The World Rally Championship battle moves to Sardegna, where round six of the 2023 calendar takes place. Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Maciej Szczepaniak get ready for their second outing this year. The ORLEN Rally Team duo compete aboard brand new Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 for the first time. Almost 40 crews signed up for fight for WRC2 laurels, so the competition will be exciting and tight.
Kajetanowicz has four Rally Italia Sardegna outings under his belt, having scored two podium finishes so far – second places in WRC2 (2019) and WRC3 (2020). This time he will drive a Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 for the first time. Triple European Rally Champion have completed short test sessions on gravel roads in Portugal and Spain, using also this car in Mikołajki – as a “zero” course crew during ORLEN 79th Rajd Polski. The ORLEN Rally Team crew have also completed a pre-event test in Sardegna, checking the power of their new car with various settings.
On top of that Kajetanowicz tackles the Italian gravel with new, original helmet design, displaying personal themes – symbols of his family members. Images of two trees at the back of the helmet represents his partner and side designs refer to their two kids: daughter Oriana and son Gracjan. The Polish driver treats the helmet as his lucky charm and he will test its “power” on demanding special stages of Rally Italia Sardegna.
– Our rally week is already underway, we are in Sardegna. The island welcomed us with changeable weather but we are prepared for different conditions. Many things are new to me – from my helmet, with a very personal design, to our car. We will drive a new Škoda for the first time but our feelings are positive. Our pre-event testing went smoothly, we checked the car at high speed running, one hundred percent flat out – it should help us during the rally. Of course it won’t be easy to fight against these guys, they know the cars very well. I am still searching for optimum setup but I think it’s already quite OK. I am looking forward to the rally. I hope that Polish fans, who will turn up in numbers, can’t wait to get it started as well! Hopefully the rally will be fast and safe, with great atmosphere
– Kajetan Kajetanowicz said ahead of Rally Italia Sardegna.
This year’s Rally Italia Sardegna consists of nineteen special stages, including famous, classic tests of Terranova, Erula or almost 50-kilometres long Monte Lerno, tackled on Friday. The crews will cover over 320 competitive kilometres, finishing the rally with Power Stage Sardegna on Sunday.
Starts of Kajetan Kajetanowicz are supported by titular partner of the ORLEN Rally Team – PKN ORLEN, as well as technical partner Delphi Technologies, Pirelli, ATC CARGO S.A., PLATINUM ORLEN OIL brand, QUAZAR LOTOS OIL brand and SJS S.A.
