The FIM Bajas World Cup was turned upside down at the season-ending Dubai International Baja as the points leader in nearly every class, including the premier 450cc category, left the finale without the championship.
David Megre entered Dubai with a six-point lead in the 450cc standings over Mohammed Al-Balooshi, and needed to finish fourth to be guaranteed the title regardless of Al-Balooshi’s performance. Although Megre won the Prologue, he struggled over the next two days and finished just one spot short in fifth, with Makis Rees-Stavros edging him out for fourth by less than four minutes.
Despite a bizarre final day in which he received a penalty that was subsequently rescinded, Al-Balooshi scored the win in his home Baja and overtook Megre by just two points.
“This is the seventh round for me and doing it on the last day in my country is icing on the cake,” said Al-Balooshi. “I’m really happy for that.”
The Quad class was a three-way battle between Kevin Giroud, Haitham Al-Tuwayjiri, and Hani Al-Noumesi, the former two being tied for the points lead going into the finale while Al-Noumesi was eight points back. However, after claiming the Prologue, Al-Tuwayjiri’s title hopes were dashed by a mechanical failure in SS2 that forced him to retire. Al-Noumesi received a speeding penalty the same day that knocked him out of contention.
Giroud finished second behind Abdulaziz Ahli, who won the World Rally-Raid Championship’s Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge in March, to ice the title. The win completes a top year for the Giroud family as his brother Alexandre claimed both the Dakar Rally and W2RC season-ending Rallye du Maroc.
Veterans Trophy leader Andrew Houlihan was forced to surrender his championship hopes due to leg surgery for a ruptured tendon that prevented him from taking part. With Houlihan out, Pedro Bianchi Prata simply placed second behind Richard Brewer to leapfrog Houlihan for the win; he had entered Dubai trailing Houlihan by six points.
While Houlihan fell short, his friend Jonathan Finn walked away with the Junior Trophy ahead by finishing third among riders under the age of 25. Jean-Loup Lepan, who recently finished third in the W2RC’s Rally2 standings, won the race.
Esther Merino Garica and Sarah Khuraibet were the lone female riders at Dubai, the two separated by just four points for the 2023 Women’s Trophy. While Khuraibet hoped to seal the title on her home turf, Merino beat her in all three stages and won with over an hour.
Besides the FIM, the FIA’s World and Middle East Cups for Cross-Country Bajas also concluded their seasons in Dubai, which became the last round for all three series after the Jordan Baja was cancelled due to the war in Gaza. Consequently, the 2023 FIM Bajas calendar was only seven races long with the top six results counting towards a rider’s final championship total.
Overall winners
| Class | Number | Competitor | Team | Time |
| T1 | 200 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | Nasser Racing | 5:22:52.3 |
| T2 | 220 | Ibrahim Nasser Almuhna | Ibrahim Nasser Almuhna | 23:09:30.5 |
| T3 | 301 | Otávio Sousa Leite | South Racing Can-Am | 6:04:05.5 |
| T4 | 400 | João Ferreira | South Racing Can-Am | 5:48:48.1 |
| 450cc | 2 | Mohammed Al-Balooshi | MX Ride Dubai | 5:42:25.3 |
| Quad | 105 | Abdulaziz Ahli | Abdulaziz Ahli | 6:34:23.1 |
| FIM Junior | 76 | Jean-Loup Lepan | DUUST Diverse Racing | 5:53:53 |
| FIM Veteran | 50 | Richard Brewer | Richard Brewer | 6:23:38.5 |
| FIM Woman | 20 | Esther Merino | Esther Merino | 9:03:52.5 |
Final FIM Bajas World Cup standings
450cc
| Rank | Rider | Points | Margin |
| 1 | Mohammed Al-Balooshi | 90 | Leader |
| 2 | David Megre | 88 | – 2 |
| 3 | Pedro Bianchi Prata | 63 | – 27 |
| 4 | Abdullah Alshatti | 58 | – 32 |
| 5 | Jonathan Finn | 49 | – 41 |
| 6 | Andrew Houlihan | 43 | – 47 |
| T-7 | Mirjam Pol | 29 | – 61 |
| T-7 | Sara Garcia Alvarez | 29 | – 61 |
| T-9 | Štefan Svitko | 25 | – 65 |
| T-9 | Tosha Schareina | 25 | – 65 |
| T-9 | Konrad Dąbrowski | 25 | – 65 |
| T-9 | Alex McInnes | 25 | – 65 |
| T-13 | Paulo Cardoso | 21 | – 69 |
| T-13 | Adao Rafael Teixeira Marques | 21 | – 69 |
| T-15 | Jan Brabec | 20 | – 70 |
| T-15 | Lorenzo Santolino | 20 | – 70 |
| T-15 | Robert Wallace | 20 | – 70 |
| T-15 | Martin Chalmers | 20 | – 70 |
| T-15 | Mishal Alghuneim | 20 | – 70 |
| 20 | Esther Merino Garcia | 19 | – 71 |
| 21 | Hamdan Al-Ali | 18 | – 72 |
| T-22 | Jean-Loup Lepan | 16 | – 74 |
| T-22 | Rui Gonçalves | 16 | – 74 |
| 24 | Sultan Al-Balooshi | 15 | – 75 |
| 25 | Brett Hunt | 14 | – 76 |
| T-26 | Maki Rees-Stavros | 13 | – 77 |
| T-26 | Neels Theric | 13 | – 77 |
| T-28 | Marwan Al-Rahmani | 12 | – 78 |
| T-28 | Richárd Hodola | 12 | – 78 |
| T-28 | Sarah Khuraibet | 12 | – 78 |
| T-31 | Oran O’Kelly | 11 | – 79 |
| T-31 | Alona Ben Natan | 11 | – 79 |
| T-33 | Nicolas Horeaux | 10 | – 80 |
| T-33 | Abdallah Abuaisheh | 10 | – 80 |
| 35 | Joanna Modrzewska | 9 | – 81 |
| T-36 | Cesare Zacchetti | 8 | – 82 |
| T-36 | Abdulla Lanjawi | 8 | – 82 |
| T-38 | Badr Al-Hamdan | 7 | – 83 |
| T-38 | Rui Ferreira | 7 | – 83 |
| T-38 | Philippe Gendron | 7 | – 83 |
| 41 | Richard Brewer | 6 | – 84 |
| T-42 | Ola Fløene | 5 | – 85 |
| T-42 | Ehab Al-Hakeem | 5 | – 85 |
| T-42 | Mohamed Al-Kaabi | 5 | – 85 |
| 45 | Thomas Childs | 4 | – 86 |
| T-46 | Simon Marčič | 2 | – 88 |
| T-46 | Barry Howe | 2 | – 88 |
| T-47 | Yaghoob Youssef Azadi | 1 | – 89 |
| T-47 | Sarath Mohan | 1 | – 89 |
| T-47 | Abdulrahman Al-Sheeb | 1 | – 89 |
| T-47 | Jaco Anderson | 1 | – 89 |
| T-47 | Rafic Eid | 1 | – 89 |
| T-47 | Ottavio Missoni Jr. | 1 | – 89 |
| T-47 | Chris Hamer | 1 | – 89 |
| T-47 | Mahanna Rashid Al-Naimi | 1 | – 89 |
| T-47 | Francesco Catanese | 1 | – 89 |
| T-47 | Alberto Bertoldi | 1 | – 89 |
| T-47 | Mohamed Al-Thani | 1 | – 89 |
| T-47 | Salman Mohamed | 1 | – 89 |
| T-47 | Andrew Seaton | 1 | – 89 |
| T-47 | Vanessa Ruck | 1 | – 89 |
| T-47 | Edward Lines | 1 | – 89 |
| T-47 | Elio Aglioni | 1 | – 89 |
| T-47 | Michael Stokes | 1 | – 89 |
| T-47 | Luca Passone | 1 | – 89 |
| T-47 | Hamdan Ahmed Aljahoushi | 1 | – 89 |
Quad
| Rank | Rider | Points | Margin |
| 1 | Kevin Giroud | 110 | Leader |
| T-2 | Haitham Al-Tuwayjiri | 90 | – 20 |
| T-2 | Hani Al-Noumesi | 90 | – 20 |
| 4 | Juraj Varga | 50 | – 60 |
| 5 | Abdulaziz Ahli | 45 | – 65 |
| 6 | Toni Vingut | 32 | – 78 |
| 7 | Arnoud Dom | 25 | – 85 |
| 8 | Mansoor Al-Suwaidi | 20 | – 90 |
| 9 | Daniel Vila Vaques | 13 | – 97 |
| T-10 | Kristýna Vaňková | 11 | – 99 |
| T-10 | Antoine Sanchez | 11 | – 99 |
| 12 | Nicolas Martinez | 10 | – 100 |
Junior Trophy
| Rank | Rider | Points | Margin |
| 1 | Jonathan Finn | 120 | Leader |
| 2 | Kevin Giroud | 113 | – 7 |
| 3 | Alex McInnes | 61 | – 59 |
| T-4 | Jean-Loup Lepan | 25 | – 95 |
| T-4 | Konrad Dąbrowski | 25 | – 95 |
| 6 | Kristýna Vaňková | 16 | – 104 |
Veterans Trophy
| Rank | Rider | Points | Margin |
| 1 | Pedro Bianchi Prata | 115 | Leader |
| 2 | Andrew Houlihan | 101 | – 14 |
| 3 | Esther Merino Garcia | 61 | – 54 |
| 4 | Toni Vingut | 41 | – 74 |
| T-5 | Paulo Cardoso | 33 | – 82 |
| T-5 | Mohamed Al-Kaabi | 33 | – 82 |
| 7 | Adao Rafael Teixeira Marques | 29 | – 86 |
| 8 | Richard Brewer | 25 | – 90 |
| T-9 | Cesare Zacchetti | 20 | – 95 |
| T-9 | Barry Howe | 20 | – 95 |
| T-11 | Rafic Eid | 16 | – 99 |
| T-11 | Philippe Gendron | 16 | – 99 |
| T-11 | Ola Fløene | 16 | – 99 |
| T-14 | Rui Ferreira | 13 | – 102 |
| T-14 | Jaco Anderson | 13 | – 102 |
| T-14 | Mahanna Rashid Al-Naimi | 13 | – 102 |
| 17 | Francesco Catanese | 11 | – 104 |
| 18 | Alberto Bertoldi | 10 | – 105 |
| 19 | Mohamed Al-Thani | 9 | – 106 |
| 20 | Mansoor Al-Suwaidi | 8 | – 107 |
| 21 | Elio Aglioni | 6 | – 109 |
Women’s Trophy
| Rank | Rider | Points | Margin |
| 1 | Esther Merino Garcia | 101 | Leader |
| 2 | Sarah Khuraibet | 100 | – 1 |
| 3 | Sara Garcia Alvarez | 75 | – 26 |
| T-4 | Joanna Modrzewska | 45 | – 56 |
| T-4 | Mirjam Pol | 45 | – 56 |
| T-4 | Alona Ben Natan | 45 | – 56 |
| 7 | Kristýna Vaňková | 16 | – 85 |
| 8 | Vanessa Ruck | 13 | – 88 |
