Balázs and Gabriella Molnár are the most recent group to be bringing the brand new Can-Am Maverick R to a cross-country rally after they enter it within the Hungarian Baja. The automotive will compete within the T4/SSV Nationwide class as a part of the Hungarian Cross-Nation Rally Championship.
Whereas the nationwide championship follows barely completely different laws from that of the FIA European Baja Cup, which will even race on the Hungarian Baja, the Molnárs and M1 Motorsport naturally nonetheless wished to make sure it complies with the sanctioning physique’s rulebook.
“We fully stripped the automotive,” defined Balázs Molnár. On the time that he spoke with Erős Réka concerning the automobile, the one factor lacking had been the FOX shock absorbers. “It’s obtained an FIA-approved body, a 130-litre security gas tank, and all the required security gear, together with seats, harnesses, a central fireplace extinguishing system race wheels and the listing goes on.”
The Molnárs beforehand raced the Can-Am Maverick X3, which loved successes like profitable the Raid of the Champions outright to wrap up the 2023 Hungarian season. Sadly for them, the X3’s stint ended on a bitter word with back-to-back retirements on the Baja Satu Mare and the Italian Baja, the latter a part of the Hungarian championship regardless of happening overseas.
“We cherished racing the X3—regardless of its flaws—and we knew it properly, reaching many good outcomes. However as soon as the brand new Maverick got here, it was apparent we might construct a race automotive from it,” Balázs acknowledged.
The Maverick R, launched final August, is touted as essentially the most highly effective side-by-side automobile available on the market at the moment. Certainly, this shortly proved to be the case when it received in its maiden American desert race. As overseas clients get their fingers on the Maverick R, they’ve been keen to check its capabilities in cross-country rallies, although World Rally-Raid Championship hopefuls must wait till 2025 because the FIA continues to be within the strategy of homologating it.
However, its efficiency has been examined in unbiased rallies with strong outcomes. W2RC group South Racing ready a Maverick R for the Morocco Desert Problem in April, the place it dominated earlier than retiring with a mechanical subject, whereas Jeremías González Ferioli received the W2RC’s Desafío Ruta 40 within the non-FIA Open Automobiles class. Final month, SNAG Racing fielded two on the Silk Means Rally in Russia, one within the T3 class (equal to the FIA’s Challenger class) and one other in Open (the latter had an unrestricted high pace of 170 km/h whereas the T3 mannequin was capped at 140 km/h). The Maverick R has additionally seen motion in Estonia and the United Arab Emirates. Three-time Dakar Rally winner Francisco López Contardo hopes to race his personal Maverick R on the 2025 version.
“It may be simpler to say what’s the identical: nothing, aside from the title,” remarked Balázs when evaluating the Maverick R to the X3. “It’s unbelievable in comparison with the previous mannequin. The engine is highly effective, the transmission is wonderful, and the suspension handles challenges significantly better. The expertise is unparalleled. Once I begin it up and shift gears, the sounds make me really feel like I’m in an actual race automotive.”
The Maverick R won’t be the one “experimental” automobile on the Hungarian Baja as M-Sport’s extremely anticipated Ford Raptor T1+ makes its competitors début with Nani Roma. Whereas the Molnárs shall be categorized within the outcomes as a part of the Hungarian Championship, Roma received’t be included within the closing order for the European Baja Cup because the Raptor falls below the Experimental/Open class.
Scheduled for 8–11 August, the Hungarian Baja is the third spherical of the FIA European Baja Cup and fifth for the Hungarian Championship.
