Rally di Roma Capitale: excellent pace of Kajetanowicz during Free Practice

Round seven of the 2017 FIA European Rally Championship, in which Polish duo of Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Jarek Baran fight for their third consecutive title, gets underway tomorrow. The LOTOS Rally Team crew lead the standings and the season’s finish line is virtually within their sight. Today the crews completed two runs during Free Practice and Kajto set excellent times, going third and first fastest!

The Qualifying Stage was due to start after Free Practice runs. 3.48-kms Torre Cajetani test was however cancelled due to safety reasons. – We have completed our practice runs and afterwards we were supposed to tackle the Qualifying Stage. However, it has been cancelled – there were plenty of fans, the start was delayed, the rally tyres cooled down. It was not possible to drive competitively so the organisers decided to cancel the stage. Before that we had done two practice runs and we were happy with them. The feeling is good. The important things will happen tomorrow, on Saturday and on Sunday. We have to wait a bit to begin the fight. After recce we are more familiar with the route, although it was difficult to maintain concentration in some places. It might look different, but there are many rough sections and it will not be easy to get good suspension and differential set-up. There are also some different weather forecasts for the next few days but it gives us energy and plenty of emotions – said Kajetanowicz.

The opening stage of Rally di Roma Capitale starts on Friday (15 September). At 13:30 CET the crews will choose their starting positions for Saturday’s leg and just more than three hours later they will take part in official Starting Ceremony. After passing by the most famous landmarks of ancient Rome (including the Colosseum), they will commence the real competition. At 18:30 the drivers and co-drivers will start the 1.8-kms superspecial, ACI Roma Arena. Saturday’s leg consists of almost 95 competitive kilometres and on Sunday there are over 106 kilometres of fight.

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.fb.com/EmocjeDoPelna, www.fb.com/KajetanKajetanowicz, www.twitter.com/Kajto_pl and www.youtube.com/Kajtopl

The 2017 FIA European Rally Championship standings after round 6 of 8:

1. Kajetan Kajetanowicz (Poland) 120 points
2. Bruno Magalhães (Portugal) 97 points
3. Alexey Lukyanuk (Russia) 73 points
4. Marijan Griebel (Germany) 62 points
5. Bryan Bouffier (France) 46 points
6. Nasser Al-Attiyah (Qatar) 45 points
7. Grzegorz Grzyb (Poland) 41 points
8. Jan Kopecký (Czech Republic) 39 points
9. José Maria López (Spain) 27 points
10. Alexandros Tsouloftas (Cyprus) 26 points
-. Panikos Polykarpou (Cyprus) 26 points

The 2017 Rally di Roma Capitale in numbers:

• 1st position of Kajetan and Jarek in the overall FIA ERC standings ahead of Rally di Roma Capitale;
• 7th round of the 2017 FIA European Rally Championship;
• 1 – starting number of the LOTOS Rally Team crew;
• 1300 kms is the straight-line distance from Warsaw, capital city of Poland, to rally base in Fiuggi;
• 1st outing of Kajetanowicz in this event;
• 77 crews (including 45 in the FIA ERC classification) on entry list of this year’s event;
• 32.70 kms – the longest special stage of the rally, Cave-Rocca Santo Stefano;
• 120 points in six rounds run so far this season – the LOTOS Rally Team crew leads the standings;
• Two wins in Rally di Roma Capitale by Umberto Scandola, 2013 Italian Rally Champion;
• 1st edition of this rally in the FIA ERC, fourth edition overall;
• 198.88 kilometres – combined length of 12 special stages;
• 23 points – the advantage of Kajetanowicz over second placed driver: Bruno Magalhães from Portugal;
• 116 – the number of stages won by Kajto in the FIA ERC so far;
• 25 crews entered for Barum Czech Rally Zlín in top R5 cars;
• 16 nationalities represented on the entry list, including five crews from Poland;
• In their 22 previous FIA ERC outings Kajto and Jarek scored points.

Schedule of the 2017 Rally di Roma Capitale (all times are CET):

Thursday 14 September:

13:30 – Free Practice
16:30 – Qualifying Stage (Torre Cajetani, 3.48 kms)

Friday 15 September:

13:30 – Selection of start positions (Rome, Colosseum)
14:00 – Press conference (Rome, Colosseum)
15:00 – Autograph session (Rome, Colosseum)
16:45 – Starting ceremony (Rome, Colosseum)
18:30 – SSS 1 – Aci Roma Arena (1.80 kms)

Saturday 16 September:

08:05 – Service A – 30 mins (Fiuggi)
09:57 – SS 2 – Colle San Magno 1 (13.65 kms)
10:51 – SS 3 – Greci-Pico 1 (26.44 kms)
13:54 – SS 4 – Pico (14.34 kms)
15:56 – Service B – 30 mins (Fiuggi)

18:03 – SS 5 – Colle San Magno 2 (13.65 kms)
18:57 – SS 6 – Greci-Pico 2 (26.44 kms)
20:50 – Flexi Service C – 45 mins (Fiuggi)

Length of special stages, Leg 1: 94.52 kms

Sunday 17 September:

07:05 – Service D – 15 mins (Fiuggi)
08:13 – SS 7 – Cave-Rocca Santo Stefano 1 (32.70 kms)
09:08 – SS 8 – Monastero-Jenne 1 (8.63 kms)
09:48 – SS 9 – Altipiani-Guarcino 1 (11.75 kms)
10:48 – Service E – 30 mins (Fiuggi)

12:11 – SS 10 – Cave-Rocca Santo Stefano 2 (32.70 kms)
13:06 – SS 11 – Monastero-Jenne 2 (8.63 kms)
13:46 – SS 12 – Altipiani-Guarcino 2 (11.75 kms)
14:46 – Service F – 10 mins (Fiuggi)

16:16 – Ceremonial Finish (Lido di Ostia)

Length of special stages, Leg 2: 106.16 kms
Length of special stages, Rally di Roma Capitale: 198.88 kms