Baumanis prevails at Nyirád RX

The main branch of the rallycross ladder started the season this Sunday (30) at Nyirád, in Hungary, and in between a diverse field for the first round of the FIA Euro RX1 Championship season, Janis Baumanis showed the RX Team Latvia power and won with authority in his Peugeot 208 WRX.
 
Usually, the season opener attracts different kinds of drivers, and since reincluded in the calendar, Nyirád was no exception, with the only thing missing being the current World RX drivers, but in the 19 car field you would find participations and wins in several championships, like World RX and Euro RX1 themselves, as well as RallyX Nordic, Nitro RX, British RX, FFSA Rallycross, FIA CEZ RX, only to name a few, with an extra number being formed by the local drivers from the Hungarian RX championship.
 
Anton Marklund showed how adapted he is to the Ford Fiesta ST RX, and conquered the first Heat, but an improving track benefited René Münnich, who also took advantage of a less croweded grid in his race to win Heat 2 with a clean run. In a Heat 3 that was marked for crashes, like with Marklund, Svardal and Patrick O’Donovan, Janis Baumanis had nothing to do with it and left dust to the opposition with his run, but then the younger O’Donovan did a fantastic job to top the final Heat.
 
With some messy races in the mix, the Heat order was quite scrambled up, with Baumanis topping the table, Ide being second and Máté Benyó appearing in a surprising third place, with Patrick O’Donovan and Münnich completing the top-5. Tamás Kárai and Andreas Bakkerud weren’t that affected by their issues in Heat 4, while Marklund barely advanced after his race ending crash in Heat 3 and his absence in Heat 4.
 
Semifinal 1 had a strong grid, but Baumanis certified himself to stay in first while Benyó and Bakkerud followed him, and with the Norwegian closing on the Hungarian, he was somehow staying out of Münnich’s threat, even after the Joker. Clean air allowed Bakkerud to outpace Benyó and both protected their positions to go to the Final along with the winner Baumanis.
 
The second Semifinal saw Marklund back to action with a nursed car, and a rocket start was good to beat Ales Fucik and László Kiss while taking advantage of the door left open by Patrick O’Donovan, but contact with Kárai almost held Marklund back. Enzo Ide was clear of threats in the lead while Marklund had to work to stay ahead of O’Donovan, being beaten in the Final Lap during his Joker Lap but still confirmed in the Final while Ide led from lights to flag.
 
The grid for the Final was stacked in talent, but the Peugeot 208 WRXs were in advantage as Baumanis was leading O’Donovan, only for Ide to accomodate himself between them before the end of the first lap. The four car wasn’t doing any favors for those behind Baumanis, so Marklund and Ide chose to do an early Joker, which played in favor of Marklund as he left O’Donovan behind him.
 
The opposition did their best to close down on Baumanis in the final lap, but the gap established by Baumanis meant he had cushion to stay head, beating Marklund by less than a second while O’Donovan secured the third place.
 
Nyirád RX - Event results
 
According to Baumanis in the post-race interview, some members of the team didn’t know the Peugeot 208 WRX during the rebuild of the car, and he owed a lot to the team for the job, and if the equipment issues weren’t enough, an illness knocked him down until Thursday of the race week, meaning he barely recovered in time to participate of the Nyirád RX.
 
Baumanis holds the lead in the standings with 23 points over 16 from Marklund, 14 from Ide and 13 from Patrick O’Donovan. Most of the top performers are expected to be in the next round of the championship, which will be held at Montalegre, Portugal, on 4 June, which will mark the start of the 2023 World RX season.
 
PHOTO: Janis Baumanis