Hungarian driver György Fodor built his first own Toyota in 1993 and since then he has been devoted by the Japan mark, but it has happened that at the end of 2009, the homologation of his Carina E T4 went to an end, so he had to look for some other options for 2010. It almost seemed like he must cancel the 2010 ERC season, but sitting at home is clearly not as big fun as participating in the ERC with a Division Two Peugeot 206, so he and his team begun to work as hard as they can to put everything together.
The last moments of Fodors Carina on the last ERC round at Ceska Lipa (photo Benoit Balaine)
Fodor who formerly won the Hungarian championship with a Skoda, was participating in ERC with the Carina since 2003 and immediately the first year was the best for him with his absolutely unique own-built car. He also scored some ERC points with the car in 2004 and 2005 and then in 2008 he produced a fine 6th place in his first ever Autocross European Championship round in Nyirád.
However, from the end of 2009 he is not allowed to drive the Carina in ERC as the homologation of the car is over now. With the lack of money to buy a new car it seemed that the Hungarian won’t be able to participate in any of the ten ERC rounds.
But Fodor is definetily not that kind of man who can sit in one place more than five minutes, and racing is like his life, so he soon started to look for some possibilities to race in 2010 in the ERC. From Lexus through Skoda to Porsche a lot of idea was flashing into his mind, but finally he decided to build a new Peugeot 206 for Division Two. It was a big decision, because Fodor has raced in the king category since 1993, so moving to another division is a really huge change for him.
„I will be 50 this year and I entried my first ever Rallycross event 25 years ago, so that’s why it was so much important to me not to miss the 2010 ERC campaign. The only question was what car I could drive? Lexus is almost Toyota, I started my career and took the Hungarian title with Skoda, Porsche is a real love for me – in such a way the thoughts are running across my mind. Finally, I bought a Peugeot 206 chassis, but the gearbox and the brake of the car will be Porsche, and we are going to put all parts of the Carina into it which we can. And we will surely take care to also insert some Skoda parts into the machine!”- said a cheerful Fodor, who enjoys to build his own unique car at least as much as racing itself.
But what about his goals for the upcoming season? „The main point is to have everything working well what we have been finding out and be ready with the car for the Nyiradian ERC round. By the way, our goal is the same like many years – not to chase the best results, but to simply have a great time!”- emphasised Fodor his ars poetic.
Fodor is in a very good relation with his fellow Hungarian driver, Gábor Bánkuti who usually participates in ERC with an D1/A Peugeot 206. The two drivers’ friendly cooperation seems to be growing further. „It would be great to have a Hungarian Peugeot Rallycross Team, which would include also a D1, a D1/A and a D2 driver. Of course, it is like a long-term plan, but maybe not as long-term, because this year we will already have a Hungarian Peugeot driver in D1/A and also in D2, so just D1 is needed to be ticked”- explained Fodor.
Borbás Bálint/ nymc.eu
Fotók: Benoit Balaine / rallycross.hu
Fodor György
