The famous Spa-Francorchamps circuit hosted the second event of the FIM EWC World Endurance Championship. As in the previous 24-hour race in Le Mans, the Slovak team Maco Racing also presented itself at the start, which this time was represented by Frenchman Enzo Boulom, Hungarian Bálint Kovács and Croatian Martin Vugrinec. He replaced the Australian Anthony West in the saddle of the team’s Yamaha R1, whose event collided with the race in Australia and he could not start in Belgium.
After qualifying, the Slovak team took 14th place on the starting grid. The Hungarian Kovács started the race for the Maco Racing team and after an unsuccessful start he kept moving forward. However, the plans for the best possible placement were thwarted by a fall at high speed, and the huge loss that occurred subsequently could not be recovered.The Maco Racing team finished in 19th place in the end, and was 10 th in the FIM EWC category. In complete ranking of the championship, it is in 11 th place with a gain of 22 points.
Martin Kuzma, team owner:
“After many years, the organizer changed the time schedule, so the free training, both qualifications and night training left on Friday. It was difficult for the riders and the team, so everything had to be safe, we couldn’t make any mistakes. At the start, we won the 14th place, which we were satisfied with in the given conditions.On Saturday, the Warm Up training was canceled, which was strange and it also marked the start, which Bálint Kovács completed for the first time in his career. Anthony West, who usually starts the race for us because of a time conflict with the event in Australia, was absent this time in Belgium. We failed to start, but we gradually moved forward and at the first pit stop we were already in twelfth place.
We continued as planned, our goal was to finish in the top 5, but a high-speed crash ended our efforts. Bálint ended up in the medical center, the motorcycle was brought to the pit after almost an hour and it took another hour to repair it. So the scenario from Le Mans was repeated, we continued with two riders, Enzo and Martin took turns on the bike, and the goal was to get points for the EWC evaluation. After Bálint’s release from the hospital, he was not allowed to drive until eight o’clock in the morning. In the end it was 19th place and 10th in the EWC class.What can I add to that? Our team has a lot of potential, but we need more luck in the race. Once again, I have to thank the entire team, who did their job 110 percent in difficult conditions, mechanics, riders, masseurs… I also thank team manager Denise Grešková, who has supported us for so many years, and also our partners and fans, who still believe in us.”
