Tricky, sometimes fast, somewhere technical dotted with jumps and due to the night rain water splashes. The first 140-km stage of Saturday provided the competitors with plenty of surprises.
The Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah started as fourth, but finished as first. He caught up the ones started before him and since then he opened the road. However, it did not slow him or at least not much, because he was faster than last year’s winner, Mikkor Hirvonen by 1 minute and 8 seconds.
‘It was a great stage, at the beginning a bit bumpy and full of water splashes’ said the two-time Dakar winner Al-Attiyah. ‘At the second part of the stage we led the way, the end of it was very slippery, so we did not take any risk. Overall I think we have done a good job.’
The second placed Mikko Hirvonen was not unsatisfied either, although he made some small mistakes (he slid through at some crosses), he did not lose much time, not even by catching up and overtaking three cars. ‘Yet, I try to push the pedal a bit more at the second stage, because I do not want Nasser to break away’ said Hirvonen. ‘The road was very slippery at some points, while at other bumpy and it was difficult to figure out how the car behaved at some water splashes. Altogether I cannot complain, everything went well.’
Jakub Przygonski finished third, the Polish driver set excellent pace. ‘It was a tricky stage, full of water splashes. We went into one of them by the speed of 160 km/h and it restructured the chassis a bit, but otherwise everything was good. At the second part of the stage we went together with Nasser and Prokop, I drove behind Nasser, so it was a good opportunity to learn and anyway we had a great battle’ said Przygonski.
The best Hungarian, Károly Fazekas finished tenth, but he had some technical issues later (the front differential went to ruin), so he could not start at the second stage. As of another Hungarian Imre Fodor crashed over, so he did not continue the race either.
Among bikes Stefan Svitko, who won a stage and finished second at last year’s Dakar, competed at his first Hungarian race, though it did not seem at all, since he immediately won the first stage on Saturday. ‘The weather caused big difficulties, the wind was so strong that we could hardly keep the road, which was anyway fast and bumpy’ said Svitko.
The second placed Jan Brabec told that the stage had been as if it was part of a supercross race, though a bit longer. And what was his plan for the afternoon? ‘I try to catch the guy in front of me’ he smiled.
Alessandro Ruoso also regarded the stage as difficult: ‘The rain and the wind did not help the road, I felt it a bit risky. I hope the next stage will be easier.’ The Italian, just like Andrien Maré, has had his own experience in how to win in Hungary. However, Maré representing Monaco, did not enjoy the first stage as he had done two years ago. ‘We started behind the cars and trucks and they damaged the road a bit, but I liked the forest part again’ Maré summarised.
Among the Hungarian bikers Richárd Hodola was the best with his fourth place. He also told that the strong collateral wind sometimes forced them down the road: ‘The first part of the stage was technical, curvy and very demanding. At some ditches we had to be very cautious. The second part of the stage went through the forest, it was fast and rally style.’
HUNGARIAN BAJA, WORLD CUP RACE
Classification after 2 stages. Cars: 1. Nasser al-Attiyah, Mathieu Baumel (Qatari, French, Toyota Hilux) 1:46:43, 2. Hirvonen, Schultz (Finnish, German, Mini John Cooper) +1:14 m, 3. Przygonski, Colsoul (Polish, Belgian) +2:21 m, …10. Fazekas, Somfai (Hungarian, BMW X6) +13:35 m. Bikes: 1. Stefan Svitko (Slovakian, KTM) 1:50:37, 2. Brabec (Czech, Husqvarna) +1:55:58 m, 3. Maré (Monaco, KTM) +1:56:09 m
