News

BJ Baldwin has won the 2014 Baja 1000 in his Open Country M/T-R equipped Chevrolet Silverado trophy Truck.

The win is B.J.'s second consecutive in the Baja 1000 and follows his narrowly missing first place in the Baja 500 earlier this year when Toyo driver Robby Gordon took the top spot. The win also consolidates his second consecutive SCORE Overall Points Championship.

Starting and finishing in the port city of Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico; this year’s winding course was highly technical with the 251 competitors having to face massive rock fields and continuous obstacles.  Baldwin was the first four-wheel drive to finish with a time of 18:36:10.

Commenting after the race, an exhausted B.J.said "This year’s Baja 1000 was the most difficult race I've ever done.  Mentally and physically it was just a brutal race especially since I drove the entire race myself. Most teams have two or three drivers,” said Baldwin.  “All of the other teams had at least one flat and most had several flats. Thanks to our Toyo's we didn't get any flats which helped us conserve our energy. We didn't have to get out of the truck to change tires. We couldn't have won this race without our high performance Toyo Open Country M/Ts.”
 
Whilst it is Baldwin's second win, it is the third consecutive time the race has been won on Toyo Tires with Robby Gordon taking the 2011 victory.
 
Gordon was an early contender to win this year’s Baja 1000 until a broken front spindle required a lengthy 1.5-hour pit stop for repairs. Gordon showed his grit, fighting back to a remarkable sixth place finish in the Trophy Truck division.
 
Winning Class 1 and finishing seventh in the four wheel category was Damen Jefferies driving his #121 Jefferies-Chevy open wheel buggy equipped with Toyo Open Country M/T-R tires. Jefferies is also developing a vehicle for a new team for the 2014 Dakar which will be announced nearer the race.