Ostberg and Zippo in the lead on the first day of the Mecsek Rallye
On the first day of the 54th Mecsek Rallye, the competitors only had to complete one speed test, but it was not just any task. On the already difficult 18-kilometer Pécsvárad-Hószúhetény section, the competitors started in the dark, the thunderstorm that replaced the heat wave made the course slippery, and because of the Historic field that passed twice in front of them, they even had to count on skids.
Mads Ostberg and Tortein Erikssen were very fast with Citroen, only Gregorz Gzyb from Poland, racing Skoda Fabia, could approach them, the difference between them was 1.7 seconds.
„Speeding in the dark was very interesting and difficult. It was very slippery, foggy and humid in many places. But I'm very happy that we finished this stage and are leading! It was a good start for us!” – mondta az esti szervizben Ostberg.
„It was unbelievable, as fast as Armageddon! I didn't expect it to slide so much! Two years ago, when we were here, it only rained at night. I remembered that it was slippery, but how, so much! I made a lot of mistakes, I went slowly and carefully. I also told my navigator that we just have to make it and we'll see what we do tomorrow. However, I am happy that our time was not so bad and we are fighting for the winGrzyb assessed.
Ford's András Hadik and Krisztián Kertész came third. The difference between the pair leading the championship and the Ostbergs is 4.6 seconds. András Hadik summarized his first speed events as follows: "The section was interesting, the water evaporated in one or two places, the speedway was foggy, we could not always see perfectly. We tried to go safely, but quickly, and we succeeded from time to time."
„Today's fast was clearly about survival. We hesitated between slicks and wet tires, we made the right decision to put on the wet ones. We didn't expect it to be so dirty, the road played tricks on us in one or two places. We are 4-5 seconds away from the start, nothing has been decided yet, tomorrow will be a long day. We hope that the track will dry out and that there will be no more rain!" said the fourth Miklós Csomós. Their disadvantage is exactly 6.4 seconds.
Frigyes Turán and László Bagaméri made a mistake, the rear of the Volkswagen Polo slipped a little off the track, so they will start Saturday with a 23.5 second gap in seventh place. Behind them were Róbert Bútor and Róbert Tagai, who started in vain with the WRC, which represents the peak of rallying, but could not fight the physics without rain tires.
"It was a lot for us! We don't have rain tires for this race, we had to go with intermediates. It rained, and I didn't even know where I was afterwards! We had to go very slowly and still got three "gifts". I don't regret this speed at all, that was enough!" said Róbert Bútor.
The battle is huge in the RC4 category, where two drivers from Baranya are in the lead. Gergő Szauer from Mohács and his navigator László Rácz were just 4 tenths of a second faster than the junior. László Ranga – Annamária Budai couple. The third pair of Gábor Német and Tamás Szőke is already 18.8 seconds behind. All three racing pairs started with Peugeot 208 Rally4.
Even without rain tires, Róbert Bútor leads the ORC evaluation, although he said before the race that he did not want to interfere in the championship. The difference between Attila Rongits – László Hannus and the duo Alberti Szabolcs – Nikolett Földi behind them is 2.6 seconds, both of them started with Mitsubishi Lancer Evo9. Ferenc Bogodán and Eszter Velezdi are fourth with Lada VFTS, followed by Zsolt Lajtai from Pécs.
The participants of the Historic championships completed the 18.15-kilometer speed between Pécsvárad and Hosszúhetény twice, but they reached the finish line while it was still light. Most of them had problems with the slippery track, and some of them had problems with fogging windows after the rain that came after the great heat.
The winner of the day at the Historic Eb was the pair "Zippo" - Denis Piceno. The Italian duo competing with Audi won both stages and are waiting for Saturday's nine stages with a lead of 33.4 seconds.
„We went quite slowly, the road was very muddy and wet. I feel like the real competition starts tomorrow. Based on today's performance, I think we will do very well. Everything went well today, and we will give it our all tomorrow” said Zippo.
The Austrian Karl Wagner-Gerda Zauner double came second. In the first round, they lost a lot due to a spark plug failure, and it was more difficult with the rear-engined Porsche on the very slippery track than for the Zippoes with the all-wheel drive Audi.
„During the first speed section, the engine did not work properly, there was a problem with the ignition. We lost quite a few seconds on the fast track, but in comparison we are second, which is a good result. The second fast went much better because there was no problem with the engine and the right tires were on. We hope to do better tomorrow!” – concluded Wagner in the service park.
Also in third place was an Italian duo, Lucio Da Zanceh and Matteo Nobili also competing with Porsche, they are 38 seconds behind the first. The best Hungarians in the Euro evaluation, László Mekler and Edit Mekler, with Alfa Romeo, are in 9th place overall, which means third place in their category.
Ferenc Wirtmann and Kornél Kerekes are at the top of the Hungarian Historic championship. The pair competing with a Ford Escort RS has an advantage of 48.3 seconds over Zsolt Kalapács and Kornél Kalapács, starting with an Opel Kadett. Péter Magoss and László Rónay came third with a Subaru Legacy, they couldn't take advantage of the all-wheel drive because they couldn't see much because of the fog.
„So far, everything was fine, we expected the rain, even before the start we put on the wet tires. We are leading by quite a lot in the Hungarian league and in the Mitropa Cup as well, I hope we can continue in the same way tomorrowFerenc Wirtmann said.
The 54th Mecsek Rally continues on Saturday with nine stages for both fields. At 8:28 in the morning, the competitors will start at Árpádtető, the 13.6 kilometer speed goal will be at Orfű. After that, the 14.1-kilometer Alsómocsolád-Mecsekpölöske section follows from 9:40 a.m., and from 10:11 a.m. the 11.95-kilometer Zobákpuszta - Pécsvárad will finish the first lap, followed by a service at the Expo Center. The competitors will go through these three speeds two more times, after which the finishing ceremony will follow at Széchenyi Square from 18:45.
The detailed program and maps of the stages and information about road closures can be accessed on the mecsekrallye.com page.
The standings of Rallye1 after the first sprint:
- Mads Østberg – Torstein Eriksen Citroën C3 Rally2 10:47.2
2. Grzegorz Grzyb – Kamil Kozdron Škoda Fabia Rally2 EVO +1.7 mp
3. Hadik András – Kertész Krisztián Ford Fiesta R5 MK II +04.6 mp
4. Csomós Miklós – Nagy Attila Škoda Fabia R5 +06.4 mp
5. Velenczei Ádám – Bacigal Igor Škoda Fabia R5 Evo +14.1 mp
6. Klausz Kristóf – Csányi Botond Škoda Fabia Rally2 EVO +20.7 mp
7. Turán Frigyes – Bagaméri László Volkswagen Polo R5 +23.5 mp
8. Bútor Róbert – Tagai Róbert Citroën C3 WRC +23.6 mp
9. Osváth Péter – Papp Tamás Škoda Fabia R5 +31.4 mp
10. Tóth Tibor – Szabó József Škoda Fabia R5 +50.0 mp
The standings of the absolute leaders of the Historic after two speed stages:
- „Zippo” – Denis Piceno Audi Quattro 23:09.0
2. Karl Wagner – Gerda Zauner Porsche 911 +33.4
3. Lucio Da Zanche – Matteo Nobili Porsche Carrera SC RS +38.0
4. Ville Silvasti – Risto Pietilainen Audi Quattro A2 +55.6
5. Wirtmann Ferenc – Kerekes József Ford Escort RS +01:43.6
6. Vojtech Stajf – Vladimir Zelinka Opel Kadett C GT/E 16V +02:24.6
7. Anders Johnsen – Ingrid Johnsen Porsche 911 RSR +02:27.2
8. Kalapács Zsolt – Kalapács Kornél Opel Kadett C +02:31.9
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