Benediktas Vanagas, who experienced adventure in the Spanish Baja: “We didn’t want such a finish, but we scored important points” | Sports

The second and main race day of the Baja TT Dehesa Extremadura took place on Saturday 3rd May, during which participants had to cover 270 kilometers in the mode, equivalent to about half the longest stretch of the Dakar Rally. Early on Saturday morning, the Lithuanian-Estonian duo was the first to step to the starting line in the challenging 169 km challenge. Halfway through the distance, the team unexpectedly encountered technical engine problems.

“A ford was waiting for us in one of the places. Although we passed it with a significant reduction in speed, the new type of air intake system did not work as it should. I already thought it was a water hammer, but in 40 minutes we managed to free the engine from the grip of the water,” said B. Vanagas.

After preparing the sports equipment in the service area, the race resumed in the late afternoon in the final 101 km long sprint. In it, the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Baltics crew was once again forced to stop due to a repeated engine problem. The team solved the technical problem, but decided to leave the track and moved towards the final stop of the competition – the closed park.

Team pilot B. Vanagas said that although the crew will be recorded in the protocol of the final results of the competition, they will receive a significant time penalty for not completing the final speed section. Nevertheless, Benedikts and Kuldar will bring back from sunny Spain the third place among the cars that took part in the European Baja Cup standings. According to the team manager, these accumulated points will be important in calculating the final annual standings at the end of the season.

In the competition, the prize-winning positions in the general standings were taken by the representatives of Portugal. João Ferreira, Francisco Barreto, who piloted the T1+ category cars, and Ruis Carneiro, who used the advantages of the T3 category motobag, shared the 1st-3rd places, respectively.

The next round of the FIA ​​European Buggy Cup will take place on July 5-6 in Italy. The “TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Baltics” team has included these championships of the old continent organized by the International Automobile Federation in the preparation program for the upcoming Dakar.