Przygonski extends his FIA World Cup lead by finishing second
The Hungarian Baja, event number eight on the FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup calendar, ended with a huge success for X-raid. Joan ‚Nani‘ Roma and Alex Haro (both ESP) won the Baja with their MINI John Cooper Works Rally, followed by their team-mates Jakub ‚Kuba‘ Przygonki (POL) and Tom Colsoul (BEL) – who also raced a MINI JCW Rally – in second position. With this second place, the Pole also extended his lead in the FIA World Cup standings.
The Baja was started on Friday with a short prologue that was won by Przygonski, with Roma coming third. The other four special stages were contested on Saturday. Roma and his MINI JCW Rally prevailed in SS3 and Przygonki in the fourth and fifth special stages. After having raced about 400 kilometres against the clock, Roma won the Baja with a 15-second lead over his team-mate. And with 258 points on his tally, Przygonski now holds a 57-point lead in the World Cup over Vladimir Vasilyev (201 points) in second position. Martin Prokop (184 points) follows in third.
Round nine on the FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup calendar – the Baja Poland – will be held in just two weeks.
Nani Roma “I’m really delighted with having won the event. Kuba gave us quite a hard time. He was very fast. To contest a Baja right after a rally such as the Silk Way wasn’t easy. The speed is far lower. The MINI ran fantastically. On Saturday morning, torrential rain was falling and consequently, the track was very slippery and driving was anything but easy. In the afternoon, the conditions changed completely.”
Kuba Przygonski “It was a rather demanding event with a lot of water. We had a great battle with Nani and came close to winning the event. He is extremely experienced and it was great that we were able to match his pace. The points we scored by finishing second were important but now I’m looking forward to the Baja Poland.”
Hungarian Baja overall standings:
1. J. Roma (ESP) / A. Haro (ESP) MINI JCW Rally – 3h 48m 22s
2. J. Przygonski (POL) / T. Colsoul (BEL) MINI JCW Rally – 3h 48m 38s
3. V. Vasilyev (RUS) / K. Zhiltsov (RUS) Toyota – 3h 58m 20s
4. X. Pons (ESP) / R. San Juan (ESP) Toyota – 3h 58m 39s
5. M. Prokop (CZE) / J. Tomanek (CZE) Ford – 4h 03m 35s
