Sebastian Paraipan and Stefan Santa won the Baja Satu Mare
By Stephan Wolf
Romania’s Baja Satu Mare (13-15 June) was a joint round of the Romanian Championship (Campionatului Național de Rally Raid, or CNRR) and the Hungarian Championship (Terep-Rally Országos Bajnokság, or TROB). It was also the first of two 'guest' rounds of the Hungarian championship outside the country - the second is scheduled for July in Italy.
The planned race route consisted of six special stages - two on Friday (69.04 km competition distance) and four on Saturday (230.20 km competition distance). The total distance was 299.24km. Unlike most such events, there was no short prologue in the race programme.
Serious problems already appeared on Friday, when the competitors had to complete the 34.52-kilometre Sanislău special stage twice. The first run was won by Lőrinc Mészáros (Ford F150 Evo+), just 2.2 seconds ahead of Balázs Molnár (M1 X3 of the T4Nat group). Third was Czech Miroslav Zapletal (Ford F150 Evo+), the leader of the Hungarian championship, 21.4s down (he had problems with the gearbox). However, the second special stage had to be cancelled - the track was blocked by an agricultural vehicle.
On Saturday morning Miroslav Zapletal successfully attacked and on the short SS3 (only 25.23km) he beat his closest rival by almost a minute to become the new leader of the race. But already on the next special there was a serious incident that "buried" the Hungarian round of the championship. Lőrinc Mészáros crew made a navigational error and went in the wrong direction, resulting in a head-on collision between two Ford F150 Evo+, Lőrinc Mészáros and Mirosllav Zapletal.
The crew of Miroslav Zapletal and Marek Sýkora were not injured, but Lőrinc Mészáros suffered a small leg injury. After that the decision was made - the Hungarian Championship round on SS4 is considered finished. The participants of the Romanian Championship were able to continue the race and completed most of the distance (four special stages, after the cancellation of SS2 and SS4). In the end, the race was won by the local crew of Sebastian Paraipan and Stefan Santa on the latest Can-Am Maverick R.
Thus, the Romanian Championship round included four special stages with a total length of 196.43 km. However, the competitors in the Hungarian championship were only provisionally classified after SS3, or 59.75 km of the distance.
Marek Sýkora:
On Saturday, the first special stage was 25 km, followed by three more stages. We won the first stage, gaining a lead of about one and a half minutes, which lifted our spirits.
However, during the second stage, an unfortunate incident occurred. Based on Friday's overall standings, we were starting third. The first to start was Lőrinc, the second was Molnár, and we were third. Molnár had a problem right at the beginning of the first stage with the driveshaft.
The first stage went smoothly, but in the second stage, Lőrinc, who was now starting first because Molnár had dropped out, got lost. They drove about 3-4 km in the wrong direction, thinking they were on the correct route. In a right-hand turn, they ended up in the wrong lane, driving at racing speed, and we unfortunately collided. It was a split-second event with no time for reaction from either side. Thankfully, no one was hurt. All four of us got out of the cars safely. This is part of racing. Because of this incident, the entire competition was canceled. Now we are focusing on preparing for our next race in Italy. Baja.
The fourth round of the Hungarian championship should be another “guest” race, the Italian Baja (July 4–6).
Baja Satu Mare (Hungarian Championship), after SS3
1. Zapletal/Sýkora (CZ/SK, Ford F150 Evo+, ULT+) 48:15.9
2. Mészáros/Pál (H, Ford F150 Evo+, ULT+) +1:11.5
3. Kéry/Bartha (H, Can-Am Maverick X3, T4Nat) +1:27.7
4. Garamvölgy/Takács (H, Garilla X3 Evo, T4Nat) +1:47.7
5. Liszi/Kapitány (H, an-Am Maverick X3, SSV) +2:52.4
Baja Satu Mare (Romanian Championship)
1. Paraipan/Santa (RO, Can-Am Maverick R) 2:52:06.0 (pen. 4:00)
2. Barbu/Anghelescu (RO, Can-Am Maverick R) +23:52.7 (pen. 12:00)
3. Negulescu/Barboi (RO, Can-Am Maverick X3) +33:58.1 (pen. 26:00)
Photo Credits: Magyar Terep-rallye, Bordás Lóránt Krisztián, teams social media
