Toni Mulec (bike) Juraj Varga (quad) and Benediktas Vanagas (car) won the 19th HunGarian Baja, which had two 66-kilometre stages on the final day.
MOTOS:
In the bikers’ field, Slovenia’s Toni Mulec left nothing to chance, knowing that the British rider Robert Wallace, chasing him, would try to make up some ground on the first stage to get into attacking position. Mulec didn’t let him to do it: he raced smartly and added two minutes to his nine-minute lead.
“We did part of the yesterday’s stage from the opposite direction and although it was tricky, it felt much faster to me – probably because I didn’t have to save fuel as it was a short stage,” said Mulec. “Then I had another challenge at the very end: I was looking at the roadbook and something hit my bike hard, but luckily, I was OK. There were more stones and rocks on the second stage, but fortunately, they didn’t cause too much trouble and I did a better job with the roadbook, too. It’s my first Baja race, but I had a great time, the organisation was very good and, of course, I’m happy with the win, so I think I’ll be back.”
Second place went to Britain’s Robert Wallace, who described Sunday’s first stage as the best stage of the weekend. “The day started much smoother than Saturday: I enjoyed the stage more from the opposite direction, pulling the throttle as hard as I could, to see, if I could cut some of the deficit,” said Wallace. “It didn’t work out, because Toni was very fast, so I decided to focus on finishing instead, riding tactically, taking care on the big jumps, saving the bike to bring it home in one piece and trying to enjoy the ride. I really enjoyed the whole weekend, it’s my first time in Hungary, but I will definitely come back because the town is beautiful and the competition is very good.”
A Dutch lady, Mirjam Pol, joined the two men on the podium in third place: Pol produced a consistent performance and gave the men a lesson in navigation. “I enjoyed the stage more from this direction, it was easier to turn, maybe because we had already had the tracks, and after the morning rain I felt a better grip,” said Pol. “I found the stages on Saturday quite difficult, but today it felt like I was flying. Okay, I still have two ahead of me, but the feeling was really good.”
Richárd Hodola, the only Hungarian in the World Cup field, finished fourth in overall, and second in the Hungarian championship behind Péter Kárpáti.
“I really enjoyed the stages on Sunday and the navigation was better because the wind was not so strong, so I could see the tracks and the road,” said Hodola. “I’m sorry I didn’t get the World Cup podium, but it was impossible to work off the half-an-hour gap behind, I collected on Saturday.”
Slovakian Juraj Varga, the leader of the quad category, was looking for safety on Sunday: “All I had to do today was to keep the lead and that was the only good tactic. Especially, as I was on one set of tyres, so I had to be careful with that as well. It’s great that it wasn’t as hot as on Friday and I really like the stages the other way round.”
CARS
In the car category, Benediktas Vanagas, with a lead of more than nine minutes, didn’t have to worry too much, just enough to get through Sunday’s two stages at his own pace. He was leading from the start to the finish of HunGarian Baja.
“We started the last day of the race with a relatively big advantage, so we had no other tactics than to take care about the car and try to finish safely,” said Vanagas, who is an experienced driver, but this is his first race in Hungary. “In the first stage today, Joao Ferreira was eight tenths faster than us, but it didn’t really matter. The stage itself was as difficult as Saturday, but shorter: these jumps took a lot out of the cars, so it was a very good test for the car and for us as well, for the Dakar.”
European Cup leader Joao Ferreira of Portugal arrived on the second place, but he was given a three-minute penalty for swapping his front and rear wheels in the neutralisation zone on Saturday, which is not permitted anymore, and he slipped back to third place.
“We were fast, but I didn’t push as hard as I could because I didn’t want to take any risks,” Ferreira admitted. “On the first stage today, I managed to get a bit of a lead over Michal (Maluszynski), and Benediktas (Vanagas) was far away, so everything went according to plan. But than the penalty came…”
Maluszynski added that he liked these tricky tracks full of jumps and was happy with his second place.
Unfortunately, the two Hungarian drivers had to retire on Saturday: Pál Lónyai had an accident and although he wanted to continue on Sunday (and the rules allow this), he finally gave up, while Kornél Lukács had a broken drive shaft, so he could not finish the last stage on Saturday.
FINAL RESULTS
MOTOS:
1. Toni Mulec (Slovenian, KTM Husqvarna) 5:48:53.9,
2. Wallace (British, KTM) +13:24.2 min.,
3. Pol (Dutch, Husqvarna) +33:18.5 m.
QUADS:
1. Juraj Varga (Slovakian, Yamaha YFM) 6:05:42.7,
2. Vanková (Czech, Yamaha Raptor) +1:04:39.7 h.,
3. Caisová (Czech, Yamaha 450R) + 2:36:54.7 h.
CARS:
1. Benediktas Vanagas, Kuldar Sikk (Lithuanian, Estonian, Toyota Hilux) 4:43:16.7,
2. Maluszynski, Kurzeja (Polish, Mini John Cooper) +8:37.7,
3. Ferreira, Monteiro (Portuguese, Mini John Cooper) +8:49.2
Source Hungarian Baja
