Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Maciej Szczepaniak, second-placed crew in the WRC2 standings, fight for more championship points. The penultimate round of the 2022 World Rally Championship takes place on 20-23 October, with almost 70 crews on the entry list – including 33 competitors in WRC2!
This is an extremely tight finale of the 2022 season for Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Maciej Szczepaniak. The ORLEN Rally Team crew hold second position in their category and the path to the world championship title is still open!
Andreas Mikkelsen leads the WRC2 standings with 109 points to his name, having contested seven rounds – the maximum amount allowed in the regulations. Kajetanowicz trails him by 13 points and can score both in Spain and Japan, where the 2022 season comes to an end. Emil Lindholm (89 points) is in similar situation, while Yohan Rossel (80 points) also fights for top-three position but his campaign ends in Spain and he cannot win the championship. Therefore, the title fight will be contested by Norwegian, Polish and Finnish crews.
– We have just returned from the other side of the world and now we are facing another event – Rally Catalunya de España. Our time for preparations is quite limited. We need to recover quickly and adapt to different surface: very grippy asphalt. We need to find a good flow and this is the plan
– says Kajetan Kajetanowicz, the ORLEN Rally Team driver.
The route of Rally Catalunya de España is almost 300 kilometres long, with nineteen special stages. On Thursday, 20 October, the crews will take part in shakedown Coll de la Teixeta (4.21 kms). The opening day of competition consists of four stages. Each of them will be run twice, with a service break between two loops: SS1/5 Els Omells-Maldà (11.05 kms), SS2/6 Serra de la Llena (11.79 kms), SS3/7 Les Garrrigues Altes (22.64 kms) and SS4/8 Riba-roja (13.89 kms).
Further seven special stages await on day two of the rally: SS9/12 Savallà (13.93 kms), SS10/13 Querol-Les Pobles (20.19 kms) and the longest test of the rally SS11/14 El Montmell (24.17 kms). Saturday ends with a short and spectacular Salou stage (2.15 kms).
As usual, the competition ends on Sunday – with two runs of two stages: SS16/18 Pratdip (12.15 kms) and SS17/19 Riudecanyes (15.90 kms). The final test will be contested as the Power Stage, with additional points on offer. The rally comes to an end at around 13:00 CET.
Starts of Kajetan Kajetanowicz are supported by strategic partner of the ORLEN Rally Team – PKN ORLEN, as well as technical partner Delphi Technologies, Pirelli, Grupa Sikora and SJS Driving Experience.