Zoltán Hangodi and the Yamaha HQ Buggy occupy the 25th position in the overall classification of Baja Poland, eighth round of FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies after the longest day of the rally.
188 kilometres in 4 hours and 10 minutes. This could be the short summary of the Saturday morning special of Baja Poland for the driver of HQ Racing – together with not less than four punctures. As he had only two spare wheels, the first long special ended in a quite adventurous way for Zoltán Hangodi, but, even with a huge amount of time lost, he managed to bring the car home in one piece. And judged from the number of the cars withdrawn, this is already an achievement.
“I got four punctures, I drove with puncture, I had to make repairs, I got stuck in the sand – in this special everything occurred. It was the most difficult special of my life. It was very technical, very tiring,” Hango said in the service park.
In the afternoon things changed drastically. This time there were no punctures, no problems, just overtaking after overtaking and at the finish of the special a 12th time to Hango’s name, which can be considered excellent from a T3 car, especially in such a strong field. With this result Hango was also able to climb up a little in the overall classification and on Sunday there are two more specials for him to improve his position further.
“The second special was much better, I had no problems at all, no punctures. We changed tyre pressure a little, and we used another kind of tyre. I am happy with my time, but I had to overtake a lot, more than ten cars. This was really exciting, this time I liked the track more. I’m happy that I was able to finish, there is some work on the car, but tomorrow I’ll go flat out, nothing’s finished yet,” the driver said at the end of the day.
On Sunday there are two more specials of 74 km each on the schedule. Baja Poland ends with a prizegiving ceremony in the evening.
