The 15^th edition of the Hungarian Baja ended with double celebration for MINI Motorsport and motorsport partner X-raid, when the two MINI John Cooper Works Rally entries finished one-two overall.

Joan “Nani” Roma (ESP) and co-driver Alex Haro (ESP) cheered the loudest when they took the overall win as a result of three Special Stage wins and never dropping out of the top three in the other stages. Roma had another reason to smile: Roma last competed at a Hungarian Baja in 2013 and took the win. Five years later (2018) he returns to win again!

Roma and Haro didn’t have it all their own way. They were pushed to the very end by fellow MINI Family crew of Jakub “Kuba” Przygonski (POL) and co-driver Tom Colsoul (BEL). In fact, it was the young Polish star that opened the scoring by taking the win in the Super Special Stage that kick-started two days of competitive racing.

Przygonski and Colsoul also secured stage wins but the final result was fought out over the last stage and featured stretches of water that held Przygonski back just enough for Roma to hold on to take the win by just 16 seconds. Despite taking second place, Przygonski leaves Hungary with much needed points to maintain his lead within the 2018 FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup.

Joan “Nani” Roma: “It’s nice to win here and to have the feeling of racing the car again. Kuba did a very good job; he is really fast and for us it was very difficult doing the Baja speeds after Silk Way Rally, but we are happy. The team did a super job, I did some kilometres with Alex and the MINI John Cooper Works Rally worked very well, which is the most important thing.”

Jakub ‘Kuba’ Przygonski: “It was quite a tricky race with a lot of water splashes. We were fighting with Nani and we almost beat him, which was nice. Because Nani is a very experienced driver with Dakar victory, it’s really nice to have a chance to compete with him. The MINI John Cooper Works Rally was really good. In the last stage, we risked a lot and we almost did it. We got a few really long water splashes, almost passing the water without touching it. The points are good, we are happy and the next race will be my home race, Baja Poland.”

Hungarian Baja 2018: MINI race end results