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Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Maciej Szczepaniak finished the opening leg of Rally Estonia, round seven of the 2022 World Rally Championship, in sixth position. The championship leaders avoided mistakes, frequently happening to other crews in demanding conditions, especially during second loop of stages. The additional challenge came in the afternoon, as it started to rain and the gravel roads became wet – bringing plenty of excitement!
Rally Estonia is well-known among the fans as the temple of speed. The roads are very fast and spectacular, attracting huge crowds of spectators – also from Poland. The Polish supporters came to Estonia in large numbers, cheering for their countrymen – particularly the WRC2 championship leaders, Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Maciej Szczepaniak. Following podium finished in Croatia, Portugal and Kenya, the LOTOS Rally Team duo arrived in Estonia with a clear goal of scoring more points in the standings. This task is by no means easy in a very strong field, against rivals with past experience as factory drivers. After nine special stages, Kajetanowicz and Szczepaniak hold sixth position and undoubtedly they will do their best to attack their competitors tomorrow.
– We have completed the second, very long day of Rally Estonia – with just over 140 competitive kilometres and around 15 hours spent in our rally car behind us. It was a challenging leg but I am happy to be here. It was not easy to judge the grip on the road, long sections of the stages were wet, with dry surface on the following parts. We are still searching for the best set-up for tomorrow and Sunday. It was very exciting but we haven’t reached the halfway point of the rally, so there is still a lot ahead of us. Tomorrow we will start the day with positive approach, ready to fight!
– says Kajetan Kajetanowicz, the LOTOS Rally Team driver.
On Saturday the organisers have prepared two passes of Elva (11.73 kms), Mäeküla (10.27 kms), Otepää (17.08 kms) and Neeruti (7.79 kms) stages. The day ends with ERM test (1.66 kms), which was already run as the opening stage of the rally.
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.
Rally Estonia 2022, unofficial WRC2 standings after SS9:
- Mikkelsen/Eriksen (Norway, Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo) 1:21:17.1
- Suninen/Markkula (Finland, Hyundai i20 N Rally2) +12.1
- Bulacia/Vallejo (Bolivia/Spain, Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo) +37.7
- Lindholm/Hämäläinen (Finland, Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo) +56.4
- Huttunen/Lukka (Finland, Ford Fiesta Rally2) +1:10.4
- Kajetanowicz/Szczepaniak (Poland, Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo) +1:42.0
- Fernández/Coronado (Chile/Spain, Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo) +2:21.0
- McErlean/Fulton (Ireland, Hyundai i20 N Rally2) +2:21.3
- Linnamäe/Drew (Estonia/Great Britain, VW Polo GTI Rally2) +3:35.8
- Johnston/Kihurani (USA, Citroën C3 Rally2) +5:32.2
