Author: norwitdakarracing

Baja competitions included in the FIA ​​World and European Baja Cup series are a great challenge for every competing crew. And that is exactly what Italian Baja 2026 was for Slovaks Martin Benek and Marek Sýkora and the NORWIT Racing Team.

The entire competition was carried out in the spirit of extremely hot weather, which literally paralyzed most of Europe last weekend, but also incredible dust, which did not dissipate for a very long time after the competition vehicles passed. If we add to this two broken discs and a pair of torn V-belts in the case of the NORWIT Racing Team, we can only praise Mat and Marek for finally bringing the Taurus T3 Max to the finish line of Italian Baja 2026, even though they lost a lot of time. Many of the competitors had to give up the competition early.

“Well, it was really hell and the heat really took its toll on us and the technology. In the second stage, we managed to break through and bend two discs in a row, and on top of that, the V-belt broke and the new one we put in didn’t last long either. There was nothing left to do but “lay down” in the corn and wait for the mechanics to come and tow us to the service area. And to make matters worse, we started the last stage as the very last one, ten minutes behind the penultimate car. We caught up after only ten kilometers, while its crew was going incredibly slowly and there was no way to overtake them. So we struggled behind it for many kilometers at a slow pace. Well, that’s sometimes how motorsport is, but that doesn’t matter, we’re glad we made it to the finish line. We’ve got it over with and now we have to prepare for the next event. My big thanks go to all the partners, Marek for his perfect work in navigating, the mechanics for preparing the car and of course I must not forget our families who share this “deviation” with us,” Martin Benko assessed the Italian adventure.

The competition that Martin Benko mentioned is waiting for the NORWIT Racing Team in less than a month and it will be the Baja España Aragón in Spain, which, like the Italian Baja, is included in this year’s FIA World and European Baja Cup 2026 calendar.
Odoslať spätnú väzbu

The event included in this year’s FIA World Baja Cup world series will, as the name suggests, be held in Italy and the Slovak crew Martin Benko – Marek Sýkora will not be missing from the start.

33.Italian Baja 2026 starts on 25-28.6.2026 with headquarters in the city of Pordenone, located north of the world-famous Venice. The competition itself will offer competitors a challenging route stretching along the transparent waters of the Meduna, Tagliamento and Cosa rivers, which flow in wide and gravelly beds. According to the organizer, the competition will be really challenging, as befits a proper world competition. If competitors want to succeed on this track, they must complete a gravel track, the total length of which is almost six hundred and seventy-five kilometers, and within it there are also two separate stages and four timed sections with a total length of more than four hundred and twenty measured kilometers.

Not only our Slovak crew consisting of Martin Benko – Marek Sýkora and Taurus T3 MAX, but also the other starting crews completed the administrative technical inspection yesterday and shakedown today, as well as the introductory Prologue by Giulia Maroni with a length of almost fourteen kilometers, which also determined the starting order for the first stage.

“First of all, it’s incredibly hot here, but also terribly humid, which makes the heat even worse. We managed the start, we finished in eighth place in the category. It could have been better, but it was terribly dusty in the Prologue and I really couldn’t see anything, just a wall of dust, even though we started in minute intervals. The surface, the river stones, was also quite new to me and it was really slippery. Marek did push me to go faster, but there was no point in trying anything in the Prologue. Our goal is to get to the finish line, but we know that it will be extremely difficult, also depending on the weather that prevails throughout Europe. We will try to give the best performance possible, so keep your fingers crossed for us,” Martin Benko said after the Prologue.

During tomorrow’s stage (Saturday, June 27, 2026), all participants will face a track where they will have to overcome a pair of special stages, which in total measure more than three hundred and thirteen kilometers. On Sunday (June 28, 2026), it will be a little easier, as they will have to overcome “only” one timed section with a length of less than ninety-five kilometers. We will inform you about how the Slovak NORWIT Racing Team crew fared in the Italia Baja 2026.