The road had dried up by the second stage of Saturday at HunGarian Baja and the competitors had also become more familiar with the 140-km special stage, so all of them, at least those who did not have any problem, completed the distance faster than in the morning.
The fastest again was Nasser Al-Attiyah, who is faultless up to now (he has won three from three stages), but he cannot not sit back, since Mikko Hirvonen is within reach and he will definitely not give up.
‘The road had been dried up by the second stage and I am very happy that we won the stage, even if we lost around a minute at the end, because I did not want to take any risk in the mud and deep ruts. The car works excellently, but we have to push the pedal on Sunday, too’ said Nasser Al-Attiyah.
However, last year’s winner Mikko Hirvonen has the same plans.
‘We did not slide as much as before and I did not make any mistake, but Nasser was faster anyway, I could not get closer to him. We will drive the same stage tomorrow, but in the opposite direction. It helps a bit, because we more or less know what to expect. It will be difficult to catch Nasser, but I try to push him, since I have nothing to lose, I am not forced to finish the race at all hazards, I can take some risks as well’ said Hirvonen.
Presently Jakub Przygonski lies at the third position. As he admitted it had huge impact on him that there were parallel sections at the stage and he could see Martin Prokop. The Czech was only a bit set back by losing the sixth gear in his car at the beginning of the day. However, now he has big gap behind the Polish, more than 5 minutes, which is not easy to recuperate.
‘We had a great fight with Prokop. Sometimes we could see each other due to the lay-out of the stage and certainly it gave me some motivation, I pushed the gas more’ said Przygonski. ‘We found good pace and we were much faster due to the fact that we had known the stage.’
By the end of the day Pál Lónyai became the best Hungarian with his ninth position. In the morning he had to stop three times due to the steamy windscreen, and once because he wanted to know whether Conrad Rautenbach after having slid into the ditch had no other problems. However, by the afternoon his times improved a lot. ‘That is what it means if I can see’ joked Lónyai. ‘Some people say it is boring to drive the same stage twice, but I must deny it, because this track is extremely enjoyable.’
The Hungarian World Cup race will close with two 98-km stages on Sunday.
HUNGARIAN BAJA, WORLD CUP RACE
Overall classification after 3 stages. Cars:
1. Nasser Al-Attiyah, Mathieu Baumel (Qatari, French, Toyota Hilux) 3:21:40,
2. Hirvonen, Schulz (Finnish, German, Mini John Cooper) +1:24 min,
3. Przygonski, Colsoul (Polish, Belgian, Mini John Cooper) +4:18 min,
…9. Lónyai, Horn (Hungarian, Porsche Macan) +25:44 min.