Fogasy: It was a difficult task – Heroic fight at the Nyíregyháza Rally

Gergely Fogasy and Dávid Berendi finished in ninth place overall at the Nyíregyháza Rally, a candidate race for next year's Hungarian European Championship. The pair started with a new car, a Skoda Fabia R208, instead of their usual Peugeot 16 T5. In addition to the real rally tracks and the inclement weather, getting to know the car was also a challenge for them.

"According to the forecasts, we expected much clearer weather, we were even happy that it would be dry, good weather, but it wasn't," said Fogasy. "We had a very good race, on very good tracks. The fog, the sometimes wet, sometimes dry road also posed a serious challenge, which would have been much better to complete with a car that we already know."

We had a short test with the Skoda on Monday, but we were really able to try it out in the race. It was noticeable that it has more modern technology than the Peugeot and if someone tries it out, they can go faster with it. According to the Skoda factory, this requires about two thousand speed kilometers. We are now at a tenth of that.

I already know all the vibrations of the Peugeot, but the Skoda still caused surprises, especially when in fifth gear it suddenly let go of the rear and we spun. Luckily we stayed on the road, and when we stopped, I only had to shift into first gear and we could keep going.

It was also an interesting feeling that I thought the Fabia was easier to drive, but somehow I don't feel the pace in it as much as in the Peugeot.

Of course I'm not happy with the result. I thought I would get to the car sooner and be able to drive it better, but it seems like it takes more time.

We want to further expand our experience at the Santa Claus Rally.

Gergely Fogasy and Dávid Berendi's 2018 results

Rebenland Rally: eliminated due to technical failure

Lavanttal Rally: Mitropa Cup 2nd place, 7th place overall

Opatija Rally: Mitropa Cup 1st place, 5th place overall

Velenje Rally: Mitropa Cup 1st place, 3rd place overall

Casentino Rally: Mitropa Cup 1st place, 14th place overall

Baranya Cup: Mitropa Cup 1st place, 4th place overall

Nova Goricia Rally: Mitropa Cup 2nd place, 7th place overall

Nyíregyháza Rally: 9th place overall