(13.08.2019) Orlando Terranova won Hungarian Baja (9-11 August) and completed his cross-country hat-trick. This was his third consecutive win in FIA World Cup for Cross Country Bajas, which saw him move up to the top of overall standings just before ORLEN Baja Poland (28 August – 1 September).

39-year old driver from city of Mendoza, located in the Northwest of Argentina, in the foothills of the Andes mountains, missed first two rounds of the season. Terranova did not compete in Baja Russia Northern Forest and Dubai International Baja. However, when he joined the battle, he did it in style. In his first outing in 2019 FIA World Cup season Terranova, co-driven by Bernardo Grau, won Italian Baja, scoring maximum points. He repeated this achievement later, when he was fastest over the course of Baja Aragon in Spain. X-Raid team driver took his top form to Hungary and extended his series by winning round five of FIA World Cup. Thanks to points scored in Hungarian event Argentinian took the lead in overall standings of the series.

Martin Prokop and Jan Tománek (Ford Raptor RS CC) finished just 37 seconds adrift in second position after nearly 600 kilometres of hard-fought competition with Vladimir Vasilyev and Konstantin Zhiltsov (Toyota Hilux Overdrive) equalling their third position from last year.

Jakub Przygonski and Timo Gottschalk had to settle for fourth place after suffering brake issues. After finishing second in Friday afternoon’s prologue, Przygonski and Gottschalk endured a tough Saturday. The crew had brake issues on both special stages and were not able to push as hard as they would have liked. The mechanics attempted to solve the issue during the service between stages. However, the regulations for Bajas specify a certain amount of time, for which the crews can work on the car. The search to identify the cause of the issue resulted in this time limit being exceeded, for which Przygonski was handed a 27-minute time penalty. This saw him drop to fifth place. However, he and Gottschalk managed to bounce back and climbed into fourth place on Sunday. - That was not an easy race for us. We had issues with the brakes, which resulted in us losing a lot of time. That aside, we put up a good fight and I liked the routes. The top speed was very high. I am now looking forward to the Baja Poland, my home race – said Przygonski.

It is Terranova (90 pts), who leads the series after five out of eight events of 2019 season. Vasilyev holds second position (80 pts), while Prokop is third (65 pts). Pole Jakub Przygonski have scored 58 points yet and dropped to fourth overall ahead of his home event.

There are as many as 90 points yet to score during three oncoming rounds of 2019 FIA World Cup for Cross Country Bajas. The next off-road battle will be held in Szczecin, Drawsko Pomorskie and Dobra municipality during ORLEN Baja Poland (28 August – 1 September).

Przygonski, as a previous winner of Polish World Cup counter, is expected to set the pace on his home soil. Meanwhile, Orlando Terranova will make his maiden outing in ORLEN Baja Poland.