LOTOS Rally Team crew is back in competition in the Azores Rallye and won the Grupo Marques special stage;
Saturday’s leg was compromised by thick fog, limiting visibility to several metres;
Kajetanowicz and Baran hold point-scoring position with three more stages to go.
Saturday’s morning greeted everyone in Ponta Delgada with extremely thick fog which meant that the conditions on the special stages were unprecedented. On the roads situated at higher altitude visibility was in some places limited to the front of car’s bonnet. This is why not only the tyre choice was important, but above all precise pace notes from recce. Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Jarek Baran maintained very good pace and coped with difficult conditions without major mistakes, winning the spectacular Grupo Marques stage for sixth time in their careers!
The surface of today’s stages in the Azores was very wet and muddy in many places and the conditions were even worse because of rain. The second stage turned out to be unlucky for main rival of Kajetanowicz: Alexey Lukyanuk damaged his suspension and retired after losing almost 10 minutes. Other crews also encountered problems, puncturing their tyres on stones or hitting the walls along the road.
After the opening loop the LOTOS Rally Team crew holds points-scoring fifth place in Day 2 classification, with small gaps to the rivals. The Polish duo faces another three special stages with total length of over 56 kilometres.
Kajetan Kajetanowicz:
– This rally is extremely unpredictable and it is difficult to foresee any results. The final day shows that everything is possible. We are at the finish line of the final stage of this loop and we have just won it. This is a small consolation prize but for sure I enjoy driving a lot, this is really cool. I regained a good feeling after yesterday. We are on the road, we are in the game. We are fighting for points which might be very useful in the championship.
The unofficial results of Day 2 of the 2017 Azores Rally after SS13:
1. Magalhães/Magalhães (Portugal, Skoda Fabia R5) 37:53.8
2. Griebel/Kopczyk (Germany, Skoda Fabia R5) +1.5 s
3. Moura/Costa (Portugal, Ford Fiesta R5) +3.6 s
4. Cerny/Cernohorsky (Czech Republic, Skoda Fabia R5) +32.6 s
5. Kajetanowicz/Baran (Poland, Ford Fiesta R5) +35.9 s
6. Lopez/Rozada (Spain, Peugeot 208 T16 R5) +41.1 s
7. Moffett/Fulton (Ireland, Ford Fiesta R5) +1:12.3 s
8. Meireles/Castro (Portugal, Skoda Fabia R5) +1:45.0 s
9. Sirmacis/Simins (Latvia, Skoda Fabia R5) +2:03.4 s
10. Rodrigues/Rodrigues (Spain, Peugeot 208 T16 R5) +2:09.6 s
Starts of Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Jarek Baran are supported by strategic partner of LOTOS Rally Team – LOTOS Group – as well as CUBE.ITG, Delphi 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.
