Zapletal e Ruoso lead the Romanian Baja after 1st day.

Categoria: Todo o terreno internacional

The first two stages of the Romanian Baja have changed a lot of things since yesterday. The racers had to deal with plenty of difficulties. There were accidents, sickness, mud, rocks and huge upwards. The majority of the participants have the same opinion that this is a very hard racetrack.

In the car category, the Romanian Costel Casuneanu and his navigator, the Russian Konstantin Zhiltsov, had to give up the race after winning the prologue yesterday. Another pair, Zdenek Porizek and Marek Sykora is out of the race too. While Pal Lonyai and Robert Nyeste will have to skip the next stage because of the latter’s illness.  Casuneanu wanted to prove in his homeland but he crashed into a bridge with his Mitsubishi and he just managed to get back to the service park. “It is over, I am out” – said the seemingly angry driver. Porizek’s steering was broken so he is out of the race as well, while Pal Lonyai has the chance to return. “Robi’s blood pressure dropped during the race and when we arrived back he was already unconscious. I managed to finish this stage but we will skip the next one. I am not really worried about this, what is important right now is to cure Robi.” – said the disappointed Lonyai.

Miroslav Zapletal and his navigator, Marton Maciej, are still leading the race and they are followed by Imre Fodor and Attila Csato. “I have never raced at such a tough racetrack. It is almost as hard as an off-road race. I only managed to put the gear into five just once. I am really satisfied with the result but I would like to keep this position until the end.” – said Imre Fodor who is leading the competition among the Hungarian racers.

Alex Zanotti, who started the race this morning from the second spot, problems with his brake so probably the first position will be decided between Alessandro Ruoso and the 11-time-Dakar winner Stephane Peterhansel. Matthias Somfai, who tried to protect his quad, fell back to the fifth position and he is eight minutes behind the third position but at this tough race this disadvantage can be corrected.  Richard Hodola is in the third position at the European Championship in his category. “Everything is good so far despite the facts that I am competing with a new motor and that the racetrack is extremely hard." – said Richard Hodola after the first stages.

Press Romanian Baja