The opening round of the Hungarian Cross-country Rally Championship will be organised in Bugac on 18-20 March, 2016. Duna Aszfalt Cup will be special this year, because for the bikes and quads it also counts toward the FIM-E European Championship, and for the cars towards the FIA Central European Zone Trophy (CEZ), so a strong field is expected in both categories.
Among bikes, Pedro Bianchi Prata is expected to be the biggest favourite of the race . The Portuguese biker had to settle with a second place in the European Championship last year, after taking the title three times in a row, so now he’s eager to get back on the top of the continent. “I am delighted to participate in this Baja, because for me this will be the first time to compete in this part of Hungary and because Duna Aszfalt Cup is the first round of the European Championship that I want to complete this year. Usually Bajas in Hungary are very well organized and I personally really like to participate in these races. I will race my Dakar 2016 bike, a Honda CRF450R, developed and improved by my own team” the rider said.
Among cars the best starting number goes to Czech Miroslav Zapletal, 16th in the 2016 Dakar with his Polish co-driver Maciej and the Hummer H3 EVO developed in his workshop. Beside his, there will be two more similar Hummers, driven by Piotr Bialkowski (Poland) and Tomas Ourednicek (Czech Republic).
Among Hungarian cross-country rally drivers, Balázs Szalay gets the bigest attention. Last year he competed in only one round of the national championship, so it’s good news for the Hungarian fans that he will also be at the starting line in Bugac, for the first time since the Africa Eco Race in January.
Duna Aszfalt Cup will start Friday afternoon from Kecskemét with a 11km Superspecial. On Saturday, there will be two specials of 109 km each, starting from Bugac, followed by another 109 km special on Sunday.
