The victory for the Mini JCW Rally+ driver, who claimed two stage wins in punishing heat over the weekend, delivered a priceless haul of points towards his challenge for honours in the Drivers’ Championship and the Ultimate category in the European series.

Krotov said: “We finished the Hungarian Baja. It was my first time competing here. I enjoyed it but today was very tough with three long stages. It was very hot and the air conditioning in our car didn’t work very well. On today’s final stage, after 50km, a suspension arm broke and then the drive shaft failed, so we had to drive slowly to the finish. This is out second victory with the petrol Mini. We also won in Qatar last year in it.”

The Polish duo of Wlodzimierz Grazek and Michal Goleniewski were quickest on the last stage and finished in second place in their Toyota Hilux. Initially, they were deemed to be the winners of the event but Krotov applied for a time deduction on stage two, after losing time trying to find the correct route due to the incorrect placement of some tape on the special. The Stewards upheld the X-Raid driver’s request and 42 seconds was returned to the crew and that was enough to secure the win.

Second-placed navigator Goleniewski said: “It was a very difficult and demanding event. The weather was not helping either. We did over 400km in a huge heat. The terrain here is tough with a lot of rocks. It is nice to be standing on the podium.”

The final place on the overall podium went to the dominant Dutch duo of Paul Spierings and Mark Salomons in their Challenger category-winning Taurus T3 Max Evo, but they were not registered for the FIA European Baja Cup. Spierings said: “This was a perfect test for us. It’s the first time we sit together in the car. No issues. I think we did pretty well.”

Oman’s Hamed Al-Wahaibi and his Austrian navigator Ilka Minor used the event as a test session to gain more experience before the next round of the FIA World Baja Cup. The veteran finished fourth and topped the SSV standings in his RX Sport Can-Am Maverick R but, like Spierings, was not registered for European points.

‘Csucsu’ and Márk Mesterházi guided their Speedy Motorsport Taurus T3 Max to fifth and the Hungarians also picked up maximum points in the Challenger category. Fellow Hungarians, Balázs and Gabriella Molnár, were the first of the registered SSV crews in their Can-Am Maverick R in sixth place.

Lőrinc Mészáros and Albert Horn finished eighth in a G Rally Team OT3 and picked up points for second of the registered crews in the Challenger section. The result enabled the Hungarian to close the gap on the absent leader Miguel Angel Valero in the title race.

Sean Haren and Martin Hales finished 11th in a Polaris RZR Pro R after losing nearly 40 minutes on stage three but the result still gave the British duo points for second place in the SSV section. With title rivals Afonso Oliveira and Yagic Birinci both retiring, it pushed Haren and his navigator into strong title contention.

Poland’s Magdalena Zając and Czekan Błażej delivered another consistent finish in their Toyota Hilux to take 12th. That result earned them points for third in the Ultimate class and enabled Magdalena to extend her series lead over the absent Joäo Ferreira and Benediktas Vanagas, who was classified down in 19th overall and fourth of the registered Ultimate drivers after an on-board fire ruined his weekend.

It looks like being a golden year for the Polish pairing of Barthomiej Wajzer and Ernest Górecki. The Toyota Land Cruiser KDJ 15 crew had already mathematically secured the FIA European Baja Cup’s Stock category title for series-production cross-country machines before the Hungarian event.

A sixth straight maximum points score and 15th overall also netted the duo another vital haul of overall championship points and they remain in a very strong position to win the FIA European Baja Cup’s Drivers’ and Navigators’ titles with three events remaining and several rivals playing catch up at the end of the season. Wajzer also remains firmly in control in the Master driver section.

The Várpalota-based three-day event featured 24 starters with 10 entered in the Ultimate class, seven in Challenger, six in SSV and a sole entrant in the Stock section for series production cross-country machines. Of those, 11 were registered for the FIA European Baja Cup.

Starting orders were determined by an 11.02km Prologue stage on Friday morning (August 15) at Várpalota. Competitors then tackled a single stage of 50.59km in the afternoon.

A gruelling timetable for Saturday (August 16) saw teams compete over three timed specials of 128.04km, 128.04km and 127.78km between Gyulafirátót and Várpalota. In a compact route of 536.36km, 445.47km were timed against the clock.

Vanagas topped the times on the Prologue with a run of 7min 32.2sec to finish 12.8 seconds quicker than Miroslav Zapletal.

Spierings and Haran were the quickest in the Challenger and SSV categories but Afonso Oliveira’s Hungarian challenge had ended prematurely when he crashed heavily on the pre-event shakedown and missed out on the chance to extend his lead in the Junior and SSV categories in the FIA European Baja Cup

The three Prologue winners in the major categories went on to set the quickest times again on the opening stage. Vanagas was 10 seconds quicker than Krotov in the Ultimate section, Spierings got the better of Barthomiej Kotwica in Challenger and Haran beat Al-Wahaibi by 19.7 seconds in the SSVs.

Krotov claimed the fastest time on the first of the three longer stages to displace Vanagas at the head of the rankings and take a 3min 45.8sec lead into the penultimate stage. The Lithuanian lost his way for a short time on the track.

Al-Wahaibi also delivered a superb performance to take SSV honours and move into fourth overall. The Omani was later awarded a 30-second penalty for checking tyre pressures in a restricted zone. Spierings continued to dominate his Challenger rivals in seventh place, while Turkey’s Yagic Birinci lost his chance to close the gap on Oliviera in the SSVs after retiring in the stage.

Krotov was again quickest on the third stage and extended his lead to 4min 01.1sec. Zapletal moved into second overall after Vanagas his trouble and failed to finish the stage. Grajek was third in his Toyota. Spierings continued to lead the Challenger section in fourth and Al-Wahaibi shook off his time penalty to lead the SSVs in fifth.

Vanagas was sidelined after 90km of the stage. The Toyota driver said: “We arrived at the neutralisation zone and had to stay there about 10 minutes. Smoke started seeping from under the car. After taking out the spare wheels, we found the source of the flames. Rescuers were on standby nearby and they helped us.”

Grazek snatched the quickest time in the last stage and moved up to second place, but Krotov survived a little time loss to seal the win. Zapletal dropped out of contention in the last stage and finished 17th.

Round seven of the FIA European Baja Cup takes crews to Poland on August 28th-31st.  

22nd Hungarian Baja – final result:

1. Denis Krotov (KGZ)/Oleg Uperenko (KGZ) Mini JCW Rally+                                                  5hr 20min 07.5sec+

2. Wlodzimierz Grajek (POL)/Michal Goleniewski (POL) Toyota Hilux                                    5hr 20min 22.0sec+

3. Paul Spierings (NED)/Marl Salomons (NED) Taurus T3 Max Evo                                          5hr 22min 35.1sec

4. Hamed Al-Wahaibi (OMN)/Ilka Minor (AUT) Can-Am Maverick R                                       5hr 23min 54.6sec

5. Csucsu (HUN)/Márk Mesterházi (HUN) Taurus T3 Max                                                         5hr 34min 38.2sec+                 

6. Balázs Molnár (HUN)/Gabriella Molnár (HUN) Can-Am Maverick R                                                     5hr 41min 34.8sec+

7. Juraj Varga (SVK)/Radovan Schneider (SVK) Polaris RXR Pro R                                            5hr 44min 17.1sec

8. Lőrinc Mészáros (HUN)/Albert Horn (HUN) G Rally Team OT3                                            5hr 48min 00.6sec+

9. Martin Benko (SVK)/Jiri Kalát (CZE) Taurus T3 Max                                                                5hr 57min 15.0sec 

10. Pál Lónyai (HUN)/Aleksei Kuzmich (UAE) LPR Porsche Macan                                           5hr 59min 43.8sec

11. Sean Haran (GBR)/Martin Hales (GBR) Polaris RXR Pro R Sport                                         6hr 08min 52.0sec+

12. Magdalena Zając (POL)/Czekan Błażej (POL) Toyota Hilux                                                  6hr 11min 16.2sec+                 

13. Vincent Thijs (BEL)/Arjan Van Tiel (BEL) Toyota Hilux                                                          6hr 18min 22.4sec

14. Alexandre Pesci (SUI)/Alexandre Giroud (FRA) Taurus T3 Max                                          6hr 22min 01.5sec

15. Barthomiej Wajzer (POL)/Ernest Górecki (POL) Toyota Land Cruiser KDJ 15                                    7hr 20min 59.4sec+

16. Christof Danner (AUT)/Herwig Reiger (AUT) Puch 320 G E55                                            7hr 24min 22.1sec

17. Miroslav Zapletal (CZE)/Marek Sykora (SVK) Ford F-150 Evo                                             9hr 02min 46.8sec

18. Tomas Ourednicek (CZE)/Petr Hauptmann (CZE) Toyota Hilux                                          14hr 20min 38.3sec

19. Benediktas Vanagas (LTU)/Aisvydas Paliukenas (LTU) Toyota Hilux                                 19hr 51min 10.2sec+

Miklós Trébitsch (HUN)/Sándor Trébitsch (HUN) Bedu Pro X3                                                 RETIRED – SS3        

Barthomiej Kotwica (POL)/Arkadiusz Jedrzejewski (POL) Taurus T3 Max                              RETIRED – SS2

Yagiz Birinci (TUR)/Evangelos Sotirchos (GRE) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR                                    RETIRED – SS2+

Frantisek Brutovsky (CZE)/Josef Radina (CZE) Ford F150+                                                         RETIRED – SS1        

Afonso Oliveira (POR)/Fábio Belo (POR) Polaris RXR Pro R Sport                                             DNS+

+denotes registered for FIA European Baja Cup