Gabor Nemeth and Gergely Nemeth proved to be the fastest in five speed stages at the WHB Győr Rally this weekend: they set the fastest time five times in a row and, although the race win was a long way off due to initial problems, they took a very confident and valuable second place in the HUMDA National at the fifth round of the rally championship.
On Saturday, another minor technical glitch hampered Német Motorsport's rivals on stage two. WHB Győr Ralin, but once that was resolved, partial successes came: they reached second place, and at one point the race win was within striking distance. A stage win at the end of the first day broke the barrier, and on Sunday they ran the best times in each of the first four sprints, securing their third podium finish of the year and the second time in a row they won the silver medal.
“It was a very good race, we were able to drive on good tracks, and we are also happy that many spectators visited the stages, especially the urban sprints, which was a great experience for me as Győr,” Gergely Nemeth, who completed the race on his home turf, began his assessment.
“We did our best and enjoyed the race, we are happy that we were able to reach the finish line without any mistakes and score a lot of points, I feel that this second place is very valuable. I am a bit sorry that we did not have the right harmony with the car on the first lap, but we will learn from that as well,” added Gabor Nemeth, referring to the fact that a brake problem hindered the duo on the first lap on Saturday.
“We worked a lot in this race, and it happened that after Kisgyónbánya, in addition to changing the punctured wheel, we also had to redo the other two damaged front rims to see if they could somehow survive on the track, and we changed the settings many times to find the optimal solution, but I think we have constantly improved,” said Gergo.
On the final stage of the first day, in Raparnasse, the duo finished second overall – and that was their first stage win of the weekend.
“It was the hardest win, but it gave us a good foundation and momentum for Sunday, and it also got us through mentally, it was important to be able to set such a good pace the next day. There was no pressure on us, we drove at our own pace. We didn’t have a realistic chance of an outright victory by then, but basically we didn’t care about that, we just cared about ourselves, we wanted to give the best performance possible. “I think we did it, we can be satisfied with the weekend, maybe it was just the feeling of missing something because of the power stage, but I had a little bit of it in me not to go like I did at the end of the Mięcik Rally,” Gabor said.
This brought the Nimet Motorsport duo closer to their rivals in the standings, and despite remaining in fourth place in the championship, they were close to the podium at the end of the year.
“The battle is very close, a lot can still happen, but we are not stressing too much about how many places we will finish at the end of the season, because we know that we have been behind since the Mecsek race. Since then, we have achieved two solid and valuable second places, we have managed to win a few stages, and we are fighting hard at the front of the field, so there is no reason to complain. We will see what the chances are in the final race, and I think we will do everything we can to achieve the best possible result,” the navigator looked ahead.
There is one race left in the championship, the Zemplin Rally, where the end-of-year classification will be determined.
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