Round nine of the 2021 World Rally Championship, Acropolis Rally – known also as the “Rally of Gods” – is underway. The shakedown, run on Thursday, took place in wet conditions, with plenty of mud on the road. Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Maciej Szczepaniak, fighting for the world championship title in the WRC-3 category, checked their car set-up on the shakedown, preparing themselves for proper competition – with almost 300 kilometres of special stages.
The opening test is planned for Thursday evening – a short city stage in Athens, less than one kilometre long and run as a treat for the fans, starts at 17:08 CET. On Friday there are five special stages to complete: two runs of Aghii Theodori (17.54 kms) and single runs of Loutraki (19.40 kms), Thiva (23.27 kms) and Elatia (11.65 kms). The biggest challenge on Friday is lack of service zone. The crews will have to cope with any potential problems without outside assistance.
– The conditions are cold and it rains, so the weather is completely different to our expectations for Greece. It reminds me of the Wales Rally GB. These conditions will be really difficult, especially for our tyres. The Acropolis Rally has never been an easy event – you could argue that this used to be the toughest round of the whole WRC calendar and this is exactly the case now. However, the conditions are the same for everyone, so you just have to do your job, drive and enjoy the competition. We did everything we could do to prepare ourselves ahead of the rally but during this rally, as it happened in Turkey, you cannot control everything. The element of randomness could play a bigger role here than in other rallies. Our competitors will not back off but we know what we are battling for, we have a great car and huge motivation to fight. I strongly believe that we can add even more great memories to the ones I have from this rally
– says Kajetan Kajetanowicz, the LOTOS Rally Team driver.
Starts of Kajetan Kajetanowicz are supported by strategic partner of the LOTOS Rally Team – Grupa LOTOS – as well as Delphi Technologies, Pirelli, SJS Driving Experience and Grupa Sikora.