The Fuoristrada Club 4x4 Pordenone was born in 1983 in order to meet the needs of an ever-growing movement of cross-country enthusiasts in Pordenone and its surroundings. The constant increase in members stimulated the enthusiasm of the leaders and also their wish to undertake new projects. With these factors in mind right from the beginning there was also an aspiration for high quality and professional competence in order to obtain trust and eagerness from many associations, drivers, Teams and car manufacturers.

It is from this first stage of organising rallies and small, non-professional races that we moved on to organising 4x4 endurance races and then the first 4x4 raid in Friuli in 1990. This was the preliminary step of making a dream come true amongst its members, or rather the first time Italy had a chance to organise a round of the World Cup Cross-country Rally! During the course of three editions of the Raid in Friuli, it became the Italian Baja and then in 1993 it became a ‘test FIA,’ which was crucial in order to attain a candidate race for the World Cup.

This is how it all started. In 1994 the Italian Baja began its eleven-year long career as the only Italian World Cup race. It brought to Italy some of the world’s most famous racers of this sport. Year after year, the International media revealed to an enormous, ever increasing, audience and also to experts in this sport, the incredible track on the riverbeds of the Cellina and the Meduna. Pordenone became the ‘Capital’ of Italian cross-country racing.

In eleven years, the Italian Baja grew and in every forthcoming edition it gave to its teams, its racers and its public a wide variety of originality and new ideas, which in return received a great deal of interest and appreciation. The Fuoristrada Club 4x4 Pordenone reached excellent standards in management, and was therefore given the Italian Master Rally to organise in 1997 (the Italian section of the Paris – Moscow raid) and the complete organisation of the Italian Cross-Country Championship Rally in 2001.Even though the Italian Baja no longer has the status of World Cup (as a result of changes in FIA regulations), it is still seen as an important race on the FIA’s International calendar. It attracts the great interest of Italian and foreign crews and strengthens the Baja’s importance as a major yearly Italian event due to the number of participants, the quality and difficulty of the tracks and the media involvement as well as the excellent organisational skills.