Category: Nezaradené

The FIA ​​European Baja Cup 2025 series will start this coming Friday and Saturday in Hungary. Slovak Martin Benko will also be competing in the XXII. Hungarian Baja 2025 with a Taurus buggy.

As we have already informed you, Martin Benko, a multiple participant in the Dakar Rally in the motorcycle group, has moved to four wheels this year, having already successfully started in Greece with his co-driver Marek Sýkor. Now he will introduce himself to fans of Cross Country competitions again, at the XXII. Hungarian Baja 2025. Again with a Taurus buggy, but in this case with Czech co-driver Jiří Kalát.

“I have a few selected events this season that I want to complete, and among them is the Hungarian Baja, an event that I have already started several times. Of course, on a motorcycle. I am going to check out some of the buggy settings at this competition, but also some of my habits, which of course must have changed a bit from those I had on a motorcycle. Just like in Greece, I do not intend to watch the time at all, the important thing is to reach the finish line and gain a lot of experience, but also to experience some new adventures. I know that it will not be easy, in the military area where the competition is taking place, there are also many pitfalls lurking. Moreover, according to meteorologists’ forecasts, there should be tropical heat, which will make the competition even more difficult,” explained Martin Benko before leaving for the competition.

The XXII. Hungarian Baja 2025 will be held in Hungary and the center of the competition will be in the town of Várpalota, located between the cities of Veszprém and Székesfehérvár. The tracks themselves will be in the adjacent military area, and all participants will face a two-stage competition, the total length of which will be almost six hundred kilometers. During the competition on Friday and Saturday, the competing crews will face four special stages plus an opening prologue. The competition starts on Friday at 3 p.m. by placing the competition vehicles in the Park fermé, from which the competitors will move straight to the opening prologue and the first special stage. After completing them, they will have a ceremonial start in the early evening at 8:30 p.m. On Saturday, the competition starts at 8:00 a.m., and during this stage the competitors will have to complete three separate timed sections, each measuring more than one hundred and thirty-two kilometers. The finish of the competition, as well as the awarding of prizes to the best, will take place from 8:30 p.m.

About how the XXII. Hungarian Baja 2025 was a success for Martin Benka and his co-driver Jiří Kalát, and we will inform you about the new adventures they experienced together on the tracks after the competition.

The opening event with the Taurus T3 Max buggy, the Greek Hellas Rally Raid 2025, went well for Slovak Martin Benko. He reached the finish line and gained a lot of new experience.

Martin Benko declared before the start of the competition that he was not interested in the result, but mainly needed to gain a lot of experience. After all, riding a motorbike, which Martin has competed with so far, and riding a buggy are two diametrically different things. And this is exactly the direction Martin directed his participation in the Hellas Rally Raid. However, he did not yet know that in addition to the competition, he would also experience things he had not counted on.

We informed you about the broken jack and the subsequent creative solution to the situation in the previous report. After this incident, which he and Marek Sýkor basically solved easily, another incident occurred the very next day. In this case, however, the damage caused could not be repaired immediately on site. While completing the marathon stage, one of the competitors made a wrong turn and, while returning to the original track, he backed straight into Martin, who was just passing by. The damage to the buggy was not extensive, but it could not be repaired on the spot, so Martin had to ask his mechanics to tow him to the service area. As a result, he had to withdraw from the stage, for which he was penalized. Since the buggy could not be repaired immediately, he did not start the next stage either. Martin Benko was supposed to start in the penultimate stage, but that was canceled due to heavy storms. In the end, Martin reached the finish line after completing the short final Sunday stage.

“It wasn’t easy, but we all expected that. I’m happy that I completed the Hellas Rally Raid, I gained a lot of new experience, we have a lot of new engine data that will help us set up the Taurus, I also tried out different chassis settings and as a result we moved one step forward again. As I said last time, I didn’t even look at the times, it was about getting to the finish line, which I finally managed to do. It’s a shame about the crash, but it really couldn’t have been prevented, the driver in question made a mistake, who got lost and backed right into the side of our car. I would like to thank my team partners for their support and Marek Sýkor for his valuable advice, I learned a lot from him,” said Martin Benko at the finish line of the competition.

Martin Benko will once again introduce himself to fans of long-distance competitions as part of the Hungarian Baja in August 2025.