When there're a lot of emotions at the end of a hard way, it's not so easy to sort them all out and set them published. That is why first we present some short news from the final leg...

SS2. Crew Boris Gadasin - Vladimir Demyanenko was driving cautiously, with no haste. The special stage was new, dangerous, and it was important to prepare as precise pacenotes as possible for the further passes. Tonnie van Deijne took the victory here, being faster than our crew by 1 minute and 14 seconds.

SS3. Boris and Vladimir were driving with yesterday's experience behind their shoulders. Surprisingly the road book for this stage was taken away after its finish on Friday, and the co-driver had to do an additional work in order to restore the "lost" information. Eventually our crew drove through the stage 57 seconds faster than themselves yesterday and set the best time on this pass. Van Deijne punctured a tyre and had to stop for changing the wheel. The Dutchman finished 2 minutes and 7 seconds behind the winner, and his overall advantage shrank to just 14 seconds.

SS4. Soon after the start Tonnie van Deijne came about the point where we were standing. Soon the dust from our crew appeared, but then it vanished for some time... Only 4 minutes after did the next car appear, and it was the one of Erik Korda, who was driving third overall thanks to a brilliant performance on the previous loop of stages. Fast on his heels was coming Boris Gadasin, and our first thought about the time loss was connected with a possible tyre change. However at the finish it turned out that soon after the start there had been a hard hit in the engine guard, after which some noise in the transmission appeared. The G-Force Motorsport crew stopped to check what had happened, and had to let Korda ahead. Boris soon caught up with the Hungarian and used the Sentinel alarm, yet Korda, instead of letting the faster crew ahead, decided to speed up and try to get away from the rival. His attempt ended up with a driving mistake, followed by a roll. Our crew stopped to check if everything was Ok, and while a marshal standing nearby was at loss how to behave, the unfortunate driver got out of the car and showed they were alright, so Boris could continue. The time loss at the finish (and our guys showed only 6^th result) would have been much more sufficient if not for similar suspicions from Tonnie van Deijne who also stopped to check for any suspension damages. The Dutchman finished with 4^th time, which was 43 seconds better than that of Boris', and his lead increased to 57 seconds.

SS5. It was getting more interesting as crew Gadasin/Demyanenko took 31 seconds off the runner-up van Deijne and cut the gap down to 26 seconds. The G-Force Motorsport crew had a good pace, and there were no mechanical problems, so the fight for victory promised to be really fascinating. However other competitors had already all but lost the touch with the leading duo - driving third Laszlo Palik was 4 minutes behind at that time! Miroslav Zapletal seemed to have lost all his chances for a decent result after a few tyre punctures. Unfortunately our fast compatriots Alexander Mironenko and Sergey Lebedev had to withdraw after a roll.

SS6. The G-Force Motorsport crew had a very confident drive, and according to our estimations were steadily taking precious seconds off their Dutch rivals. As there were no split times available, we found our own way of doing a reliable and precise timing by taking photos of cars at one point and comparing the times recorded by camera. According to this system with one kilometre of the stage to go Boris was 14 seconds ahead of Tonnie. However than the unforeseeable happened: just before the finish the G-Force prototype's cockpit was filled with black smoke, and the crew slowed down to understand what was burning (first thought was an underhood fire). It turned out the muffler had cracked, and because of that the smoke started coming inside. There was nothing else to do but to keep on fighting. It was Palik who took his second stage victory of the race, while van Deijne finished second, and Boris and Vladimir, despite losing time at the end, were only 6 second slower than the Dutchman.

SS7. It was difficult to drive. The cockpit was filled with smoke, almost nothing to breathe. Without a correctly working exhaust the engine power decreased. However the result at 2/3s of the distance wasn't as frightening as could be expected, - and the equal fight continued. Only a few kilometers before the finish did the pace fell as we noticed the G-Force Motorsport car driving slowly around the corners. The Russian crew arrived at the finish 3 minutes and 46 seconds behind the leader, and the problem was clearly evident: the front right suspension lever cracked. The crew was driving relatively slow because of the smoke, so the reason for the suspension damage couldn't be any hit. It seems like the lever, made of a chrome-vansiliy alloy, became fragile under the impact of hot exhaust gases (the lesson for the future - never make such arms of this alloy).  During the service mechanics managed to replace the lever and fix, as much as possible, the muffler (special thanks to the Fazekas team's staff for their help) so it wouldn't completely fall. Boris and Vladimir took some pills since the headache had appeared due to the carbon dioxide influence. The co-driver took a clout with him into the car to use it as a respirator. A nervous start to the last section. To win the Cup, it wasn't necessary to finish first in the race, second place was enough. So all the crew needed was to overtake Palik who occupied the position 18 seconds ahead.

SS8. Taking into account the task to preserve the car and the aim to overtake Palik, our guys were driving as fast as they could in the situation when smoke kept on flowing inside. They managed to do so - the Hungarian finished three and a half minutes behind due to a punctured tyre. We didn't have time to inform them of this, because by the time Palik finished Boris and Vladimir had prepared to start the next SS with the same aim - take back 2^nd place overall.

SS9. The G-Force Motorsport crew was desperately trying their best in the situation when under the CO2 impact reaction was slowing and the mind control was weakening.... At the finish they didn't even react on the good news and just asked for water (though they had it inside). They made it to the Parc Ferme and got out of the car. Then an ambulance appeared, and the crew, insisted by the main doctor and the organiser, was taken to the hospital. We pay special tribute to the race organisers and especially Zoltan Garamvolgyi for their support.

The car was taken to the final scrutineering by mechanics. The air restrictor diameter was Ok. Than the front suspension travel was measured on the right side - where the broken lever was changed at the service. It exceeded the legitimate value, and on the request of the team's representative the value on the left side was also measured, and it fully met the regulations (less than 250 mm). There was no bad intention, but the rule was broken, and the decision was to be taken by the Stewards' Meeting. The team representative's explanations were listened to and accepted by the Stewards' Meeting, however it was decided to disqualify the crew #1 on the basis of article 285.7.4 of Appendix J. The team refused to appeal the decision. Meanwhile, after a medical check at the Vezsprem hospital the crew was released under personal responsibility and then informed of their exclusion from the race.

But there was the Result! The race proved very difficult, but Boris and Vladimir did their best and, having got through many obstacles, finished 2^nd on the road. Yet they didn't get any points for the achievement. Anyway, our team sincerely congratulates Tonnie van Deijne and Wouter Rosegaar on their well-deserved victory. A strong driver in a great car - that's the best rival one can dream of! We'll keep on fighting!

PS: In the nearest time we'll publish a photo gallery and will write a more emotional review.

Official results of the Hungarian Baja 2009.