Khalifa Al-Mutaiwei crosses remote terrain during the Baja Hungary.GY?R, Hungary – Dubai's Khalifa Al-Mutaiwei and German co-driver Andreas Schulz had their own fair share of problems, but moved into the lead in the 2012 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies after a dramatic three-day Baja Hungary finished here Sunday. After losing over nine minutes following a collision with a tree Saturday afternoon, the Fazza Rally Team duo recovered well to reach the finish in seventh overall, on an event where arch-rival Jean-Louis Schlesser retired and failed to score points. Outright victory fell to Boris Gadasin and Alexey Kuzmich of Russia in a G-Force Proto, with Hungarian Karoly Fazekas taking second position in a BMW X5 and Romanian Costel Casuneanu finishing third overall in a Mitsubishi Racing Lancer. Al-Mutaiwei began the remaining two stages Saturday afternoon from seventh position, having lost the intercom at the end of the third stage. The terrain was demanding and hard on the car and there were numerous ditches to catch out the unwary. Without proper communication between the Emirati and co-driver Andreas Schulz, the Fazza Rally Team duo lost a little time in the third of Saturday's four stages and then hit a tree on the last special of the day, losing nine minutes in the process and slipping out of contention for the outright win. Rival Jean-Louis Schlesser had already retired his OSC Oscar from the race, so it was imperative that Al-Mutaiwei steered his X-raid-built Mini All4 Racing to the finish after two remaining stages Sunday morning. Early event leader Vladimir Vasilyev also retired at the end of the second day. Al-Mutaiwei duly stayed out of trouble through the last two stages to reach the finish in seventh position, just behind sixth-placed Hungarian Erik Korda. Gadasin won the event by the margin of 3min 33sec.
