Ventura & Brun Storm to Dominant Victory at the Hungarian Baja
Quaddy Racing’s Amerigo Ventura and co-driver Mirko Brun got their FIA European Cup for Cross Country Bajas title defence back on track as they powered to a superb T4 victory and seventh overall at Round 3 of the 2023 season, the Hungarian Baja, on the 11th-12th of August.
The Italian duo arrived in Várpalota, Hungary, determined to bounce back after a challenging opening two rounds of the year. They were denied the chance to create history at the opening Baja when, after becoming the first ever T4 vehicle to take an overall victory in the Cup, they were disqualified for a minor technical infringement. Their bad luck followed them into the second round, where they had to withdraw from the 10th Rally Greece OffRoad due to damage sustained during a crash.
After collecting zero points during the first two events, and with only three rounds remaining in the season, Ventura and Brun knew they needed a good result at the Hungarian Baja to defend the title they won in 2022, as in the Cup, only the top three results at the end of the year count towards the overall standings.
Therefore, the Quaddy Racing team attacked the fast and demanding terrain of the military compound near Thury Castle from the outset. The pairing ended Friday morning’s 10km Prologue in P2, but with the top three crews within four seconds of each other, they knew they were in for a close battle.
In the afternoon, they pushed hard during the first 110km Special Stage and finished on top of the timesheets, with an advantage of 4.5 seconds over the team in second. Then, at the first assistance point, the team tweaked the suspension setup on their YXZ1000R, which would prove key.
During the second 110km special, the new settings allowed them to push even harder. Once again, they would end up as the leading team, this time blowing away the opposition to open up a gap of over one minute and 30 seconds in the T4 general classification.
