Hungarian Baja: Ruoso, Zanotti and Maré Hungary first winners in the bikes.; in cars, Mini´s Terranova leading in front of Al Attiyah and Holowczyc.

The "Hungarian Baja" started on Friday with the Kemeneshogyész-Magyargencs selective section. Bikes and quads started, but for start-up was tough enough the crews had to go nearly 60 kilometers.

Many people trusted that the sunny weather will last all day long, but it was not up to them, they had a difficult start. At the muddy tracks few more have been slowed down and in addition decided to be careful, saying the race is still long.

Not so Yamaha-rider Alessandro Ruoso from Italy, who choosed speed instead to drive careful, on a particulary fast section his top speed was 156 km/h, causing many jaws dropped. His 39:34 time result proved to be unique, because the second Alex Zanotti (Italy) has received more than a minute from Ruoso.

"I am satisfied with my performance, I try to keep up this pace to continue," Alessandro Ruoso said after the first stage. "The rain was beneficial for me, although I struggled with some electrical problems."

After them followed: Vojkuvka, Maré, Lhotsky, Kaluzny and the best on the quad Arkadiusz. 







The "Hungarian Baja" competitors were heating up in rain for Friday – 58.37 kilometers performed in harsh weather condition (racing through huge puddles). The mud beside the bikers also was a serious challenge for the cars as well. The „warm-up” phase, not only was good to get back into shape, but also to come forth any problems, which can be fixed in the evening service, save the competitors from next day’s trouble.

In the cars, X-raid Mini All4 Racing driver Orlando Terranova from Argentina was the fastest – in front of Nasser Al Attiyah (Qatar) in the fastest Overdrive Toyota Hilux and Krzysztof Holowczyc from Poland, also in a X-raid Mini. "I race in Hungary for the first time, I found the stage interesting, just I have found an error in the road-book," Terranova said after the first short stage.

Fourth became former Ski-expert Adam Malysz from Poland (Overdrive Toyota, 00:39:08) only 1 second in front of the fastest locals, Imre Fodor / Mark Mesterhazi (Ford Ranger). "I´m very happy because I have achieved the best results of my life. It seems we grew up to the task, because we passed three cars without mud tyres."

Russian X-raid Mini driver Vladimir Vasilyev and Konstantin Zhiltsov had a bad start and finished 8th with 00:39:33 minutes: "We had an extremely exciting battle, but the rain made it difficult for us," Vasilyev said. Nasser Al Attiyah confirmed: "We had a strong battle - with the mud and Vladimir Vasilyev."

In the trucks, Kovács Miklós (the only Hungarian truck-driver) got into a big trouble - the Turbo of his yellow Scania broke. It was feared that Kovács even with time penalty can not continue the race, it seemed almost impossible that they could finish during the maximum time.

But: The well-known Dakar-driver Ales Loprais from the Czech Republic (Tatra) and the other three competitors in truck category signed a statement, which indicated to the jury that they would like to involved the Hungarian Scania-trio in the contest among them as well.

"I was profoundly touched by the gesture, from the opponents, due to this we can still be in the competition – and we will do our best to make a spectacle of racing trucks what the wievers can enjoy," said Miklós Kovács.

„I'm sorry that this happened to Miklós, in his home filed competition, and it was natural to sign the declaration, since we truckers always stick together," Ales Loprais, who will test his Tatra in Hungary the second time outside the "Dakar" after the "Breslau Rally" in Poland in July.