Yazeed Al Rajhi and Michael Orr won two of the five stages (first and fifth) and lead the race in Várpalota. The Saudi driver suffered a puncture at the shooting range in the morning, but then managed to close the gap on Krzysztof Holowczyc, who returned to racing after seven years.
"The stages are good, but there are a lot of jumps and ditches, which makes the sessions difficult," said Al Rajhi. Michael is doing a very good job and after the unlucky puncture in the morning, we were lucky in the afternoon. We didn't take any risk and we're not planning to do it, as we're going for the championship."
Holowczyc won three of Saturday's four stages, and was very unlucky in the final stage. In the morning he said that for someone who hadn't driven a race car for seven years, the leading position was not bad, although the landings after the jumps were a bit of a pain. He added that it was certainly possible to go faster, but he didn't want to take any risks, that he was driving at his own rythm and that the second lap might be easier because he knew the track. It was not.
"We got lost on the last stage and lost five minutes," said Holowczyc, who was racing with Mini. "They didn't put the banners back after the first lap, we went off the right track and we tried to find the road for five minutes. Then we saw another car behind us, went after him, overtook him and then we were almost flying to the finish. That's part of the game, I have to be faster tomorrow."
World Cup leader Yasir Seaidan is third in the overall. Of the stages, he said they were jumpy, twisty, beautiful but difficult. On the first stage, he caught the car in front of him, and because he didn't have a Sentinel signal, he was 30 kilometres behind him, so he was able to drive at his rythm only in the following stage.
"In the last ten kilometres there were some strange noises coming from the left front of the car, then it turned out that the drive-shift was broken, and we also had a puncture, a wheel went out, so we were lucky to finish the stage at all. A lot of people crashed out today, while we could sort out the problems, so we're happy with third place. No problem, I'll let the boys fight for the lead, it's a good position for me."
Pál Lónyai and Attila Csató, the top Hungarian pair in the World Cup standings, in fourth place, made closer contact with a concrete block on the third stage.
"Unfortunately, the concrete block won. We hit it and our drive shaft broke. If I have known it's there, I would have been more cautious, but now there's nothing I can do. I'm sorry because we were fourth in the overall, but we'll be back in the race tomorrow," said Pál Lónyai.
The final stage for the bikers was cancelled for safety reasons (the back of the field could not finish before the sunset), with Germany's Sebastian Bühler leading the race after four stages.
"The cars started in front of us, so the first two stages were quite confusing, there were a lot of lines in front of us, it was almost impossible to find the right way," said Bühler. "The cancellation of the last stage was a good decision, I'm happy with the lead, I'll try to do the same tomorrow and continue to test my bike."
Frenchman Mathieu Doveze is in second place, less than seven minutes behind, while Stefan Svitko, who has won several races in the past, is third. The riders all mentioned how difficult the stages were because of the many tracks in front of them (as the cars started ahead of them), but the leading riders added that despite the mistakes, these tough tracks served good preparation for the Dakar.
Hungary's best contender, Richard Hodola, is looking forward to the final day in ninth place, even though he had a bad fall that he was not sure to continue.
"I fell at the 20th kilometre of the first stage, there was a lot of dust and I didn't see a stone," said Hodola. I was sitting on the ground next to my bike for five minutes, then I got myself together and got on back - the pain was getting less and less, I felt better and better on the bike, I was like, if I had put so much energy into it, didn’t matter what position, but I would get the bike in somehow, and then I realised it wasn't that bad."
The HunGarian Baja finishes on Sunday with 2 stages.
Overall classification after 5 stages.
Cars:
1. Yazeed Al Rajhi, Michael Orr (Saudi Arabian, British, Toyota Hilux) 3:13:09,
2. Holowczyc, Kurzeja (Polish, Mini John Cooper Works) +1:05 min,
3. Seaidan, Kuzmich (Saud Arabian, Russian, Mini John Cooper Works) + 5:17 min.
Bikes:
1. Sebastian Bühler (German, HERO) 2:43:36,
2. Doveze (French, KTM) + 6:46 min.
3. Svitko (Slovakian, KTM) +9:04 min.
Souce Hungarian Baja
