In the Italian Baja, the sixth round on the FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup calendar, Jakub ‚Kuba‘ Przygonski (POL) and Tom Colsoul (BEL) repeated the triumph they celebrated in 2017. In the MINI John Cooper Works Rally, the pairing won five of the six special stages and finished second in the prologue. Eugenio Amos (ITA) and Filipe Palmeiro (POR) took their MINI ALL4 Racing to 21st position.
Przygonski started into the Baja by coming second in the prologue. Afterwards, however, the Pole proved to be invincible and won all the five following special stages. For Przygonski and Colsoul who already prevailed in the Dubai International Baja and der Qatar Cross Country Rally it was the third win in the 2018 season. With this success, Przygonski extended his lead in the FIA World Cup overall standings. He now leads with 216 points on his tally, followed by Vladimir Vasilyev (159 points) and Martin Prokop (158)
.
“We are extremely happy. What a great race for us,” Przygonski beamed after having crossed the finish line. “We had a great fight with Martin Prokop. Scoring maximum FIA World Cup points here in Italy was important for us. The MINI ran flawlessly and delivered in great style. I have to thank the entire team for their great work.”
Meanwhile, Amos had to cope with a major dose of bad luck, in his home event. He secured the fine eighth place in the prologue but turned over on the following day, thus losing a lot of time. In addition he received a time penalty thus dropping further down in the overall standings. But with three top-10 results the Italian demonstrated what would have been possible without this incident.
The next event on the FIA World Cup calendar is Spain’s Baja Aragon, held from 20th to 22nd July, 2018.
Italian Baja – Overall Result
1. J. Przygonski (POL) / T. Colsoul (BEL) MINI John Cooper Works Buggy – 5h 16m 36s
2. M. Prokop (CZE) / J. Tomanek (CZE) Ford – 5h 20m 21s
3. M. Zapletal (CZE) / M. Sykora (SVK) Ford – 5h 28m 08s
4. V. Vasilyev (RUS) / K. Zhiltsov (RUS) MINI ALL4 Racing – 5h 28m 32s
5. B. Gadasin (RUS) / D. Shchemel (RUS) G-Force – 5h 36m 20s
…
21. E. Amos (ITA) / F. Palmeiro (POR) MINI ALL4 Racing – 33h 50m 04s
