Balazs Molnar on making the Maverick R FIA-compliant: “We completely stripped the car”

Balázs and Gabriella Molnár are the latest team to be bringing the new Can-Am Maverick R to a cross-country rally when they enter it in the Hungarian Baja. The car will compete in the T4/SSV National category as part of the Hungarian Cross-Country Rally Championship.

While the national championship follows slightly different regulations from that of the FIA European Baja Cup, which will also race at the Hungarian Baja, the Molnárs and M1 Motorsport naturally still wanted to ensure it complies with the sanctioning body’s rulebook.

“We completely stripped the car,” explained Balázs Molnár. At the time that he spoke with Erős Réka about the vehicle, the only thing missing were the FOX shock absorbers. “It’s got an FIA-approved frame, a 130-litre safety fuel tank, and all the necessary safety equipment, including seats, harnesses, a central fire extinguishing system race wheels and the list goes on.”

The Molnárs previously raced the Can-Am Maverick X3, which enjoyed successes like winning the Raid of the Champions outright to wrap up the 2023 Hungarian season. Unfortunately for them, the X3’s stint ended on a sour note with back-to-back retirements at the Baja Satu Mare and the Italian Baja, the latter part of the Hungarian championship despite taking place in another country.

“We loved racing the X3—despite its flaws—and we knew it well, achieving many good results. But once the new Maverick came, it was obvious we would build a race car from it,” Balázs stated.

The Maverick R, introduced last August, is touted as the most powerful side-by-side vehicle on the market today. Indeed, this quickly proved to be the case when it won in its maiden American desert race. As foreign customers get their hands on the Maverick R, they have been eager to test its capabilities in cross-country rallies, though World Rally-Raid Championship hopefuls will have to wait until 2025 as the FIA is still in the process of homologating it.

Nevertheless, its performance has been tested in independent rallies with solid results. W2RC team South Racing prepared a Maverick R for the Morocco Desert Challenge in April, where it dominated before retiring with a mechanical issue, while Jeremías González Ferioli won the W2RC’s Desafío Ruta 40 in the non-FIA Open Cars category. Last month, SNAG Racing fielded two at the Silk Way Rally in Russia, one in the T3 class (equivalent to the FIA’s Challenger category) and another in Open (the latter had an unrestricted top speed of 170 km/h while the T3 model was capped at 140 km/h). The Maverick R has also seen action in Estonia and the United Arab Emirates. Three-time Dakar Rally winner Francisco López Contardo hopes to race his own Maverick R at the 2025 edition.

“It might be easier to say what’s the same: nothing, except for the name,” remarked Balázs when comparing the Maverick R to the X3. “It’s fantastic compared to the old model. The engine is powerful, the transmission is amazing, and the suspension handles challenges much better. The experience is unparalleled. When I start it up and shift gears, the sounds make me feel like I’m in a real race car.”

The Maverick R will not be the only “experimental” vehicle at the Hungarian Baja as M-Sport’s highly anticipated Ford Raptor T1+ makes its competition début with Nani Roma. While the Molnárs will be classified in the results as part of the Hungarian Championship, Roma won’t be included in the final order for the European Baja Cup as the Raptor falls under the Experimental/Open category.

Scheduled for 8–11 August, the Hungarian Baja is the third round of the FIA European Baja Cup and fifth for the Hungarian Championship.