Penultimate round of the 2022 World Rally Championship, Rally Catalunya de España, gets underway in Spain. On Thursday Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Maciej Szczepaniak take part in the opening ceremony of this all-tarmac event. The Polish crew, fighting for the WRC2 title, completed a two-days test of the car in Spain and showed good pace on today’s shakedown ahead of the rally.
– We are back on tarmac and I think we’ve done our homework. As always, the ORLEN Rally Team have worked very hard to prepare for the competition on this kind of surface after six months’ break. We have always excelled when quick reactions and adaptation in unpredictable situations are required – and it is the same now. This gives me confidence, although the weather could play its tricks here. We have experienced these conditions on wet and rainy shakedown, where we set a good pace and I am happy about it. The field in WRC2 is numerous and competitive – so I am sure it won’t be an easy task. We will do our best, enjoy driving and we will see what happens. Keep your fingers crossed!
– says Kajetan Kajetanowicz, triple European Rally Champion.
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.
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 two legs are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday.
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.
