It's Official: Rokas Baciuška Defends His World Championship Title

Last year, racer Rokas Baciuška became the first Lithuanian to win the FIA World Champion title, and today he further solidified his place in the country’s motorsport history. On Monday, the FIA officially announced that R. Baciuška has defended his title as the winner of the World Rally-Raid Championship in the T4 category.

Unlike in 2022, this year the racer didn’t even have to wait for the fifth and final round of the World Championship, which will take place on October 12-18 in Morocco. The fourth stage of the World Championship ended in Argentina on September 1, and although R. Baciuška and his co-driver Oriol Vidal did not participate, the Lithuanian had already secured the championship title after this event.

R. Baciuška took a risk by skipping the Argentine stage, but after three stages, he had a solid lead over his closest competitors. Across the stages in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Mexico, the Lithuanian collected 189 points. 

The fourth stage of the World Championship, the "Desafio Ruta 40" rally in Argentina, was won by Japan's Shinsuke Umeda. His 50-point haul from the event brought his total to 129, moving him into second place overall. However, Umeda’s total remains 60 points behind R. Baciuška’s 189. Since a maximum of 55 points can be earned in Morocco, the Lithuanian has now officially been crowned World Champion.

"It feels great to be World Champion. Of course, the first time is special and incomparable, but winning it two years in a row shows it wasn’t just luck and that I can defend the title. It’s a bit strange that it all worked out this way, becoming champion without competing in the last two stages," R. Baciuška said with a smile.

The World Rally-Raid Championship, as usual, began this year with the prestigious Dakar Rally. There, the athletes battled for points over two weeks. R. Baciuška won three stages in Saudi Arabia, finished second in four others, and despite an unfortunate technical issue with his buggy in the final kilometers, finished second overall. This earned him 79 points in the World Championship standings. 

In both the "Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge" and the "Sonora Rally," the Lithuanian outperformed all his competitors, collecting the maximum 55 points in each event. Notably, R. Baciuška won all five stages in both the UAE and Mexico, giving him a total of 13 stage victories across the three World Championship rounds. This remarkable statistic is unmatched in any other World Championship class.

"Dakar is always the toughest because it’s the biggest rally with 15 days of racing. Abu Dhabi was also challenging due to the 38-degree heat and lack of air. Mexico brought different, exotic challenges that I hadn’t experienced before, with plenty of difficult stages, but compared to the others, it was probably the easiest victory," R. Baciuška recalled.

Although the World Champion title is secured, the Lithuanian racer will still compete in the Morocco Rally. R. Baciuška plans to test his skills in Morocco with a T3 class buggy.