rajhi rebounded to win Stage #2 by seven minutes over Miura, but the previous day’s issue left him nearly an hour behind in the overall.
“I am very happy to have won my first Ultimate class race with the help of the team’s excellent work,” said Miura. His next race in the Hilux will be the Qatar International Baja in early November. “This race is the beginning for me and the OPEN COUNTRY M/T-R, which we developed for this car, and we want to work hard together and improve so that we race even better.”
Miura’s overall time was good for third outright among all FIA entrants, trailing the Challenger caries of Eduard Pons and Lionel Baud. Pons took the overall lead after surviving Stage #1, clearing Miura by fifteen minutes while having a four-minute edge on Baud. To preserve his lead, Pons opted for a safer strategy during the final day to seal the win by thirteen minutes over Baud and seventeen ahead of Miura. Both Challenger drivers enjoyed their best career finishes in a cross-country rally.
João Ferreira, returning to the Challenger category for the first time since the 2023 World Rally-Raid Championship, was just five seconds behind Al-Rajhi in the Prologue but ultimately had a similar race to him. He endured a disastrous Stage #1 that began with his wipers failed shortly after the start, forcing him to stop multiple times to wipe the mud off and even vomit as he was “not feeling really well,” then went off course twenty kilometres before the finish and had to wait for help. Ferreira rebounded to finish second in class in Stage #2 to salvage nineteen points towards the World Baja Cup.
Alexander Toril originally won the SSV class by three and a half minutes until he was disqualified because his Can-Am had an illegal inlet manifold (more bolts installed than allowed) and an aftermarket continuously variable transmission belt. His team explained the manifold was exactly as it appeared when they acquired the car while the belt was purchased from a third party due to a parts shortage at Bombardier Recreational Products, but stressed neither gave them an advantage; a representative from BRP also vouched for them on the latter. Nevertheless, the FIA ruled the burden fell on the team to “ensure that the car was compliant” and upheld the penalty.
Another SSV driver Ibrahim Almuhna was not allowed to start the race after the FIA found the crossbar between the tubes along the co-driver’s side of the roll cage was bent into an ovoid shape. Roll cage damage also knocked out Amerigo Ventura, whose frame was deformed in a Stage #1 crash. Luis Henderson retired after the brake master cylinder broke in the first stage, then a “misunderstanding between the race officials and the crew” resulted in him arriving thirty minutes late and being barred from running the next leg.
The Baja Greece is a new event for 2024, independent of the Rally Greece Off-Road that was on the 2023 World and European Baja Cups.
Overall results
FIA
Ultimate
| Finish | Number | Driver | Co-Driver | Team | Vehicle | Class | Time | Margin |
| 1 | 203 | Akira Miura | Jean-Michel Polato | Overdrive Racing | Toyota Hilux Overdrive | T1+ | 8:07:53.8 | Leader |
| 2 | 201 | Miroslav Zapletal | Marek Sýkora | Offroadsport | Ford F-150 | T1+ | 8:08:32.9 | + 39.1 |
| 3 | 200 | Yazeed Al-Rajhi | Timo Gottschalk | Overdrive Racing | Toyota Hilux Overdrive | T1+ | 8:43:50.2 | + 35:56.4 |
| DNF | 202 | Magdalena Zajac | Marcin Pasek | Proxcars TME Rally Team | Toyota Hilux | T1.1 | DNF | N/A |
Challenger
| Finish | Number | Driver | Co-Driver | Team | Vehicle | Time | Margin |
| 1 | 304 | Eduard Pons | Jaume Betriu | Pons Rallysport | Taurus T3 Max | 7:50:46.4 | Leader |
| 2 | 303 | Lionel Baud | Lucie Baud | GRallyTeam | GRallyTeam OT3 | 8:03:51.6 | + 13:05.2 |
| 3 | 305 | Csaba Miklós | Albert Horn | Csaba Miklós | Taurus T3 Max | 8:27:33.6 | + 36:47.2 |
| 4 | 307 | Diego Martinez | Sergio Lafuente | South Racing Can-Am | Can-Am Maverick | 8:50:59.7 | + 1:00:13.3 |
| 5 | 302 | Khalid Aljafla | Andrei Rudnitski | Khalid Aljafla | Can-Am Maverick | 9:9:13:22.9 | + 1:22:36.5 |
| 6 | 301 | Ghislain de Mévius | Johan Jalet | GRallyTeam | GRallyTeam OT3 | 10:25:09.0 | + 2:34:22.6 |
| 7 | 300 | João Ferreira | Filipe Palmeiro | Can-Am Factory Team | Can-Am Maverick | 11:22:55.1 | + 3:32:08.7 |
| DNF | 308 | Konstantin Cholakov | Ivaylo Zhekov | SC-Networx Racing | Can-Am Maverick | DNF | N/A |
SSV
| Finish | Number | Driver | Co-Driver | Team | Vehicle | Time | Margin |
| 1 | 400 | Fernando Álvarez | Xavier Panseri | South Racing Can-Am | Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR | 88:29:13.9 | Leader |
| 2 | 405 | Miguel Toril | Nasser Al-Kuwari | Escudería JMP Racing | Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR | 8:44:38.8 | + 15:24.9 |
| 3 | 404 | Claude Fournier | Serge Gounon | Claude Fournier | Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR | 9:22:38.6 | + 53:24.7 |
| DNF | 401 | Luis Henderson | Daniel Sposito | Xtremeplus | Polaris RZR Pro R | DNF | N/A |
| DNF | 402 | Amerigo Ventura | Erika Mingozzi | Quaddy Racing | Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR | DNF | N/A |
| DSQ | 403 | Alexander Toril | Pedro Lopez | Escudería JMP Racing | Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR | DSQ | N/A |
| DSQ | 406 | Ibrahim Almuhna | Faisal Alsuwayh | Almuhna Racers | Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR | DSQ | N/A |
Points earned
National
TZ1
| Finish | Number | Driver | Co-Driver | Team | Vehicle | Class | Time | Margin |
| 1 | 703 | Hector Kimonides | Simos Zervas | Hector Kimonides | Suzuki Jimny | TH.1 | 10:06:32.6 | Leader |
| 2 | 701 | Spyridon Dourakos | Spyridon Pountos | Spyridon Dourakos | Rally Raid UK Desert Warrior | TH.1 | 10:36:15.4 | + 29:42.8 |
| 3 | 705 | Ioannis Vorrias | Athanasios Bajas | Ioannis Vorrias | Mitsubishi Pajero | TH.2 | 17:43:28.6 | + 7:36:56.0 |
| 4 | 704 | Georgios Koutsoumbos | Dmitra Drakou | Georgios Koutsoumbos | Suzuki Vitara | TH.1 | 18:14:45.5 | + 8:08:12.9 |
| 5 | 702 | Andreas Tziallas | Nikos Makarios | Andreas Tziallas | Jeep Grand Cherokee | TH.4 | 18:33:50.4 | + 8:27:17.8 |
| 6 | 700 | Evangelos Bersis | Konstantinos Exarchos | Evangelos Bersis | Toyota Hilux | TH.1 | 19:27:30.0 | + 9:20:57.4 |
SSV
| Finish | Number | Driver | Co-Driver | Team | Vehicle | Time | Margin |
| 1 | 803 | Israfil Akyuz | Mert Tepe | Israfil Akyuz | Can-Am Maverick | 8:59:49.8 | Leader |
| 2 | 805 | Taxiarchis Adamopoulos | Theodoros Argyropoulos | Taxiarchis Adamopoulos | Can-Am Maverick | 9:01:19.4 | + 1:29.6 |
| 3 | 806 | Mohammadzadeh Ghasem | Mahmoodreza Ebadian | Mohammadzadeh Ghasem | Can-Am Maverick | 9:44:10.2 | + 44:20.4 |
| 4 | 800 | Vladislav Velkov | Nikolay Nikolaev | Vabonti Team | Can-Am Maverick | 10:30:19.4 | + 1:30:29.6 |
| 5 | 801 | Derin Doganer | Ali Doganer | Derin Doganer | Can-Am Maverick | 16:19:06.7 | + 7:19:16.9 |
| 6 | 802 | Yagiz Birinci | Ugur Tepe | Yagiz Birinci | Can-Am Maverick | 20:27:30.0 | + 11:27:40.2 |
| DNS | 804 | Ali Cetin | Sabahattin Demir | Ali Cetin | Can-Am Maverick | DNS | N/A |
