Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Maciej Szczepaniak fight for a podium finish on the final leg of Rally de España. The LOTOS Rally Team crew completed the opening loop of the last day, which consisted of two special stages. The Polish duo consistently maintain great pace and avoid major mistakes, moving up to fourth position in the WRC2 standings! There are two stages to go in round twelve of the World Rally Championship, with total length of over 30 competitive kilometres.
On the morning stages the weather conditions were a bit better than yesterday. After overnight rain the road surface started to dry and only some parts remained damp. Right at the beginning third-placed WRC2 driver Solans made a mistake and had to change a wheel on the stage. This dropped him to fifth position. Kajetanowicz moved up to fourth place and continues his fight with Petter Solberg, with the gap just slightly exceeding 15 seconds.
– We decided to choose a different tyre compound and we are happy with this choice, because the road is damp but not as wet as it was yesterday. The conditions are different, they are very unpredictable. The temperature up in the mountains is very low, even dropping to 4 degrees Celsius. In some parts the asphalt is dry but there are also some damp or even wet sections. You have to stay focused all the time. However, we are recording good stage times and we are in fourth position, having moved up from fifth. Our car set-up is good, we are trying to enjoy our driving and we are achieving this target so far
– said Kajetan Kajetanowicz, the LOTOS Rally Team driver.
There is just one loop to go in this rally. The crews face another runs of Riudecanyes (16.35 kms, at 10:50 CET) and Santa Marina (14.50 kms, at 12:18 CET) stages. The final test is run as a Power Stage, with additional points for top finishers in overall classification. The battle ends around 13:00 CET.
Starts of Kajetan Kajetanowicz are supported by strategic partner of LOTOS Rally Team – LOTOS Group – as well as Delphi Technologies and Driving Experience. More info about Kajetan Kajetanowicz and the team available at: www.lotosrallyteam.pl and www.kajto.pl, as well as at: www.fb.com/EmocjeDoPelna, www.fb.com/KajetanKajetanowicz, www.twitter.com/Kajto_pl and www.youtube.com/Kajtopl.
Rally de España 2018, unofficial WRC-2 standings after SS16 (top 10):
1. Rovanperä / Halttunen (Finland, Skoda Fabia R5) 3:01:27.2
2. Kopecký / Dresler (Czech Republic, Skoda Fabia R5) +13.9 s
3. P. Solberg / Gulbæk (Norway, VW Polo GTI R5) +1:29.9 s
4. Kajetanowicz / Szczepaniak (Poland, Ford Fiesta R5) +1:45.3 s
5. Solans / Martí (Spain, Ford Fiesta R5) +2:59.6 s
6. H. Solberg / Minor-Petrasko (Norway, Skoda Fabia R5) +4:15.5 s
7. Loubet / Landais (France, Hyundai i20 R5) +4:44.3 s
8. Andolfi / Scattolin (Italy, Skoda Fabia R5) +12:00.6 s
9. Veiby / Skjærmoen (Romania, Citroen C3 R5) +12:22.3 s
10. Tempestini / Itu (Romania, Citroen C3 R5) +16:33.5 s