Prizegiving ceremony of the Hungarian Cross-Country Rally Championship was held last weekend in Budapest. Balázs Szalay and László Bunkoczi has been crowned champions so they will have start number 1 in the Hungarian Championship in the 2011 season. PROHUN 500 organised by Sólyom Team has been awarded best cross-country rally of the year for the second consecutive time after 2009. The organisers, Olivér Sólyom and Viktória Besenyő got the Rally of the Year Trophy for their hard work.

Sólyom Olivér: "I am very happy for this prize, as it is important for us to organise the rally at the best possible level year by year. This is recognition of the enormous amount of energy that was invested in the rally by the sponsors, the town and the villages and their mayors, the local people and the organising committe and their helpers (first of all, members of Viharsarok Off-road and Quad SE). A big thank you to everyone who helped us in organising the 2010 rally!"

Organisation of next year's PROHUN 500 is in that phase now that Sólyom Team MSE published a preliminary information material for competitors. The biggest change compared to the previous years is that the rally became round of the Italian, the Czech, the Slovakian and the Polish cross-country rally championships and that according to the plans, T3 and T4 vehicles can also enter. This means that besides the usual categories monoposto buggies and race trucks can also take part in the rally, so on 21-24th July 2011, an even bigger number of rally vehicles will compete near Gyula.

PROHUN 500 2011 information material can be downloaded here:

Broiling heat, fast but tricky tracks, great atmosphere - these characterised the 2010 edition of PROHUN 500 in Gyula, famous historical spa town of the Southeastern edge of Hungary. The rally was, like last year, part of not only the Hungarian Cross-Country Rally Championship but also the FIA Central European Zone Cup for Cross-Country Rallies. Altogether 25 cars, 3 bikes and 14 quads from Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland and Germany lined up at the start.

Organisers didn't have an easy job this year: torrential rains and floods in the region some weeks before the rally ruined almost a year's work, practically they had to restart from zero point four week prior to the start...

The four-day event started on Thursday with administrative checks and scrutineering, followed by a press conference in the afternoon. There was no Superspecial: on Friday crews had five "normal" specials to cover, returning two times to the Service Parc set up on the streets of the downtown of Gyula.

There was some "action" already on the first stages: the Opel Antara of Andrea Várkonyi, sole lady driver in the Hungarian Championship (and TV moderator in her normal life) slid off the track and rolled two times only 500 metres from the start of the first special. The crew remained unhurt but they car didn't so unfortunately they were unable to go on.

3D Proto of Zsolt Murczin was stopped also on this first special by mechnical problems, only 1100 metres from the finish line. Polisg crew of Gregorz Szwagrzyk and Piotr Brakowiecki slid into a water ditch at km 20 but they were able to continue the rally. "The tracks are very fast, organisation is good, everyone is very kind wih us," the co-driver summarised his experiences.

On the third special, 2008 champion crew, László Palik and Gábor Darázsi had an accident in the last corner, just 500 metres from the finish. The impact was not so big but enough for the driver to have to broken ribs and for this reason being out of the race early.

At the end of the day, Balázs Szalay (Opel Antara), Erik Korda (Nissan Navara) and Károly Fazekas (BMW X5) occupied the first three places of the overall classification.

Saturday was the longest day of not only the rally but maybe this year's championship: 8 specials and more than 500 km altogether. The trio in front continued to increase their advantage during all day, without having any problems.

Behind them, Péter Rónai stayed on fourth place but his co-driver, Gyula born Ferenc Vörös had a really bad day: the exhaust system of his Antara had been damaged after sliding off the track once and exhaust gas started to flow into the cockpit. They were able to complete one more special but after that the driver needed to be taken to hospital.

The team of the Hungarian Army, Zoltán Bálint and Dániel Marton in a 2002 built 3,5 litre Nissan Pickup emerged from 8th to 5th place after the clutch problem of the previous day had been fixed. Pál Lónyai and Zoltán Garamvölgyi experienced some difficulties in the second half of the day as their Nissan had a transmission problem and they lost front drive. From that on, they lost some time but become the favourite of the spectators for their spectacular style.

On Sunday four more specials were on the menu, unfortunately the longer track had to be shortened by about twenty kilometres. Although Erik Korda and co-driver György Tóth tried might and main, on these fast tracks they had no real chance to overtake the Antara of Szalay equipped with a seven litre GM engine, so Balázs Szalay and László Bunkoczi were able to repeat their 2009 victory in Gyula. Last podium place was occupied by Károly Fazekas and Péter Maurer (3rd placed also at this year's Italian Baja) in their BMW X5.

Despite of the victory of Szalay, PROHUN 500 wasn't a good weekend for the Antara armada: out of the four at the start only the boss' survived until the finish. Rónai had to quit from on Sunday from fourth place due to transmission problem while Vörös retired with a broken gearbox. Andrea Várkonyi, as we mentioned above, was out already at the beginning of the rally.

After Rónai's problem it was Zoltán Bálint who inherited the fourth position overall followed by Pál Lónyai in fifth place. For the young driver this was his best result so far - even under special circumstances. His team received some retread tires from the Portuguese Fedima company and he could choose if he wanted to start on new Fedimas or used BF Goodriches. He decided for the first option and didn't regret it. On Sunday also Erik Korda tested the Fedimas on his South Africa built Nissan Navara and even clocked a best time on them on SS15.

In T2, Slovakian Juraj Ulrich was the fastest in front of Aleksander Sachanbinski and Gregorz Szwagrzyk, both from Poland. In Group H, victory went to Björn and Walter Hrabal from Germany, while Hungarian Dávid Czirkelbach celebrated taking the lead in the national championship after a rally full of struggles. In Challenge, Zoltán Csányi was unstoppable. In Open, János Hangodi won in front of the rookie crew of Attila Székelyi and Csaba Józsa. On two wheels, Czech Vlastimil Tosenovsky jr finished fastest, among quads Zoltán Hangodi took the victory.

PROHUN 500
5th round of FIA Central European Zone Trophy for Cross-Country Rallies
and 5th round of G4S Cross-Country Rally Championship (double coefficient)
Bulletin No. 2 for car and bike/quad teams

Times

Thursday, 15th July 2010
Opening of the secretariat: 09.00
Acquiring of safety equipments: 09.00-18.00
Administrative Checks: 09.00-18.00
Technical Scrutineering: 09.30-18.30
Cross-country rally tuition for (co-)drivers with daily licence: 19.00
First Stewards Meeting: 19.45

1.1 PROHUN 500 will be run in Gyula, Hungary and its neighbourhood (Békéscsaba, Doboz, Elek, Lőkösháza, Sarkadkeresztúr, Tarhos).

Start and finish of the specials, their length and order have been changed. New specials, start times and neutralization in times are listed in the itinerary attached.

2.4 Stewards of the Meeting
Members:
(SK) Gabriela Szczecinová
(H) Brigitta Varga

2.5 Officials
Technical Delegate: (H) László Lakos
Chief Technical Scrutineer – cars: (H) László Tüskés
Chief Technical Scrutineer – bikes/quads: (H) Lajos Szabados

3.4 Maximum number of entries accepted, eligible vehicles:
Groups
Other: Open - Cars, TH – International
Group CH International will have no separate classification.

5.2 Fitting of advertising
Organisers would like to draw the attention of the teams that before the Technical Scrutineering the fitting of compulsory advertising stickers will be checked. Teams can enter Technical Scrutineering only with the stickers properly fitted. Replacement of the stickers is possible according to Article 5.3.

9.2 Time and schedule of Administrative Checks
Time: 15th July 2010 09.00-18.00
Schedule: Per category.
09.00-11.00: TH, Challenge, Open
11.00-13.00: Bikes, quads
13.00-17.00: T1, T2

10.2 Time and schedule of Technical Scrutineering
Time: 15th July 2010 09.30-18.30
Schedule: Per category.
09.30-11.30: TH, Challenge, Open
11.30-13.30: Bikes, quads
13.30-17.30: T1, T2

10.3 Parc fermé:
After Technical Scrutineering race vehicles must be placed in parc fermé in Kossuth tér between 14.00-19.00.

11 Superspecial
There will be no superspecial at the rally.

13.1 Etalon kilometre:
According to the map issued at the Administrative Checks.

14 Service park
When the route of the rally crosses the Service Park servicing is allowed from own time.

14.6 Category Open:
After the end of the day service, also teams of category Open must place their vehicles in the parc fermé by the time given on time card.

14.7 Service Park, other
Attention! Teams get the stickers they ordered for assistance and auxilliary vehicles at the entry of the Service Park. In the Service Park only vehicles with adequate stickers are allowed to enter. The stickers are valid only fitted well visibly on the windscreen. Further stickers can be purchased ONLY at the Secretariat.

19.2 Prizes

Other:
International TH 1-3.
Hungarian Open 1-3.
International Open 1-3.
International Bike/Quad 1-3.
There will be no prizes for International CH.

20 Category Open
There will be no exception for category Open under the general service rules. Vehicles of the category must be placed in the parc fermé at the end of the day by the time given on time card.

Appendix 1: Itinerary T1/T2

Appendix 2: Itinerary TH-CH-O-M-Q

PROHUN 500
5th round of FIA Central European Zone Trophy for Cross-Country Rallies 2010 and 5th round of G4S Cross-Country Rally Championship (double coefficient)

Bulletin No. 1 for car and bike/quad teams

Supplementary Regulations of PROHUN 500 is amended with the following rules.

Article 9 and 10 of the Supplementary Regulations are extended with the following. At the Administrative Checks and at the Scrutineering the necessary documents can be shown by the competitor or its representative if the other rules are respected. The vehicle can be placed in the Parc Fermé also by the representative of the competitor.

Deadline for placing the vehicle in the Parc Fermé: 7 pm,15th July 2010.

Given out with the approval of the Chief of the Hungarian Cross-Country Committee.

Olivér Sólyom
Chief of Organising Comittee

Entries to the 2010 edition of PROHUN 500, round of the Hungarian Championship and CEZ CCR, organised by Sólyom Team MSE in Gyula are open for about two weeks more (until 2nd July 2010). The area of rally centre and service park will be double size this year. On the stage near the parc fermé there will be concerts on Friday and Saturday with a party Saturday night, on Sunday the modern dance and folk dance ensembles of the settlements crossed (Békés, Békéscsaba, Doboz, Elek, Kétegyháza, Lőkösháza, Méhkerék, Murony, Sarkadkeresztúr and Tarhos) perform their shows.

"On Friday and Saturday mostly bands from Békés county will play. Saturday evening we will have as guest the author of the official soundtrack of the rally, Steamy band from Kapuvár, who will also bring some surprise gift for the audience," says Olivér Sólyom, organiser of the rally. "Unfortunately, the youngtimer and oldtimer meeting, tuning show and go-kart race had to be cancelled. We are really sorry for the cancellation, but for the secure and flawless organisation of the rally this decision had to be made. The cross-country rally event is the most important. Now only one month left until the rally and there is still much to

do. Because of the flood and inland waters the route still could not be specified, we have to start that within one week, even if at the moment we can reach the area only by boat. I can guarantee, the competitors will not be disappointed in PROHUN 500 also this year."

From today, entries are open for bikes and quads for the 2010 edition of PROHUN 500. Supplementary Regulations for bikes and quads available in Entry section.

Supplementary Regulations of the 2010 edition of PROHUN 500 are ready and available online in the Entry section. Supplementary Regulations for bikes and quads will follow in about a week.

In cars, for categories T1 and T2 the total distance of the rally is 928.0 km of which 522.5 km will be timed. For categories TH-CH from the total distance of 796.7 km 444.4 km will be the length of the specials. Cars in category OPEN have to complete 486.7 km, out of which 270.1 km will be against the clock.

Compared to the previous years, the palette has been broadened with category OPEN, so as production or non-FIA 4x4 vehicles can also be entered to the rally.

The organiser and the town of Gyula warmly welcomes the competitors of PROHUN 500 2010!

Supplementary regulation of PROHUN 500 (event of the national championship and CEZ CCR) is coming soon, and will be downloadable from this site at Entry menu.

2PROHUN 500 will take place again in Gyula on 15-18th July 2010, with the service park set up traditionally in the downtown and with more than 500 km of special. There will be some changes as well, the most important of them is that PROHUN 500 will be a 4-day event. The Supplementary Regulations will be published in February, beside the National Championship categories there will be an Open category as well for those who have never tasted cross-country rallies before.

"We are very grateful to all those who contributed to the

success of the 2009 PROHUN 500," says organiser of the rally Olivér Sólyom. "At the prize giving ceremony I had no opportunity to tell that the Rally of the Year prize is not only for me or for my club. A big team worked together almost like a family at full blast for the success of the event. Among them I would like to mention first dr. Klára Perjési, Mayor of Gyula and the municipality of Gyula in the first place, who took on a great challenge with authorising the unusual, downtown service park and with receiving the cross-country rally teams. There are so many people to whom we owe such a big thank you. I also have to mention the competitors, who are also a part of the PROHUN family because without competitors there is no rally! As organiser, the satisfaction and good mood of the competitors gives me a huge motivation, that is why we decided to make 2010 PROHUN 500 into a 4-day event. This will allow us to include a lot more opportunity, fight and success in the coeff. 2 CEZ CCR round."

Organisers of the PROHUN 500 wants to render thanks to all those whose contribution and participation was inevitable for the success of the 2009 rally:
the Town of Gyula and its services (Mayor dr. Klára Perjési, Town Managemnet Office and Tourinform Office), municipalities and inhabitants of the neighbouring villages ( Doboz, Kötegyán, Méhkerék, Sarkad, Sarkadkeresztúr, Tarhos és Újszalonta), Lasersystems Kft., SRT (Sparco, Schroth Racing, Lico), Adrenalin Energy Drink, Fétis Kft., Aranykereszt Hotel, Art Copy Stúdió, Gyula Autóház, employees of Hajdu Kft. (Kötegyán), leader of the Kötegyán Border Inspection Office András Tomonyiczka and his colleagues.

The organisers say thanks to the journalists for their participation and work and that they reported about PROHUN 500 in many countries around the world. We are grateful for the Media Special Prize of Autósport és Formula Magazin, the cooperation of the MNASZ Cross-Country Rally Committee and the Rally of the Year prize. Last but not least, thanks to all the competitors for taking part in the event.

PROHUN 500, cross-country rally has won two awards. The race – with center in Gyula town in Békés County - is Rally of the Year, and won the Autosport and Formula Magazine Media Prize.

Annual award ceremony of cross-country rally was at Hungaroring, this weekend. Olivér Sólyom and Viktória Besenyő - organizers of PROHUN 500 - have won cups for the second place of H group. On the ceremony PROHUN 500 - as an event of the Hungarian Championship and Central-Europe Zone Trophy for Cross-Country Rally - also has won two awards. The race - with center in Gyula town in Békés County - is Rally of the Year, and won the Autosport and Formula Magazine Media Prize.

"I am proud of our results - says Olivér Sólyom, the main organizer of PROHUN 500. - We want PROHUN 500 to get better and better on every way. If competitors would enjoy all moments of the rally, if Gyula town

and the surrounding settlements would feel the event as their own, and if sponsors would think it’s a good thing and they have profit that would be wonderful. We are planning a bigger event for the next year than ever before - as a festival -, with more participants, because competitors of many countries told us, they want to enter for the rally in 2010. We start to organize this rally together with Gyula town, and we think that this small, beautiful town with its own friendly atmosphere can make this event world-famous. We want to maintain our cooperation with our previous partners - local governments of Doboz, Kötegyán, Méhkerék, Sarkad, Sarkadkeresztúr, Tarhos and Újszalonta -, but we plan to involve more settlements. I have nowhere met fairer and more devoted peoples than in Békés County."

Organization of the 2010 competition has already begun, negotiations are going on. PROHUN 500 will be organized between 16-18th of July in 2010, as a rally of the Hungarian Championship and part of the CEZ series. Area of the rally will grow with more roads, and the event will become richer by cultural and popular programs in the center of Gyula town. Good news for the competitors: some of the earlier tracks will fuse, and because of this the special stages will be longer and more varied. Finally, there will be a category of those vehicles, which does not comply with the national and international rules, and competitors can enter with them as well, but in open category. Supplementary regulation will be ready in January 2010.

Porizek rolled the car again, Attila Gábor finished last but clocked two best times, Varga was taken to hospital with kidney stone, Zapletal is happy to have finished and, by the way, Szalay won the rally.

AThe rain at night made fool of some competitors: they chose mud tyres for the first two specials while the tracks remained dry. At the moment Szalay is in front but his advantage sometimes grows, sometimes lessens in front of Porizek and Korda.

At the fourth round of Brokernet Hungarian Cross-country Rally Championship and second round of the FIA Central European Zone Trophy for Cross-country Ralies, four specials were completed by the 27 cars, 6 quads and 2 bikes which started at PROHUN 500.

As Friday's superspecial determined only the starting order, Saturday's first special was the first real timed one. The rally started with a surprise: Zsolt Murczin won the first stage almost half minute in front of Porizek. Szalay was only ninth but he finished first on SS2 and SS4. On SS3 Erik Korda clocked the best time - another proof of what a stunning fight was on.

The day was also packed with difficulties: the tracks were bumpy and hard, not really technical but very fast. On SS1 the crew Bálint - Honfi fall in a ditch surprisingly with the back of the Nissan and had real hard times to get out, so they finished the day in 14th position. Unfortunately rookie Pál Lónyai and his co-driver, Róbert Bagics couldn't even start the first special as the engine broke after the superspecial.

Imre Varga had the same problem but at the end of Saturday's stage. Varga was in 8th position after the last special but at the service one cylinder turned out to be broken and some more damages occured, so the team had to withdraw from the race. In the Land Rover of Szilveszter Kéry the rear left coil spring broke and he had to forfait, just like Attila Gábor who broke the gearbox. Unfortunately András Lukács couldn't finish SS1 because they tested a new setup on the Proto, the front shock absorber's support wasn't adequate and practically one of the wheels broke off. László Liszi was disqualified by the stewards because the driver didn't drive the car himself to the parc fermé.

The battle in the front was exciting. After SS3 The gap between Szalay and the second placed Korda was only six seconds but later Porizek was fast, too, so Korda fell back to third place. László Palik made a wrong tyre choice in the morning, he expected the tracks to be muddy and could change to the adequate tyres only after SS2.

Among bikes and quads, László Szabó is in the lead infront of Zoltán Hangodi. In the Challenge category the by now experienced crew Bence - Szvetkó is the leader four minutes in front of the German team.

Standings after Stage 2:

1. Szalay-Bunkoczi 02:22:07
2. Porizek-Sykora +00:00:52
3. Korda-Tóth +00:01:06
4. Palik-Darázsi +00:02:47
5. Murczin-Hujber +00:06:20
6. Kristóf-Simon +00:09:44
7. Zapletal-Ourednicek +00:12:17
8. Varga-Pocseg +00:13:22
9. Rónai-Galambos +00:14:34
10. Chytka-Kunovsky +00:22:48
11. Janacek-Vacovsky +00:29:25
12. Garosci-Tornabell +00:34:37
13. Bálint-Honfi +00:40:21
14. Kéry-Alibán -
15. Gábor-Maurer -
16. Knorr-Jokusch -

H-csoport:
Czirkelbach-Horváth 03:35:27

Challenge:
1. Bence-Szvetkó 03:08:47
2. Hrabal-Hrabal +00:04:21
3. Csányi-Knezevics +00:13:24
4. Kovács-Csikos +00:33:46
5. Kratochvill-Gyurina +00:35:10

Bike/quad:
1. Szabó László 02:35:41
2. Hangodi Zoltán +00:03:07
3. Fekete László +00:11:16
4. Nyeste Róbert +00:14:15
5. Nagy István +00:17:31
6. Mészöly Tamás +00:17:35
7. Hodola Richárd +00:35:39
8. Linninger Patrik –

These were the words with which dr. Klára Perjési, the Mayor of Gyula started her speech at the press conference of the PROHUN 500. This time a cross- country rally has been organised in the town and its neighbourhood, and the assistance park has been set up in the main street of Gyula. The motto of the town was especially true for the crew Gábor - Maurer who had to forfait right after the superspecial.

On the 4.5 km superspecial the crews started in reversed order, so the best cars were the last to start. The competitors had to complete several laps at the sand mine 5 km from Gyula but the dust was so thick that sometimes they could hardly see anything. Some jumps also made the superspecial more difficult but more spectacular at the same time.

 

The crew Gábor - Maurer became the victim of the deep sand as the rear half-shaft of the Nissan broke in the first lap and the front differential broke down in the next one, so the crew got stuck in the sand. It was quite a hard work to push them out and they have to continue the race tomorrow with forfait.

Results: 1. Palik-Darázsi 5:30 2. Porizek-Sykora 5:31 3. Szalay-Bunkoczi 5:32 4. Korda-Tóth 5:38 5. Lukács-Drávai 5:39 6. Murczin-Hujber 5:44 7. Zapletal-Ourednicek 5:46 8. Kristóf-Simon 5:47 9. Bálint-Honfi 5:51 10. Varga-Pocseg 5:56 11. Knorr-Jokusch 6:05 12. Rónai-Galambos 6:05 13. Kéry-Alibán 6:08 14. Liszi-Liszi 6:19 15. Lónyai-Bagics 6:38 16. Janacek-Vacovsky 6:44 17. Chytka-Kunovsky 8:27 18. Garosci-Tornabell 11:16 19. Gábor-Maurer - H-csoport: Czirkelbach-Horváth 6:58 Challenge: 1. Bence-Szvetkó 6:43 2. Csányi-Knezevics 7:21 3. Kovács-Csikos 7:58 4. Hrabal-Hrabal 10:16 5. Kratochvill-Gyurina 11:45 Bike/quad: 1. Szabó László 5:37 2. Linninger Patrik 5:38 3. Fekete László 5:49 4. Mészöly Tamás 6:00 5. Nyeste Róbert 6:04 6. Hodola Richárd 6:35 7. Hangodi Zoltán 11:03 8. Nagy István 12:16

Competitors will have no personal time for administrative check and technical scruteneering. Organisers have diveded competitors into two parts as follows:

10th July, 2009, administrative check:
Cars: 08.00h-12.00h, Hotel Aranykereszt - Gyula
Bikes and quads: 12.00h-14.00h, Hotel Aranykereszt - Gyula

10th July, 2009, technical scruteneering:
Cars: 08.30h-12.30h, Suzuki Gyula
Bikes and quads: 12.30h-14.30h, Suzuki Gyula

As a result of cooperation of 12 European countries - Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia and Slovakia - FIA have announced the Central European Zone Cup for Cross-Country Rally in 2009. PROHUN 500 is the part of the eight-stage zone series, this race will be the 4th event. Racers of the countries of the zone are eligible for scoring international points by PROHUN 500 (coefficient 2). Naturally, competitors of any country can enter to the event, but they are not eligible for scoring zone points.

Information material of the race is downloadable in pdf format: in English and in German. Regulations will contain more specific further information. It will be ready soon and downloadable at entry menu.

PROHUN 500 cross-country rally race will be organized a third time, on 10th-12th July, 2009, as the part of the Hungarian Brokernet National Cross-Country Rally Championship. This race will be one of the steps of the FIA Central Europe Zone Cup for Cross-country Rally races. It means that foreign racers can collect points on this race, in the international championship. PROHUN 500 is the fifth race in the official FIA calendar, so the international cross-country rally field will arrive to Gyula, after Italy, Slovakia and Montenegro.

PROHUN 500 will be different in 2009 than before, because it is a zone race now, plus the service park will be on the street of the downtown of Gyula. Leaders of the town recognized the possibility, and agreed to develop the service park of the race on the four-line main road, in the heart of the town. It means that Vértanúk Street will be blocked from the fountainous roundabout to the fire station, and the main road will be full of service cars, trucks and race vehicles for three days. Spectators may go around the service park, and may contemplate their favourite competitors' fights continuously. The parc fermé (closed race park) will be developed next to the service area. This provides wonderful spectacle, because the race vehicles stay here between two special stages, and at night.