A short warm-up session in Nyirád Arena (public has filled the hill despite the heat) then the starting ceremony at Megyeház Square in Veszprém – it was the menu for Friday at the Hungarian cross-country rally World Cup race HunGarian Baja where the real fight will start on Saturday morning. ‘One of my favourite races is the Hungarian one and not only for the excellent organization, but for the stages that can be found nowhere in Europe. I always learn and improve a lot here and that is why I did not want to miss it’ said 2-times Dakar winner Nasser Al-Attiyah who is definitely one of the biggest stars of the race. Rivals would be happy if they could get close to him in optimal circumstances, even so if they could beat him at some stages… Despite the huge respect towards him Al-Attiyah does not carry it high, moreover at drivers’ briefing he had some nice words to all opponents and he shook hands with everybody. And at warm-up session certainly he was the fastest. He beat the Dutch Bernhard Ten Brinke with Toyota and Russian Boris Gadasin. The best Hungarian was Erik Korda whose tactic was to go very fast. Is it so simple? Definitely not, but what can one say before such a marathon rush. Among riders Adrien Maré is the biggest name. Before the race he only said that he had been third here the previous year. ‘I would like to change it with a win this year. I have the same goal as Nasser’ smiled at the Dakar winner sitting next to him. His motorbike was prepared by David Casteu and he also plans to go to the desert one time. For the time being his dreams are limited by financial sources (same as in many cases), but he thinks that his plan will be completed in the future. Maré finished fourth at the 2.6 km super special stage that was won by Polish Damian Raczyk. However he is aware that he cannot count on his slim advantage, since on Saturday two 175 km selective stages are awaiting for the field.
HUNGARIAN BAJA, 7TH RACE OF WORLD CUP, NYIRÁD Super special. Cars: 1. Nasser Al-Attijah, Matthieu Baumel (Qatari, French, Mini All4) 2:52, 2. Ten Brinke, Colsoul (Dutch, Belgian, Toyota Hilux) + 1 sec, 3. Gadasin, Novikov (Russian, G-Force Proto) + 6 sec, …5. Erik Korda, Attila Csató (Hungarian, Mitsubishi) + 9 sec. Riders: 1. Damian Raczyk (Polish, Yamaha) 2:52, 2. Sanchez (French, Yamaha) + 7 sec, 3. Giroud (French, Yamaha) + 9 sec, …11. Lajos Horváth (Hungarian, KTM) + 56 sec.
