- The LOTOS Rally Team crew maintains consistent pace and successfully pursue their plan;
- Kajto holds top seven place in Barum Czech Rally Zlín, with narrow gap to podium;
- The crews completed four special stages, there are still five stages to go today.
The LOTOS Rally Team crew continues their battle for third consecutive European Rally Championship title, fighting in round six of the series – Barum Czech Rally Zlín. As usual, the competition in Czech Republic is strong and no less than 37 crews use R5 cars – top category in the FIA ERC. The event started with a street superspecial in Zlín, held on Friday late in the evening. This stage, right in the city centre, as ever drew tens of thousands of fans, who vigorously supported their heroes.
Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Jarek Baran started the stage after midnight, delayed by problems encountered by other crews. Despite cold tyres, Kajto recorded fifth fastest time, losing 9.8 seconds to stage winner Jan Kopecký (Czech Republic, Skoda Fabia R5). Václav Pech Junior (Czech Republic, Ford Fiesta R5) went second fastest and Alexey Lukyanuk (Russia, Ford Fiesta R5) completed the top three.
Today’s opening loop consisted of over 40 competitive kilometres on extremely bumpy and narrow stages, with average speeds exceeding 110 kilometres per hour. On Saturday morning the crews completed Biskupice (8.85 kms), Semetín (11.55 kms) and Troják (22.87 kms) tests. Kajto and Jarek successfully pursue their plan, which is to fight against main championship rivals Bruno and Hugo Magalhães: their advantage exceeds half a minute. The LOTOS Rally Team duo holds seventh position in the overall standings and they are the highest-placed Polish crew. Six-time winner of this event, Jan Kopecký, leads the rally ahead of Alexey Lukyanuk and Václav Pech Junior.
Kajetan Kajetanowicz:
– We have completed the opening loop of Rally Barum. It is a very demanding asphalt round of the European Championship but we had been aware of this before the start. The roads are very bumpy, it is difficult to stay on the road, everything is shaking – even the visibility is blurred 🙂 This the characteristics of these special stages. At the same time they give a lot of pleasure and fun while driving. The gaps between us are not big and the fight is very close. I have to admit that I enjoy it very much.
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
Unofficial classification after SS4 of Barum Czech Rally Zlín:
1. Jan Kopecký / Pavel Dresler (Czech Republic, Skoda Fabia R5) 30:41.1
2. Alexey Lukyanuk / Alexey Arnautov (Russia, Ford Fiesta R5) +1.9 s
3. Václav Pech Junior / Petr Uhel (Czech Republic, Ford Fiesta R5) +25.9 s
4. Bryan Bouffier / Xavier Panseri (France, Ford Fiesta R5) +28.7 s
5. Tomáš Kostka / Ladislav Kučera (Czech Republic, Skoda Fabia R5) +33.7 s
6. Marijan Griebel / Stefan Kopczyk (Germany, Skoda Fabia R5) +35.3 s
7. Kajetan Kajetanowicz / Jarosław Baran (Poland, Ford Fiesta R5) +37.6 s
8. Jan Černý / Petr Černohorský (Czech Republic, Skoda Fabia R5) +40.8 s
9. Roman Kresta / Petr Starý (Czech Republic, Skoda Fabia R5) +42.3 s
10. Martin Koči / Flilip Schovánek (Czech Rep./Slovakia, Skoda Fabia R5) +50.4 s
