The last day of Balkan offroad Rally offered not so long and difficult stages. The race track leaded the competitors trough very fast sections of dirt tracks between the fields in the Valley of Alba Iulia. Really fast and dusty sections with tricky navigation, combined with some mud and river crossings. Some 127 kilometers against the clock for the Cross-Country category and 75 for the Extreme were in the menu and after that it was the big final of the rally. At the end, we know who are the new crowned winners of the 10th jubilee of the race. And also, we know who win in the RBI Master Award with the highest score from the participation in the three events from the series – Fenix Rally, Breslau and Balkan.
Frederic Reinheimer from France claimed the last stage win in the bike class, but the winner of Balkan Offroad Rally 2022 is Krzysztof Jarmus. The rider from Poland finished Leg 5 on 6th place, but even like this he had enough advance of over 11 minutes to his closest pursuer Matthew Gird, who, after two wins in Tunisia and Poland, finished on 2nd place in Transylvania. Third overall is Rob Van Vegchel from Nederland with almost one hour passive to the winner.
Wining the last stage, Rafal Jawien claimed another title for Poland from Balkan Offroad in the ATV class. Jawien (Polaris) finished the race with advantage of 7 and half minutes to Adomas Gancierius (CFMOTO) from Latvia. The "bronze medal" went to Gaetan Martinez (Can Am) from France.
Lithuania was the triumphant country in the most crowded class of the rally – those of the SSVs. Reining king of Balkan Offroad Rally became Tomas Zaleckas (Can Am) who finished with a comfortable lead of almost 25 minutes to Maciej Stolarski from Poland. The third place went to another Lithuanian - Andrius Dotas (Can Am).
In the Car Open class, Doncho Tsanev took another stage win and, after one 3rd and two 2nd places, finally won Balkan Offroad Rally. The pilot from Bulgaria claimed the title with a rear-wheel driven prototype, often called “the big SSV”. With the technical problems of the contender Rients Hofstra in the last two days, the second place in the class went to Jaroslaw Andrzejewski (Toyota) from Poland. Top 3 overall completed the very first winner of the race in 2011 Joerg Gruenbeck from Germany (Mercedes). In the Car limited class, it was another victory for Polish driver - Gregorz Brochocki (Toyota).
In the Extreme race, Joel Purga finally took the stage win, but it was far not enough to dethrone his compatriot Hardo Mere. Mere took the overall victory with almost an hour advantage. Third place went to Edward Ruszczyc from Poland. In the limited class, the triumph was for the Dutch pilot Ronny Van Baal.
RBI Grand Master Award
After the finish of the three events of this year’s RBI Sport season, it’s clear who are the overall champions in the series: In the bike class this is Matthew Girs, and in the ATV class the overall winner is Adomas Gancierius from Latvia. Maciej Stolarski is the big winner in the SSV class, and that did in the Car Open class Urvo Mannama from Estonia. In the Car limited class triumphant was Bartolomiej Walzer from Poland, and in the Truck CC class the title went to William Van Groningen from Nederland.
Hardo Mere is the champion in the Extreme Open class and Maciej Pelc from Poland is leader in the EX Limited class. Henri Verhoeven (Nederland) is overall leader in the Truck Big EX class and Steffen Braun from Germany claimed the season win in the Truck Small EX class.
Season 2023
Tired but happy, race director Alex Kovatchev already has the initial plans for the next year season of the RBI Series. First in the calendar, probably in the third week of March will be Fenix Rally. Rally Breslau 2023 is planned for the beginning of July, and the 11th edition of Balkan Offroad is scheduled for the beginning of October,
Detailed classifications from Balkan Offroad and RBI Grand Master Award you can find here: https://balkanoffroad.net/regulations-2/
Source Balkan Offroad Rally
