On paper, Mariusz Wiatr should’ve faced an uphill battle if he wanted to win the FIA European Baja Cup. After seven of eight races, he was fifth in the overall standings and trailed Benediktas Vanagas in the Ultimate class.

In practice, the overall title was a three-man battle. Ruben and Paulo Rodrigues occupied the top two spots with 292 and 283 points, respectively, but had exhausted their points-earning starts across the other rounds. Vanagas was third with 268 points to go with wins in Italy and Poland, and another strong day in the finale could help him leapfrog both; he also held a 22-point edge over Wiatr on the Ultimate side.

At the same time, however, his goal for the Hungarian Baja was more to test his new Hilux than to win the title. The baja—a race he previously won in 2022—marked the debut of his Toyota GR DKR Hilux dubbed “Black Hawk IX”, which he plans to race in January’s Dakar Rally.

Vanagas’ time in the Hilux didn’t start as hoped as he misjudged road conditions and went off course, flipping once and landing back on his wheels. The damage was easily fixable, but left him in an early deficit as he ended the Prologue in 14th. He made up the lost ground with thirds in SS1 and SS2, but couldn’t close the gap in the overall and had to settle for fourth.

Marcin Nasiłowski, who wasn’t competing for points, won the first stage before Wiatr took the second to claim the overall. Wiatr also won the Prologue.

His runs across the weekend netted 85 points, while Vanagas received just 58. Marek Kubiczek, sandwiched between Wiatr and Vanagas in the overall, got 78 points.

Adding these up, Wiatr rockets from fifth to first in the overall standings with 331 points, beating Kubiczek by just one. Vanagas was third with 326. Kubiczek also iced the Challenger title, which he had already clinched as Dinis Rogeira, 70 points back, wasn’t signed up for Hungary.

Vanagas wasn’t the only driver using the Hungarian Baja to prep a new vehicle for Dakar. Péter Hamza’s upgraded Nissan Patrol, which will be heavy underdogs in the Stock category at Dakar, finished third in class in Tapolca. András Pásztor won the TH class in his 1999 Toyota Land Cruiser, which he will then race at the Dakar Classic.

Besides the EBC, the baja was the final round for the national Magyar Terep-Rallye, the Campionato Italiano Cross Country, and the FIA Central European Zone’s CEZ Cross Country championships. The Hungarian Baja’s move from August to November led to all three series’ original season-ending Raid of the Champions being subsumed by the HGB, while the Nyír1 Baja in September was called off.

The new date also forced the race out of its usual home in Várpalota because the Hungarian Defence Forces needed the area for training. The HGB is traditionally held on the premises of the HDF Bakony Combat Training Centre. Tapolca, the usual host of the Raid of the Champions, took over the role for 2026.

FIA

Ultimate

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Vehicle	Class	Total Time	Margin
1	1	201	Mariusz Wiatr	Łukasz Łaskawiec	Pufy Racing	Ford F-150 Evo	T1+	4:05:16.2	Leader
2	4	200	Benediktas Vanagas	Aisvydas Paliukėnas	Toyota Gazoo Racing Baltics	Toyota GR DKR Hilux	T1+	4:18:00.5	+ 12:44.3
3	13	205	Costel Cășuneanu	Sergiu-Sebastian Itu	Costel Cășuneanu	Mini John Cooper Works Rally	T1.1	4:48:48.6	+ 43:32.4
4	14	203	Karel Trněný	Václav Pritzl	X-Force ACCR Czech Team	Ford F-150 Evo	T1+	4:52:48.0	+ 47:31.8
5	19	207	Christof Danner	Herwig Rieger	Danner Racing Team	Puch G320 E55	T1.1	7:59:46.2	+ 3:54:30.0

Challenger

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Vehicle	Total Time	Margin
1	2	303	Marcin Nasiłowski	Rafał Jędrys	Stec Motorsport	Taurus T3 Max	4:07:02.2	Leader
2	3	300	Marek Kubiczek	Artur Kordala	Kubiczek Rally Team	Taurus Evo Max	4:09:48.9	+ 2:47.7
3	5	302	Lukács “Csucsu” Kornél	Márk Mesterházi	Speedy Motorsport	Taurus Evo Max	4:21:01.0	+ 13:58.8
4	6	301	Lőrinc Mészáros	Albert Horn	M1 Motorsport	G Rally G-Ecko	4:24:32.7	+ 17:30.5
5	7	305	Miklós Trébitsch	Sándor Trébitsch	Bedu Racing	Bedu Pro X3	4:26:24.2	+ 19:22.0
6	8	304	Riccardo Benettolo	Martina Musiari	Riccardo Benettolo	Taurus T3 Max	4:26:27.1	+ 19:24.9
7	10	306	Martin Benko	Jiří Kalát	Norwit Racing	Taurus T3 Max	4:34:38.3	+ 27:36.1

SSV

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Vehicle	Class	Total Time	Margin
1	9	400	Murat Kapanoğlu	Alexander Trendafilov	ASC BMW Motorsport Bulgaria	Can-Am Maverick X3	T4	4:31:1.4	Leader
2	11	402	Arūnas Lekavičius	Arūnas Gelažninkas	Pilenai	Can-Am Maverick R	SSV1	4:41:44.5	+ 10:26.1
3	12	403	Indrek Reisenbuk	Vaido Kalm	Indrek Reisenbuk	Can-Am Maverick R	SSV1	4:47:58.6	+ 16:40.2
4	15	401	Tomáš Kubiena	Matěj Kubiena	Tomáš Kubiena	Can-Am Maverick R	SSV1	5:02:48.7	+ 31:30.3
DNF	DNF	404	Nikolett Szöke	Erik Pál	M1 Motorsport	Can-Am Maverick R	SSV1	DNF	N/A

Stock

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Vehicle	Total Time	Margin
1	16	501	Andrei Halabarodzka	Aleksei Ignatov	Andrei Halabarodzka	Toyota Land Cruiser	5:42:35.6	Leader
2	17	500	Fernando Barreiros	José Sá Pires	Fernando Barreiros	Isuzu D-Max	5:46:18.0	+ 3:42.4
3	18	502	Péter Hamza	András Kalmár	Tireman Racing	Nissan Patrol	7:21:11.6	+ 1:38:36.0

MNASZ (Magyar Nemzeti Autósport Szövetség) class winners

Terep-Rallye Országos Bajnokság

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Vehicle	Total Time
ULT+	1	201	Mariusz Wiatr	Łukasz Łaskawiec	Pufy Racing	Ford F-150 Evo	3:34:45.9
ULT	14	702	Tomasz Kobyłecki	Jakub Moliter	Tomasz Kobyłecki	H3 Evo VII	4:26:49.7
CHG	2	303	Marcin Nasiłowski	Rafał Jędrys	Stec Motorsport	Taurus T3 Max	3:35:42.4
SSV	10	740	Szabolcs Kollár	Roxána Farkas	Garilla Racing	Can-Am Maverick X3	4:00:43.4
STK	15	790	Grzegorz Szwagrzyk	Ludwik Wilkowicz	Grzegorz Szwagrzyk	Mitsubishi Pajero	5:03:08.0
T4CEZ	4	751	Zoltán Garamvölgyi	Dorottya Kollár	Garr	Can-Am Maverick X3	3:41:53.4
TROB	DNF	N/A	No Finishers				DNF
TH	16	780	András Pásztor	Mihály Sajbán	Qualisport	Toyota Land Cruiser	6:02:10.8

Campionato Italiano Cross Country

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Vehicle	Total Time
ULT	15	800	Lorenzo Codecà	Gilberto Menetti	Gilberto Menetti	Suzuki Grand Vitara	17:30:00.0
CHG	1	304	Riccardo Benettolo	Martina Musiari	Riccardo Benettolo	Taurus T3 Max	3:52:42.9
T4	2	852	Martin Cisella	Erika Mingozzi	Martin Alejandro Cisella	Can-Am Maverick X3	3:21:41.3
T2	5	890	Gianluci Morra	Stefano Tironi	Gianluci Morra	Suzuki Grand Vitara	4:29:10.5
TH	4	880	Stefano Morro	Erica Bombardini	R Team	Mitsubishi Pajero	4:12:50.3

CEZ Cross Country

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Vehicle	Total Time
ULT+	1	201	Mariusz Wiatr	Łukasz Łaskawiec	Pufy Racing	Ford F-150 Evo	3:34:45.9
ULT	13	702	Tomasz Kobyłecki	Jakub Moliter	Tomasz Kobyłecki	H3 Evo VII	4:26:49.7
CHG	2	303	Marcin Nasiłowski	Rafał Jędrys	Stec Motorsport	Taurus T3 Max	3:35:42.4
SSV	10	740	Szabolcs Kollár	Roxána Farkas	Garilla Racing	Can-Am Maverick X3	4:00:43.4
STK	14	790	Grzegorz Szwagrzyk	Ludwik Wilkowicz	Grzegorz Szwagrzyk	Mitsubishi Pajero	5:03:08.0
T4CEZ	4	751	Zoltán Garamvölgyi	Dorottya Kollár	Garr	Can-Am Maverick X3	3:41:53.4
TH	15	780	András Pásztor	Mihály Sajbán	Qualisport	Toyota Land Cruiser	6:02:10.8

Power Race

Class	Number	Driver	Navigator	Vehicle	Time
UP	901	József Papp	Zita Győri	Can-Am Maverick R	4:13:06.1

Featured image credit: HunGarian Baja