The Baja Satu Mare, a joint race in Romania between the Hungarian and Romanian Cross-Nation Rally Championships, was known as off for the previous after three levels following a wreck involving leaders Miroslav Zapletal and Lőrinc Mészáros Jr.
Each drivers, competing in Ford F-150 T1+ vehicles, collided after a navigation error despatched considered one of them within the flawed route, inflicting Zapletal to t-bone Mészáros within the driver’s facet. Mészáros and co-driver Erik Pál bought out of their automobile with out situation, however the former reported feeling ache in his left leg upon standing up and determined to return to Hungary for analysis. Zapletal and Marek Sýkora escaped harm, although their Ford suffered substantial entrance harm.
Previous to the accident, Zapletal had been main the general with a time of 48:15.9, only a minute and eleven seconds forward of Mészáros. The latter set the most effective time in the course of the first Selective Part on Friday whereas Zapletal was third; Mészáros’ M1 Motorsport team-mate Balázs Molnár was sandwiched between them however retired in SS3. The second stage, which was alleged to happen later Friday, was cancelled as a result of agricultural equipment blocking the course for a lot of opponents.
The race continued for the Romanians, however was known as for Hungarians as a result of crash. The awards ceremony was additionally known as off. Sebastian Paraipan received the rally on the Romanian facet in his Can-Am Maverick R by practically twenty-four minutes, persevering with a formidable rally raid infancy for the SSV; Can-Ams swept the highest 5.
Mészáros was the defending Satu Mare winner when he narrowly beat Csucsu by simply seven-tenths of a second and Zapletal by eleven seconds in 2023, and had completed third general within the season-opening Desert Categorical 300 in March. His father is a businessman who served because the mayor of Felcsút within the 2010s; the elder Mészáros grew up with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and is thus an in depth member of his internal circle.
Zapletal, who has raced the Dakar Rally since 2007, often competes within the FIA World and European Baja Cups in addition to home collection in Central and Jap Europe. He lately completed runner-up on the World Cup’s Baja Greece in late Might.
Baja Satu Mare was the third spherical of the 2024 Hungarian Championship (TROB) and the second for the Romanian CNRR.
