- LOTOS Rally Team crew second-fastest in the Qualifying Stage for the Azores Airlines Rallye;
- Today’s result marks sixth top-three time in a row and 15th overall for Kajetanowicz and Baran in the FIA ERC Qualifying;
- Four stages and 32 competitive kilometres – the FIA European Rally Championship leaders commence their battle for victory in the Azores Airlines Rallye today;
- The Pole chose number 12 – Kajetanowicz and Baran tackle today’s spectacular route on São Miguel Island as 12th crew on the road.
Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Jarek Baran began the competition on São Miguel Island in a fantastic way. Yesterday evening they topped the popular Ponta Delgada City Show – thousands of fans witnessed their second victory in a row on this spectacular test staged late evening on slippery streets of the capital city of the Azores. Today the crews moved to picturesque gravel roads of the Portuguese island. The battle started with the Qualifying Stage and its outcome determined the order of road position selection for today’s stages. The European Rally Championship leaders confirmed their excellent form and recorded second-fastest time on 3-kilometres Remedios test, known from the previous edition of the Azores Rallye. This marks sixth top-three result in a row and 15th overall for the LOTOS Rally Team crew on the FIA ERC Qualifying Stages.
The reigning European Rally Champions defeated the winners of the previous FIA ERC round – the Latvian crew Ralfs Sirmacis and Arturs Simins – and multiple rally champions of the Azores, Ricardo Moura and Antonio Costa duo. The Norwegian rally champions, Frank Tore and Torsten Eriksen, had also lost the battle against Kajetan and Jarek. Leading result of Kajetanowicz meant that the Pole chose his starting position for the opening stages as the second driver in the FIA ERC field. The championship leader picked 12th position and Alexey Lukyanuk – his main rival and second-placed driver in the championship – chose 15th position. This decision is a crucial part of the strategy in gravel rallies: it is important to avoid “cleaning” the road of loose gravel and also at the same time to avoid driving on the road destroyed by preceding cars.
Today the competitors face four special stages. The first one – Batalha (7.27 kms, 74% gravel and 26% asphalt) – starts at 17:57 CET. The Thursday leg ends with fight in a quarry – on Grupo Marques test. This spectacular stage is a great viewing opportunity for the fans who can watch two cars competing head-to-head. The battle on this stage will be streamed online (http://www.azoresrallye.com/live/ ). Kajetanowicz and Baran are undefeated on Grupo Marques test since their first start in the Azores: the Polish crew notched up four stage wins in the quarry.
Kajto and Jarek start the battle for victory in round four of the FIA ERC with comfortable lead in the championship. The Polish duo so far scored 25 points more than their closest rivals, Lukyanuk and Arnautov. The LOTOS Rally Team enjoys the 13-points lead in the FIA ERC Teams standings.
Kajetan Kajetanowicz We have just finished the Qualifying Stage. I think that our pace was good. We took most of the corners on narrow, wet road in fourth or fifth gear. This was a difficult but strong beginning. Lots of emotions, so the adrenaline went quite high. We could choose our starting position as one of the first crews, so it is OK. This was the plan. The rally is set to be quite extreme, as it is supposed to rain overnight. However, before the night we still have four stages to go – each of them is different, with changeable surface. It will be difficult to drive fast on every stage and win all of them because our tyre choice will work well on one stage, less so on another and then OK again. You cannot get an optimum choice. I think we should approach this rally with right mental attitude. This event is so diverse that one driver will not win all stages. I am sure about that.
The results of the Qualifying Stage of the Azores Airlines Rally (3.12 kms):
1. Lukyanuk/Arnautov (Russia, Ford Fiesta R5) 1:54.889
2. Kajetanowicz/Baran (Poland, Ford Fiesta R5) +0.777 s
3. Sirmacis/Simins (Latvia, Skoda Fabia R5) +2.516 s
4. Moura/Costa (Portugal, Ford Fiesta R5) +5.767 s
5. Tlustak/Kucera (Czech Republic, Skoda Fabia R5) +6.037 s
6. Larsen/Eriksen (Norway, Ford Fiesta R5) +6.651 s
7. Orsak/Smeidler (Czech Republic, Ford Fiesta R5) +7.386 s
8. Kołtun/Pleskot (Poland, Ford Fiesta R5) +7.426 s
9. Barros/Henriques (Portugal, Ford Fiesta R5) +7.670 s
10. Peres/Silva (Portugal, Ford Fiesta R5) +8.544 s
The Azores Airlines Rally in numbers:
• 1st position of Kajetanowicz and Baran in the FIA ERC standings before the Azores Rally;
• 4th of 10 rounds of the 2016 FIA European Rally Championship;
• 25 points – the advantage of Kajetan and Jarek over second-placed crew in the FIA ERC standings;
• 2nd place of Kajetanowicz and Baran in their previous outing here, in 2015;
• 215.53 kms – total length of 16 special stages;
• In 1992 the Azores Rally was included in the European Rally Championship calendar for the first time;
• 1st position of LOTOS Rally Team in Teams standings before round four of the championship, the Polish squad enjoys comfortable lead of 13 points;
• 25.72 kms – the longest special stage of the rally – famous Sete Cidades stage, around the rim of a dormant volcano;
• Just 10 times in 51-years history of this event the rally was won by foreign drivers;
• 89% of the route is on gravel, the remaining 11% – on asphalt roads;
• For 729 days Kajetanowicz is unbeaten on Grupo Marques test – spectacular superspecial stage in a quarry, won by Kajetan four times in a row since his first outing there;
• 22 stages of the Azores Rally finished by Kajetanowicz and Baran in top three in 2014 and 2015;
• 71 points scored in three opening rounds of the 2016 FIA ERC season by Kajetanowicz and Baran – the championship leaders;
• 7 stages won by Kajetanowicz and Baran in their two previous outings in the Azores Rally;
• 51st edition of this event takes place this year;
• 30 out of 38 (79%) of the special stages run this year Kajetan and Jarek finished in top three;
• 3930 kms is the straight-line distance from Warsaw, capital city of Poland, to rally base in Ponta Delgada;
• In 11 previous FIA ERC outings Kajto and Jarek scored points;
• 17 out of 38 (45%) special stages run this year in the FIA ERC were won by Kajetanowicz and Baran, this is the best strike rate among all competitors.
The 2016 FIA ERC standings before the Azores Airlines Rally:
1. KAJETAN KAJETANOWICZ (Poland) 71 points
2. Alexey Lukyanuk (Russia) 46 points
3. Craig Breen (Ireland) 38 points
4. Ralfs Sirmacis (Latvia) 37 points
5. Lambros Athanassoulas (Greece) 27 points
6. Jaromir Tarabus (Czech Republic) 27 points
7. Luis Monzon Artilles (Spain) 25 points
8. Wojciech Chuchała (Poland) 24 points
9. Alastair Fisher (Great Britain) 23 points
10. Yonathon Perez Suarez (Spain) 20 points
The 2016 FIA ERC Teams standings before the Azores Airlines Rally:
1. LOTOS Rally Team 58 points
2. C-Rally 45 points
3. Sports Racing Technologies 35 points
4. Tiger Energy Drink Rally Team 20 points
5. Botka Rally Team 19 points
6. Lascaris Foundation Team Greece 18 points
7. Auto Laca Competicion 18 points
8. Tlustak Racing 18 points
9. T&T Czech National Team 15 points
10. Eurosol Racing Team Hungary 12 points
Starts of Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Jarek Baran are supported by strategic partner of LOTOS Rally Team – LOTOS Group – as well as CUBE.ITG and Driving Experience. More info about Kajetan Kajetanowicz and the team available at: www.lotosrallyteam.pl, www.kajto.pl, www.facebook.com/EmocjeDoPelna, www.facebook.com/KajetanKajetanowicz and www.twitter.com/Kajto_pl
