Friday’s special stages in Rally Italia Sardegna brought significant challenge to the competitors, with low grip on gravel roads. There are also plenty of puddles and mud after overnight rain. Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Maciej Szczepaniak tried to avoid costly mistakes. With two stage times inside top ten, they hold seventh position in the WRC2 standings.
Third stage of the loop, the longest test in the rally, Monte Lerno – Sa Conchedda, brought lots of drama to the action. Nikolay Gryazin, Erik Cais, Bruno Bulacia and Josh McErlean were among those drivers who stopped on almost 50-kms long stage. Oliver Solberg, second in the championship standings, damaged his car and plenty of time. It was important to maintain assured and efficient pace over this marathon test – and the ORLEN Rally Team crew managed to do that. The Polish duo gained two positions and trail the leaders by 47.1 seconds, holding seventh place in the WRC2 classification.
– It is a very demanding rally but my driving is quite good. I get to know the possibilities of my new car, with a completely different construction. The final stage of the loop is very long – almost 50 kilometres. You cannot memorise such a long test, so there are many unpredictable things out there. We had some brake issues but I think that overheating is quite normal over long distance and in hot conditions. However, we are happy, it’s getting better and my feeling also gets better. The atmosphere is great, a lot of Polish fans have arrived here. The second loop will be tough because of road damage, there will be more stones and ruts. For sure it will be interesting
– Kajetan Kajetanowicz, triple European Rally Champion, commented after the loop.
The second loop is set to be quite exciting. The rain is coming, so the stages, already damaged by the cars on the opening pass, might get even more challenging. The same set of three stages will be repeated in the afternoon: at 14:32, 15:23 and 16:13.
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.
Rally Italia Sardegna 2023, WRC2 standings after SS4:
- Suninen/Markkula (Hyundai i20 N Rally2) 48:43.8
- Mikkelsen/Eriksen (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +3.8 s
- Fourmaux/Coria (Ford Fiesta Rally2) +7.4 s
- Pajari/Mälkönen (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +15.0 s
- Marczyk/Gospodarczyk (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +37.6 s
- Rossel/Dunand (Citroën C3 Rally2) +43.7 s
- Kajetanowicz/Szczepaniak (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +47.1 s
- Zaldivar/Der Ohannesian (Hyundai i20 N Rally2) +1:20.9 s
- Virves/Magalhães (Ford Fiesta Rally2) +1:25.9 s
- Cais/Těšínský (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +1:50.0 s
