The anniversary edition of Balkan Offroad Rallye offered 5 full rally days between 25th and 30th September, plus one additional day in the beginning for the ceremonial start and the qualifying stage. The technical inspection and the show start took place in the beautiful city of Sighisoara, which is World Heritage Site listed by UNESCO and the big final was in the historical city of Alba Iulia. The cities will host respectively the two camps of this year competition.

Photography Paolo Baraldi - Story Hristomir Nikolov

Balkan Offroad Rallye was back on the international motorsport scene after two years’ pause, caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The biggest off-road challenge on the Balkan peninsula returned, with a celebration of its 10th anniversary edition. And the rally faced brand new terrains in a new host country – after 9 years in Bulgaria, this time the rally took place in Romania, in the beautiful and mountainous region of Transylvania for a great “Dracula” edition. Actually, this is a return to the origins, as the first edition of the race in 2011 was also held in this picturesque country. 

Romania has very good traditions in the field of the motorsports and especially in the off-road. The country offers fantastic terrains with big forests, open mountains, magnificent roads, as well as incredible sections for the extreme competitions. RBI Sport was working with the local automobile and motorcycle federations, which gives a huge support for the event. Compared to the Rallye Breslau in Poland, the competitors at the Balkan Offroad  had very different, three-dimensional and wild terrains, which offered a really demanding challenge.

The anniversary edition of Balkan Offroad Rallye offered 5 full rally days between 25th and 30th September, plus one additional day in the beginning for the ceremonial start and the qualifying stage. The technical inspection and the show start took place in the beautiful city of Sighisoara, which is World Heritage Site listed by UNESCO and the big final was in the historical city of Alba Iulia. The cities will host respectively the two camps of this year competition.

Speaking about the start, the organizer Alex Kovatchev and his international orga team from RBI Sport, host more than 120 racing vehicles from all classes – bikes, quads, SSVs and cars. Traditionally, there were 3 categories – Cross Country (all vehicles), Extreme (cars limited and open) and Discovery (all classes).

The first one is not all about speed, but also focused to the skilled navigation in the dynamic terrains of Transylvania. The route for the Cross Country was about 1400 km, from which more than 1000 against the clock. The Extreme category had not so long, but really heavy and demanding itinerary, with hard sections to attack in the mountains, rivers, swamps, etc. Finally, the Discovery category meet some attractive sections from the rally, but without the timing pressure.

As usual, there were competitors from different European countries – France, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Austria, Czech Republic, Italy, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Bulgaria, Switzerland and the host country Romania. This year there are expected participants even from the USA, Australia and South Africa. Among the teams are some of the winners and veterans form the very first editions of Balkan Offroad Rallye. This was an ultimate off-road adventure!

Balkan Offroad Rally 2022 started from the center of Sighisoara with official ceremony, watched by hundreds of local residents, and hosted by the authorities of the historical city. The 111 racing vehicles passed under the start arch and headed towards the very first timed section of this year’s race – the qualifying stage.

The track, 15,78 km long, offered the first real test of the terrain, that the competitors will face the next 5 days. The short special counted for the start list of Leg 1, but also as a part of the combined time of the offroad marathon.

In the car Cross-Country class, a lady stole the show. Magdalena Zajac from Poland (nr. 221, Toyota) claimed the stage win some 17 second in front of the Bulgarian Doncho Tsanev (nr. 208, Suzuki Proto). With only 4 seconds difference with the silver medalist of Balkan Offroad Rally, the daily podium was completed by the Dutch veteran Herman Jasper (nr. 202, Bowler).

The Polish domination continued also in the cars limited class, where Bartolomiej Wajzer (nr. 218, Dacia) overpassed his compatriot Gregorz Brochocki (nr. 216, Toyota).

The SSVs, which is the most crowded class, also offered daily win for a pilot from Poland - the well-known driver from the RBI events Maciej Stolarski (nr. 129). He finished 12 seconds in front of the French pilot Hugues Lacam (nr. 121). With 3rd time for the day was Kris Maennama from Estonia. As is often happen in those kinds of rallies, all the best drivers were with Can Am vehicles.

As for the bikes, it was Matthew Gird (Nr.2, KTM) who was the fastest. The pilot from South Africa got 27 seconds advance in front of the Polish rider Krzysztof Jarmuz (Nr. 32, KTM). Third for the day on the finish line was Laurynas Avyzius from Lithuania (Nr. 16, Husqvarna).

Poland was the triumphant country also in the ATV class, where the best 3 riders were from the host-country of Breslau Rally. Fastest was Marcin Wilkolek, followed by Ireneus Ostafin and Rafal Jawien. And it was also a triple win for Polaris Polska Racing Team.

In the Extreme category, it was the day for Estonia. With best time on the finish line was Hardo Mere with his unique HM7 Proto, followed by Joel Purga (Mulkland MOS1). Only 4 seconds behind was the multiple time winner of Balkan Offroad Frank Daurelle from France (Land Rover).

Leg 1 of Balkan Offroad Rally 2022 will offer 188 competitive kilometers for the Cross-Country category, divided on two special stages (106,47 and 81,55 km respectively). As for the Extreme cars, they will face only 54 kilometers timed section, but with a lot of extremes, where will be a hard work for the winches.

After the short prologue for warming the tires in Sunday, the beginning of the week offered the first full-length racing day of Balkan Offroad Rally 2022. The competitors entered the mountains in Transylvania, where the racetrack offered almost every type of terrains: plains, hills, forests, valleys, rivers, dust and mud.

The participants in Cross-Country category faced more than 188 competitive kilometers, separated on two special stages. Narrow tracks, lot of ups and downs and tricky navigation were the main compounds of the day’s menu, as well as the changing of the terrain from wet to dry suddenly.

In the extreme class, the route was slightly over 50 kilometers. But this was not a walk in the mountain – there were a lot of heavy situations and almost all the day was mud and winches, winches and mud.

Starting with the bikes, Krzysztof Jarmul claimed the stage win. Even with a small penalty for overspeeding, the rider from Poland took almost six minutes advantage to the South African Matthew Grid. Third for the day became Rob Van Vegchel from Nederlands and all the top bikers were with KTM machines.

Moving to the quads, it was amazing battle between Gaetan Martinez (Can Am) and Adomas Gancierius (CFMOTO). After 188 kilometers, the Frenchman won the duel vs. the pilot from Latvia with just one second. Third for the day and almost 2 minutes behind the leader was Rafal Jawien from Poland (Polaris).

In the crowded SSV class, fastest in the first Leg of Balkan Offroad Rally 2022 was Tomas Zaleckas from Lithuania, who stole respectable 12 minutes to the Polish Marcin Graczyk. Top 3 was completed by another Lithuanian - Andrius Dotas. All the leading trio was behind the wheels of powerful Can Am buggies.

As for the cars in the cross-country category, Rients Hofstra from Nederland with his Nissan Proto was absolute dominator, leaving his pursuer Doncho Tzanev from Bulgaria (Suzuki Proto) almost 26 minutes behind. Third for the day was another pilot from Bulgaria - the debutant in Balkan Offroad Georgi Vukov.

Last but not least, in the Extreme category Hardo Mere won the battle against his compatriot from Estonia Joel Purga with almost 17 minutes advantage. Third for the day was the champion from several previous editions of the rally Frank Daurelle from France.

Leg 2 of Balkan Offroad Rally will offer some 254 competitive kilometers for the Cross-Country, separated on two special stages. As for the Extreme, they will face another 50 kilometers long track, with a lot of mud, hills and forests.

The second racing day of Balkan Offroad Rally 2022 was really dynamic for all the competitors. The route was once again in the mountains around the beautiful city of Sighisoara, and the nature said its highest word - the conditions were different in the all parts of the day: starting with rain and fog in the morning and moving to clear sun in the afternoon. Again, all the racers faced multiple kind of terrains: forests, valleys, rivers and slippery country roads.

In the cross-country category, the day offered more than 250 kilometers against the clock, divided in two special stages. Speed, but more important - attention to the navigation, were the main things that everybody should respect on the track. Once again, for the extreme class there had "only" 50 kilometers for the stage. But it was not definitely an easy walk in the park - a lot of mud and big hills and slopes were in the menu, so the day was more than though.

In the bike class, the situation in the top 3 was opposite to that from the previous day, but still KTM was the winning machine. So, Rob Van Vegchel from Nederlands was the fastest, followed by the South African Matthew Grid and Krzysztof Jarmul from Poland.

As for the quads, the stage win was claimed by Marcin Wilkolek from Poland, who finished in front of his fellow countryman and teammate from Polaris Polska team Rafal Jawien. Third for the day was the Latvian pilot of CFMOTO Adomas Gancierius.

In the SSV class, the day was very good for another Polish competitor - Maciej Stolarski, who set the best time, overtaking Tomas Zaleckas from Lithuania with 3 and a half minutes. Top 3 was completed by the Dutch driver Andre Thewessen and once again three Can Am buggies was on the daily podium.

Continuing with the cars from the Cross-Country class, it was the Bulgarian pilot Doncho Tsanev with his rear wheel-driven prototype, who did the long stage fastest. The two-time “silver medalist” from the previous editions of Balkan Offroad Rally, finished with 7:27 minutes advantage to Rients Hofstra (Nissan Proto). But the driver from Nederland had a bigger advance from the first leg and (unofficially) is leading the convoy. Third for the day was the winner from the very first edition in 2011 Joerg Gruenbeck from Germany with his Mercedes G.

In the Extreme race, once again it was a battle between the Estonian pilots Hardo Mere and Joel Purga. And once again Mere was the winner, finishing the hard stage with half an hour advantage. Third was Franck Daurelle, who had 10 minutes more for the day than Purga.

Leg 3 of Balkan Offroad Rally 2022 seeing the caravan moving to the second camp in Alba Iulia. There will be more than 340 kilometers in the menu and both categories – Cross-Country and Extreme will share the same route.

The race moved to Alba Iulia for its final stages.

Leg 3 of Balkan Offroad Rally 2022 was in the day where the caravan moved to the second bivouac in Alba Iulia. There were be more than 300 kilometers in the menu, almost 200 of which – against the clock. Both categories – Cross-Country and Extreme share the same route, and the participants faced the beaty of the region, with different type of terrains on their way and, more important, with very good weather. There were fast passages of gravel tracks, dirt roads and plenty of grass tracks along the big pastures. The day marked the half point of the race, so the things are getting more and more clear before the finish.

Like the two days before, in the bike class we saw similar names in the top 3. This time, the fastest biker was Matthew Grid (KTM) from South Africa who stole one and a half minute to Krzysztof Jarmuz (POL, KTM). Third time for the day managed to succeed Rob Van Vegchel from Nederland (KTM).

In the quad race, there was triple daily triumph for Poland and Polaris Racing Team Polska. The daily win was claimed by Adam Krysiak, who finished with good 9 and half minutes in front of Marcin Wilkolek. Wilkolek at his side, managed to steal just one second from Rafal Jawien to take the second place.

In the SSV class, Tomas Zaleckas (Can Am) from Lithuania was the fastest on the track, finishing with some 6 minutes advantage to Maciej Stolarski (Can Am) from Poland. Third for the day was Kris Maennama (Can Am) from Estonia, who arrived at the finish 10:37 minutes after the leader.

In the car class, Rients Hofstra (Nissan Proto) claimed his second stage victory and the Dutch is extending the time difference to Doncho Tsanev (Suzuki 2WD Proto), who finished on second place with more than 17 minutes passive. Daily top 3 was completed by another pilot from Nederland – Herman Jasper with Bowler. Bartlomiej Wajzer (Dacia) from Poland was the fastest in the car limited class.

In the Extreme race, which this time hadn’t actually extreme places on the track, Joel Purga beat his compatriot from Estonia Hardo Mere. Third time for the day was for Edward Ruszczyc (Land Rover) from Poland.

The penultimate day 4 of Balkan Offroad Rally will be in the region of high mountains close to the famous "Transalpina" road. The highest level the route will reach is 1850 m. On the race track there will be fast forest roads and narrow tracks with amazing panoramas. The track is partially rough and stony and, in the end, there are very fast gravel tracks in the valleys.

The penultimate stage of the race was nice, but hard.

The penultimate leg 4 of Balkan Offroad Rally passed in the region of high mountains close to the famous "Transalpina" road. The highest level the route reached was 1850 m. On the race track there were fast forest roads and narrow tracks with amazing panoramas. The track was partially rough and stony and, in the end, there were very fast gravel tracks in the valleys, but combined with some rain. The competitors from Cross-Country category had some 154 kilometers against the clock, separated on the timed sections. The Extreme race had another not so long, but really tough stage to conquer.

In the bike class, it was Krzysztof Jarmuz (POL, KTM) who set the best time for the day. Second place went to Matthew Gird (KTM) from South Africa, who was followed by the pilot from the USA James Pearson, also with KTM. Day before the end Jarmuz has 15 minutes advantage to Gird.

As for the quads, Adam Krysiak from Poland claimed the daily win. The second place for the stage went to Adomas Gancierius (CFMOTO) and the Latvian rider is leading the overall. But, only 28 seconds in front of Rafal Jawien (7th for the day).

In the SSV class, Maciej Stolarski (Can Am) from Poland was the fastest on the track. Anyway, he is still second in the general standings, some 18 minutes behind Tomas Zaleckas (Can Am, 19th place for the day) from Lithuania. Second place for the stage was for Lukas Lauda from Austria and third for Bernard Rouiller from Switzerland.

In the car class, Doncho Tsanev with his 2WD proto was the fastest driver on the heavy stage in the mountain. The Bulgarian also has big lead of 26 and a half minutes over Rients Hofstra (Nissan Proto, 16th place for the day) in the overall and is the new pretender for the big win. But we must wait to the end to see if it will be like that.

In the Extreme race, the day was marked with the big accident of Franck Daurell. The veteran from France faced several rollovers during downhill and was taken to the hospital with serious injuries. Hopefully, he is safe and even returned in the camp, but for sure is out of race, where he was on 3rd position before the accident.

Hardo Mere claimed another stage victory in the duel with his compatriot from Estonia Joel Purga and, day before the end of the rally, is with good advance and big chance for the crown.

The last day of Balkan offroad Rally will offer not so long and difficult stages. At the end, we will know who are the new crowned winners of the 10th jubilee of the race. And also, we will know who will win in the RBI Master Award with the highest score from the participation in the three events from the series – Fenix Rally, Breslau and Balkan.

The last day of Balkan offroad Rally offered not so long and difficult stages. The race track leaded the competitors trough very fast sections of dirt tracks between the fields in the Valley of Alba Iulia. Really fast and dusty sections with tricky navigation, combined with some mud and river crossings. Some 127 kilometers against the clock for the Cross-Country category and 75 for the Extreme were in the menu and after that it was the big final of the rally. At the end, we know who are the new crowned winners of the 10th jubilee of the race. And also, we know who win in the RBI Master Award with the highest score from the participation in the three events from the series – Fenix Rally, Breslau and Balkan.

Frederic Reinheimer from France claimed the last stage win in the bike class, but the winner of Balkan Offroad Rally 2022 is Krzysztof Jarmus. The rider from Poland finished Leg 5 on 6th place, but even like this he had enough advance of over 11 minutes to his closest pursuer Matthew Gird, who, after two wins in Tunisia and Poland, finished on 2nd place in Transylvania. Third overall is Rob Van Vegchel from Nederland with almost one hour passive to the winner.

Wining the last stage, Rafal Jawien claimed another title for Poland from Balkan Offroad in the ATV class. Jawien (Polaris) finished the race with advantage of 7 and half minutes to Adomas Gancierius (CFMOTO) from Latvia. The "bronze medal" went to Gaetan Martinez (Can Am) from France.

Lithuania was the triumphant country in the most crowded class of the rally – those of the SSVs. Reining king of Balkan Offroad Rally became Tomas Zaleckas (Can Am) who finished with a comfortable lead of almost 25 minutes to Maciej Stolarski from Poland. The third place went to another Lithuanian - Andrius Dotas (Can Am).

In the Car Open class, Doncho Tsanev took another stage win and, after one 3rd and two 2nd places, finally won Balkan Offroad Rally. The pilot from Bulgaria claimed the title with a rear-wheel driven prototype, often called “the big SSV”. With the technical problems of the contender Rients Hofstra in the last two days, the second place in the class went to Jaroslaw Andrzejewski (Toyota) from Poland. Top 3 overall completed the very first winner of the race in 2011 Joerg Gruenbeck from Germany (Mercedes). In the Car limited class, it was another victory for Polish driver - Gregorz Brochocki (Toyota).

In the Extreme race, Joel Purga finally took the stage win, but it was far not enough to dethrone his compatriot Hardo Mere. Mere took the overall victory with almost an hour advantage. Third place went to Edward Ruszczyc from Poland. In the limited class, the triumph was for the Dutch pilot Ronny Van Baal.

After the finish of the three events of this year’s RBI Sport season, it’s clear who are the overall champions in the series: In the bike class this is Matthew Girs, and in the ATV class the overall winner is Adomas Gancierius from Latvia. Maciej Stolarski is the big winner in the SSV class, and that did in the Car Open class Urvo Mannama from Estonia. In the Car limited class triumphant was Bartolomiej Walzer from Poland, and in the Truck CC class the title went to William Van Groningen from Nederland.

Hardo Mere is the champion in the Extreme Open class and Maciej Pelc from Poland is leader in the EX Limited class. Henri Verhoeven (Nederland) is overall leader in the Truck Big EX class and Steffen Braun from Germany claimed the season win in the Truck Small EX class.

Tired but happy, race director Alex Kovatchev already has the initial plans for the next year season of the RBI Series. First in the calendar, probably in the third week of March will be Fenix Rally. Rally Breslau 2023 is planned for the beginning of July, and the 11th edition of Balkan Offroad is scheduled for the beginning of October.

Detailed classifications from Balkan Offroad and RBI Grand Master Award you can find here.