The LOTOS Rally Team crew completed the second day of Rally Monza in fifth position in the WRC-3 standings. Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Maciej Szczepaniak showed consistent and good pace today, avoiding mistakes on difficult special stages. Low temperatures and heavy rain meant that seemingly predictable roads presented a real challenge. The Polish crew enjoy a good starting position ahead of tomorrow’s leg in the Alps.
Today the route consisted of almost 70 competitive kilometres over five special stages at the Formula One circuit and in its neighbourhood. The surface was very unpredictable. The crews not only fought against time but also struggled with rain, mud and very slippery tarmac.
After six special stages the pace in the WRC-3 standings is set by the Norwegian crew Mikkelsen/Jæger. The Polish duo hold fifth position, ahead of the current championship leaders: Bulacia Wilkinson and Der Ohanessian.
– We have completed another difficult day at the Monza circuit. In these conditions it was not easy to judge braking points at high speed, the grip levels changed very often and there was plenty of standing water. It was a really complicated day and tomorrow we face a completely different rally, with characteristics similar to Rallye Monte Carlo. The stages in the Alps are twisty, we climb to over 1300 metres above sea level so there are some chances of snow. Today I enjoyed my driving but sometimes the fight in corners was really tough. It was quite a good baptism for me. We gain experience, we avoid mistakes and this is very good – but of course we would like to go faster and we will try to do it with every kilometre. We have a good starting position tomorrow and we will push
– said Kajetan Kajetanowicz, the LOTOS Rally Team driver.
Saturday is the longest day of the rally, with 126.95 competitive kilometres. The crews will fight on fast and technical roads in the picturesque Province of Bergamo: with SS7/10 Selvino (25.06 kms, at 7:52 and 13:22), SS8/11 Gerosa (11.09 kms, at 9:08 and 14:38), SS9/12 Costa Valle Imagna (22.17 kms, at 10:02 and 15:32). Afterwards they will complete another pass of SS P Zero Grand Prix, which will also begin the Sunday leg. The 2020 season comes to an end with SS14/15 Serraglio (14.00 kms, at 10:08 and 12:18) – with second run as Power Stage, with additional points on offer. The overall distance of all special stages is close to 240 kilometres.
Starts of Kajetan Kajetanowicz are supported by strategic partner of the LOTOS Rally Team – Grupa LOTOS – as well as Delphi Technologies, Driving Experience and Pirelli.
Rally Monza 2020 – unofficial WRC-3 results after SS6:
- Mikkelsen/Jæger (Norway, Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo) 54:33.5
- Lindholm/Korhonen (Finland, Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo) +52.5 s
- Solberg/Johnston (Sweden/Ireland, Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo) +53.7 s
- Huttunen/Lukka (Finland, Hyundai i20 R5) 1:06.8 s
- Kajetanowicz/Szczepaniak (Poland, Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo) +1:29.7 s
- Bulacia Wilkinson/Der Ohannesian (Bolivia/Argentina, Citroën C3 R5) +2:08.1 s
- McErlean/Williams (Ireland/Great Britain, Hyundai i20 R5) +2:50.9 s
- Munster/Louka (Luxembourg/Belgium, Hyundai i20 R5) +3:08.3 s
- De Cecco/Humblet (Belgium, Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo) +4:15.8 s
- Ogliari/Ciucci (Italy, Citroën C3 R5) +4:53.3 s
