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Croatia Rally 2022: Kajetanowicz and Szczepaniak with fastest stage time, they move up the order!

Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Maciej Szczepaniak set the fastest time in the WRC2 standings on SS12 and finished another two stages in top five! The LOTOS Rally Team duo moved up to tenth position in overall classification of Croatia Rally, closing the gap to top three in their category. On the opening loop of Saturday’s stages the crews not only competed against time but on top of that they had to cope with changeable weather conditions.

Saturday’s leg of Croatia Rally consists of four special stages, each of them run twice. The first one was stopped after crash of Solberg and Edmondson. Luckily, the crew emerged unscathed but the car caught fire and had to be extinguished by firemen. On the following test, Jaškovo-Mali Modruš Potok 1 (10.10 kms), Kajetanowicz and Szczepaniak set fourth-fastest time in the WRC2 field. They went fifth-fastest on the next stage, Platak 1 (15.85 kms), which was run in torrential rain, before winning Vinski Vrh-Duga Resa 1 (8,78 kms). They narrowed their gap to third-placed crew by 2.6 seconds, trailing the final podium position by nine seconds. The Polish duo moved up to tenth position in the overall rally classification – with top six places filled by Rally1 cars.

– I think this is the rally for real men. Probably I have never competed in such mist, at such speeds. Rain and mud on the road make it extremely challenging. I try to keep maximum focus and to enjoy my driving – so far, so good! Fastest time on the final stage makes me smile even wider. We are midway through this rally, with plenty of competition still ahead of us – so we will continue to push

– says Kajetan Kajetanowicz, the LOTOS Rally Team driver.

The second loop starts at 15:16 CET with Kostanjevac-Petruš Vrh 2 (23.76 kms) and afterwards the crews will tackle the final three stages: Jaškovo-Mali Modruš Potok 2 (10.10 kms, at 16:14 CET), Platak 2 (15.85 kms, at 17:42 CET) and Vinski Vrh-Duga Resa 2 (8.78 kms, at 19:08 CET).

Starts of Kajetan Kajetanowicz are supported by strategic partner of the LOTOS Rally Team – Grupa LOTOS, technical partner Delphi Technologies, as well as Pirelli, SJS Driving Experience and Grupa Sikora.

Croatia Rally 2022, unofficial WRC2 standings after SS12:

  1. Rossel/Sarreaud (France, Citroën C3 Rally2) 1:57:32.0
  2. Gryazin/Aleksandrov (Russia, Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo) +41.6
  3. Camilli/de la Haye (France, Citroën C3 Rally2) +1:03.7
  4. Kajetanowicz/Szczepaniak (Poland, Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo) +1:12.7
  5. Lindholm/Hämäläinen (Finland, Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo) +1:40.7
  6. Lefebvre/Malfoy (France, Citroën C3 Rally2) +1:55.6
  7. Ingram/Drew (Great Britain, Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo) +2:07.7
  8. Cais/Těšínský (Czech Republic, Ford Fiesta Rally2) +4:48.3
  9. Kremer/Gottschalk (Germany, Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo) +6:36.3
  10. Marczyk/Gospodarczyk (Poland, Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo) +6:45.9