The “Gurtam TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Baltics” crew Benediktas Vanagas and Aisvydas Paliukėnas dramatically finished the 18th “Baja Poland” rally. According to preliminary results, the Lithuanians won the FIA European Baja Cup stage, took third place in the “Ultimate” category, and fourth place in the overall “Baja Poland” classification.
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However, with just a few kilometers left to the finish, the result was hanging by a thread. In the last special stage, about 8 km from the end, B. Vanagas felt the clutch was gone. The crew did not stop and reached the finish of the special stage, preliminarily recording the second-best time there.
Just after crossing the finish line, smoke started pouring from the “Toyota Hilux” – the car caught fire. The crew had to immediately extinguish the fire.
“When the clutch went out, I already understood that we had a problem, but there was little left to the finish, so our task was to reach it. After crossing the finish, smoke poured out. Fortunately, we already have experience in this situation – we went through a similar situation last year in Hungary. We knew exactly where to look for the fire source, what to remove from the car first, and where to extinguish. Also, we finished practically near the service zone, so there were additional extinguishers around. This time, it can be said very simply – all’s well that ends well,” says B. Vanagas.
The victory in Poland is especially important in the fight for the overall season result. B. Vanagas, who achieved the highest result in the “Baja Poland” Dakar “Ultimate” category among Baltic athletes, arrived leading the FIA European Baja Cup “Ultimate” classification. The victory in the Polish stage should further strengthen this position.
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“The main goal for which we came to Poland was the European Cup points. Today we got much more drama than we planned. Now the car is extinguished, we are at the finish, waiting for the podium and official results. That is the most important,” says B. Vanagas.
Participants of the 18th “Baja Poland” rally covered more than 360 km of special stages over the weekend. Most of the sporting distance stretched through the Drawsko Pomorskie military training ground – one of the largest such training grounds in Europe.
At the time of the announcement, the “Baja Poland” results are still preliminary and awaiting official confirmation.
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