Zsolt Lajtai will not miss the Mecsek Rallye this year either

Zsolt Lajtai and Máté Matulik will start the Mecsek Rally with a red Mitsubishi Lancer. The pilot from Pécs can surprise any car on the home track at any time, it will be worth paying attention to!

Where is the Escort?

We have it, and that car is fantastic, but now we had the opportunity to get a car that we owe to Tibor Sziklai and his team. This is an Evo VII Mitsubishi, an A car with a seco transmission. I have to tell you, it’s a mix of a spaceship and a fighter jet, so that car is awesome. Obviously we’re making friends now, I’m making friends with him. The car is so cool, it’s not easy to go with it – and I’m serious now – its chassis is so tight. This is the car we should try to make friends with as much as possible. We’re getting ready for a test today, and I’m confident we’ll be a little closer together by evening. Actually, the car itself is a challenge, but for the weather, I have to say it’s fantastically tough. If a person has heat outside, double that to a minimum to feel what’s in the car. It’s really human-trying, but we’re trying to prepare for this race to the maximum as we have done so far. I want to have experiences. Time can never be turned back and we don’t look back. I should have been in a car like this for a long time, but that’s not a problem, I just managed and we’re trying to have a very pleasant experience for each other.

The 54th Mecsek Rally is coming. How much will this be for you?

Thanks for the question, we thought about it last time. I first got in a car for the first time at the 18th Mecsek Rally, somehow. It will be a very tough race. Weather factors affect a lot of things. I have to say honestly that I don’t understand Friday night. Think about it, on Friday morning, everyone gets up, does their own protocol, and when everyone really starts to spend their rest time, you’ll get in the car at 10:30 in the evening and have to stand at a speed not at any speed. This applies to the entire field, and it’s a speed race. I think it’s not the luckiest way this way, but it doesn’t matter, it is, you know, you have to rejoice in everything, and well, all of that on Saturday at 9 a.m. speed race. Very hard. This requires maximum devotion, preparation, and humility. You have to be very involved, as you are in everything, but this is still a bit peppered.

Many Mecsek Rallye for you, you couldn’t count exactly how many, but someone will be missing this year. How do you remember István Jelen?

I have known Pisti since his arrival in Pécs. When he first set up the Steering Wheel, how he got there… Nice memory! It was managed by Tamás Berki from the first minute, and of course he was an unmissable and emblematic figure of the Mecsek Rally. He left early, I am infinitely sorry, obviously he keeps it in his heart. There were times when we had a closer relationship with Pisti, but the relationship between the two of us was always positive. I was surprised by the news when I heard it, and obviously because of the pandemic, it was not possible to remember István as it should have been, and as everyone, from the Volán group of friends to the whole car society, from Pécs to But everything will fall into place, we remember István with love.

With Ford, you always caused big surprises in the Mecsek Mountains, now with this Mitsubishi, some outstanding times will be expected from Zsolt Lajtai?

Look, really, yes, with the Ford, too, especially if it rained, we were able to eliminate a bit of the differences that were between the Mitsubishi and my car. Then in ’19, at the Mecsek Rally, I managed to get into a Mitsubishi Evo 9 with the team of Zsolti Svatek, and there those who might have forgotten could face the fact that I am still here. Whether we had a little technical flaw, we came in second and I was very happy with every moment. I have to say that now it’s a rhythm even more serious. It really all depends on how our preparation for the test is going to come together now, and I am very confident that we will start to get closer to each other. The interesting thing is that the calendar is going forward and I still feel somewhere that if I sit in the car in it, grab the steering wheel and start off, I was able to save something from what it used to be. I don’t know how it is. Rob Bútor asked me a good few months ago what it is like with time, and all I could say was that if I got in the car, time was running out. Then all I have to do then and there is deal with it. Humility, maximalism and good feelings. Actually, I look forward to good experiences. Mine, ours is the experience. If I somehow manage to get along with the car in such a way, with great respect, I trust that there will be good times. I say this machine is a rocket. Well, it’s in the weather now, we’ve been looking at the predictions that if different thunderstorm stories fall into this now, it would completely upset the track. What kind of tire you put on, whether it succeeds, whether the rain has fallen or not, you got it started or you didn’t get it, so it will be a very multi-factorial little race. But we are confident that everything will be fine.

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