- Third round of the 2017 FIA European Rally Championship gets underway – extremely difficult Acropolis Rally;
- Kajetanowicz and Baran recorded excellent second fastest time on the Qualifying Stage, after setting pace in free prectice;
- Polish driver defeated the current FIA ERC leader Magalhães and double WRC-2 champion Al-Attiyah;
- Official Starting Ceremony takes place this evening and the real competition begins tomorrow!
High temperatures, plenty of dust, championship-winning competitors and special stages without any margin for error. This is the 63rd SEAJETS Acropolis Rally: round three of extremely hard-fought contest in the 2017 FIA European Rally Championship. The Greek battle started very well for double champions and current title defenders: Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Jarek Baran set the pace in free practice and then recorded excellent second fastest time on the Qualifying Stage!
With air temperature exceeding 30 degrees centigrade, Kajto started the day with setting the fastest time in free practice, defeating the closest crew by 3.5 seconds. Just one shakedown run was enough to get a good feeling in the car and improve on the qualifying run, with second fastest result – just 0.871 seconds behind Nikolay Gryazin (Russia, Skoda Fabia R5). The current series leader Bruno Magalhães finished behind Kajetanowicz (+1.900 s, Skoda Fabia R5), fourth position went to Nasser Al-Attiyah (+2.332 s, Ford Fiesta R5), Murat Bostanci was fifth (+2.786 s, Ford Fiesta R5) and Grzegorz Grzyb sixth (+3.349 s, Skoda Fabia R5). There were no less than nine countries represented in top ten.
Alongside the LOTOS Rally Team duo, over 70 crews take part the 63rd edition of the legendary Acropolis Rally. On the entry list there are current FIA ERC points leader Bruno Magalhães (Portugal), double WRC-2 champion and double Dakar Rally winner (2011 and 2015) Nasser Al-Attiyah from Qatar and reigning Polish Rally Champion Grzegorz Grzyb. No less than 12 crews in top class R5 cars will battle for the best results on rocky special stages south of Lamia.
The official Starting Ceremony takes place tonight. Tomorrow the route consists of three special stages run twice. The first one, Gravia (24.81 kms) starts at 9:08 CET. There is one obvious goal for every champion taking part in this great battle: to win one of the oldest and most famous events in the world.
Kajetan Kajetanowicz:
– We have just finished the Qualifying Stage for the Acropolis Rally, which we run with good pace. I have a cool feeling and lots of fun behind the wheel, and on top of that the car is just great. I would like to maintain everything during the whole event but it will not be easy. This is one of the toughest rallies in the world when it comes to surface and frequent grip changes. Among the competitors we have Nasser Al-Attiyah, double world champion, the FIA ERC points leader Bruno Magalhães and many other very fast drivers. For sure Nasser will be very quick and this is good not only for the fans, but also for me. I am competing in order to fight with the best rivals.
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
The results of the Qualifying Stage ahead of the 2017 Acropolis Rally:
1. Gryazin/Fedorov (Russia, Skoda Fabia R5) 2:16.738
2. Kajetanowicz/Baran (Poland, Ford Fiesta R5) +0.871 s
3. Magalhães/Magalhães (Portugal, Skoda Fabia R5) +1.900 s
4. Al-Attiyah/Baumel (Qatar/France, Ford Fiesta R5) +2.332 s
5. Bostanci/Vatansever (Turkey, Ford Fiesta R5) +2.786 s
6. Grzyb/Wróbel (Poland, Skoda Fabia R5) +3.349 s
7. Tlusťák/Vybíral (Czech Republic, Skoda Fabia R5) +4.347 s
8. von Thurn und Taxis/Degandt (Germany/Belgium, Skoda Fabia R5) +8.010 s
9. Philippedes/Mahaeras (Greece, Skoda Fabia R5) +8.708 s
10. Érdi/Papp (Hungary, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X) +10.670 s
The 2017 Acropolis Rally in numbers:
- 3rd round of eight in the 2017 FIA European Rally Championship;
- 3rd position of Kajetan and Jarek in the overall FIA ERC standings ahead of Acropolis Rally;
- 11 out of 12 (92%) top three finishes by Kajto and Jarek on last year’s special stages, including 8 stage wins (66.6%);
- 2 podium finishes for LOTOS Rally Team in overall classification of the Greek round, including one victory;
- 12 R5 cars on the entry list of Acropolis Rally;
- 229.74 competitive kilometres – total length of 12 special stages;
- 4th outing of Kajetanowicz in this rally;
- 1488 kms is the straight-line distance from Warsaw, capital city of Poland, to rally base in Lamia;
- 33.86 kms – the longest special stage of the rally, Elatia/Karya test run on Sunday;
- 2 – Dakar Rally victories for Nasser Al-Attiyah who will also take part in the Greek event;
- 35 points scored by the LOTOS Rally Team crew in the opening two rallies of this season;
- On 13 out of 28 special stages run in this year’s FIA ERC Kajetanowicz and Baran recorded top-three times in the overall classification;
- 63rd edition of this event takes place this year;
- 105 – the number of stages won in the FIA ERC by the LOTOS Rally Team driver;
- Five wins in Acropolis Rally by its record holder Colin McRae, the 1995 World Rally Champion;
- 38 times this event was a part of the World Rally Championship calendar;
- In 1973 Acropolis Rally was a round of the World Rally Championship for the first time and since 2014 it has been a European Rally Championship event;
- In their 18 previous FIA ERC outings Kajto and Jarek scored points.
Schedule of the 2017 Acropolis Rally (all times are CET):
Friday 2 June:
07:30 – Free Practice
10:23 – Qualifying Stage (3.70 kms)
13:00 – Selection of start positions (Lamia)
14:10 – Press conference (Lamia)
17:30 – Starting ceremony (Lamia)
Saturday 3 June (6 special stages, 103.06 competitive kilometres):
09:08 – SS 1 – Gravia 1 (24.81 kms)
10:01 – SS 2 – Amfissa 1 (14.29 kms)
11:04 – SS 3 – Paleohori 1 (12.43 kms)
12:09 – Service A – 30 mins (Lamia)
13:47 – SS 4 – Gravia 2 (24.81 kms)
14:40 – SS 5 – Amfissa 2 (14.29 kms)
15:43 – SS 6 – Paleohori 2 (12.43 kms)
Flexi Service B – 45 mins (Lamia)
Sunday 4 June (6 special stages, 126.68 competitive kilometres):
07:00 – Service C – 15 mins (Lamia)
07:55 – SS 7 – Eleftherohori 1 (25.20 kms)
08:48 – SS 8 – Rengini 1 (15.01 kms)
09:16 – SS 9 – Elatia/Karya 1 (14.50 kms)
10:56 – Service D – 30 mins (Lamia)
12:06 – SS 10 – Eleftherohori 2 (25.20 kms)
12:59 – SS 11 – Rengini 2 (15.01 kms)
13:27 – SS 12 – Elatia/Karya 2 (14.50 kms)
14:50 – Service E – 10 mins (Lamia)
15:04 – Ceremonial Finish (Lamia)
The 2017 FIA European Rally Championship standings ahead of Acropolis Rally:
1. Bruno Magalhães (Portugal) 63 points
2. Alexey Lukyanuk (Russia) 46 points
3. Kajetan Kajetanowicz (Poland) 35 points
4. Marijan Griebel (Germany) 27 points
5. José Maria López (Spain) 27 points
6. Josh Moffett (Ireland) 20 points
7. Iván Ares (Spain) 19 points
8. Nikolay Gryazin (Russia) 15 points
9. Luis Monzón Artilles (Spain) 15 points
10. Pedro Meireles (Portugal) 9 points
